Taking a complete 180 degree turn from his bio-hazardous dystopian sci-fi debut, The Antenna (2020), rçun Behram turns his attention the documentary form, focusing on the slums of Accra, the Ghanaian capital. Aiming To the Top is Behram’s contrasting, loosely constructed non-fiction follow up; a fly-on-the wall observation of the colourful lives. An assortment of young locals carve out a path for themselves through creative endeavours, in a particularly impoverished setting.
The frenzied vastness of Accra, a city which is increasingly known for its rapid growth of informal settlements, provides for a tapestry of existences making do with very little. Most of the film is shot in cinema verite style. We are privy to areas occupied by makeshift homes, unpaved main streets, rough and ready dive bars to illicit back streets. With no concrete buildings in sight and close to zero public services; this littered and unkempt world that feels temporary.
The handful of portrayals Behram zeroes in on include Christian singer and rapper Pressplay. He lives off his mum, while attempting to build a recording studio with ramshackle parts. Adolescent vlogger Gifty Sark offers an interesting take on Ghanian history Dominique is a hyperactive, self-taught seven-year-old street performer. T-Baby is the most captivating and also the only female rapper. She warrants substantial screen time anchoring the documentary to her story. Her motto is “normal lifestyle is boring’. We watch her perform, getting drunk and stoned, charmingly chatting away at the camera. In an ideal world, she would be earning money solely from her music and not through a far less creative trade: sex work.
The personal stories are touching, poignant, and deserving of out attention. These characters represent the universality of personal expression. Young souls who use art as a means to lift them up from their doldrums.
This is not a film without shortcomings. The screen time devoted to each one of the characters is uneven. At times, the film lacks cohesiveness, and the stories feel untethered to a main narrative arc. Some of the scenes are are either arbitrary or prolonged, including some of the rambling performances. But the biggest problem is that the imagery that unfolds before our eyes does little to challenge the Western conceptions of Africa. Despite Behram’s best intentions to highlight the aspirational lives of local youths, there is still a whiff of slum tourism.
Aiming to the Top – Accra Underground just saw its world premiere at Raindance 2025, which takes place between June 18th and 27th.
