Masinga The Calling poster
Despite living far from his homeland, Masinga’s past still haunts him, especially as this past is full of questions without answers. These questions resurge when he gets the chance to return to Southern Africa.
Directed by South African Mark Engels, Masinga The Calling is a paranormal thriller which blends themes of crime and black magic.
It will be shown at the Durban FilmMart, which is taking place from 19 to 22 July.
The movie follows the story of Masinga (Hakeem Kae-Kazim), an African-born Interpol detective who is living in London.
He decides to return to his home region to investigate a case involving the trafficking of Ukrainian teen girls. But, while investigating, Masinga is confronted by his past and he is reminded of the mysterious death of his albino brother.
But Masinga is no ordinary man. He is clairvoyant, meaning he sees visions of events before they happen.
While trying to save the teenagers, Masinga meets Xia, an Asian teen celebrity, who is being targeted by the movie’s villain Jeremiah Mills (Sean Cameron Michael) because of her opposition to her country’s exploitation of Africa’s resources.
Mills, who is involved in black magic, sees Xia as a valuable potential ritual offering who will help him gain more power.
However, Xia — who shares Masinga’s paranormal powers — is able to communicate with him through telepathy.
In some scenes, Xia appears to be the reincarnated spirit of his brother, who guides his investigation.
The movie explores a number of issues, including Asian exploitation of Africa’s resources, with the help of corrupt government officials, and sex trafficking.
However, these themes are gone into superficially as the focus is on Masinga’s spiritual journey, his visions and the thin thread that ties his past with his present.
From the very beginning, the director introduces black magic as an important topic in the film.
The first scene shows an African magician, whose features are not clearly shown, casting a spell.
In the following scene, we see an African minister in a lavish hotel suite, uncovering his dinner to find severed human hands and an eye. The minister dies at that moment.
We never find out how Masinga got his paranormal powers and the movie treats it as if it is normal for a person to see visions.
One of the good aspects of Masinga is the development of the relationship between the characters.
Other points of strength are the great acting, good visual effects and the complex narrative that blends visions, magic and mystery.
This review was produced as part of the Talent Press programme, an initiative of Talents Durban in collaboration with the Durban FilmMart Institute and The International Federation of Film Critics. The opinions expressed are those of the reviewer and cannot be considered as constituting an official position of the organisers.
The Durban FilmMart is happening from 19 to 22 July.