BABU’S BABIES
Kenya, 2004, 60 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Christine Bala.
There are not many Kenyan feature films. This one lasts an hour and will find a niche on television but it is an entertaining as well as critically thought-provoking comedy.
Babu lives in Nairobi while his wife wishes they were back in the country. He is a courier and has to pick up a parcel by 2.00pm for an important board meeting. He operates on casual time and allows himself to be persuaded to deliver some stolen coffee to some dealers, to use his vehicle as a taxi service. It is the latter which proves to be his undoing. Someone has abandoned a baby in his minibus.
Babu and his associate, Jimmy, try various ways to get rid of the baby, Jimmy is quite callous. Babu, on the other hand, has children. As the day goes on, he takes more and more care of the baby – running the risk of losing wife, family and his job. There is a nice twist at the end which brings a smile to see virtue rewarded even if actions were more than a little shady.
The film immerses us in Nairobi life and its social problems while it also makes us laugh and feel sentimental.
1. An entertaining short feature, its effect, comic, serious?
2. The title and its humour, ironies? The children, the foundling baby?
3. The Nairobi settings, ordinary people, poor people, houses and neighbourhoods, workplaces, the roads, the suburbs of Nairobi, the criminal headquarters, hospitals, police stations? The range of locations? The musical score?
4. The structure, a day in the life of Babu?
5. Babu, his moving from the country to the city, his wife not happy, the children, the boy sick with malaria, his need of medicine? Babu and his not coping well, the coolness towards his wife, his going to work? The bosses, his courier work, the emphasis on getting the parcel from the airport at 2 o’clock for the board meeting? His need of money, the offer to deal in smuggled goods, his initial resistance, agreement? The meeting with Jimmy, the pressure of the bosses? The co-worker and his collaboration, getting the coffee? The police and security and the bribes? The stealing of the boxes? Their eventually getting to the bosses – and the fiasco with Babu arriving with the baby? His refusing further jobs?
6. The way to the airport and his getting waylaid, the series of misadventures?
7. The van, getting money for it as a taxi, the abandoned baby? Babu’s attitude, Jimmy’s attitude, wanting to get rid of the baby, the various attempts to abandon it, their being seen, caught? The baby needing to be fed, Babu buying hot milk, the demands of the lady at the store, the deposit for the glass and the spoon, the baby not taking it, Jimmy drinking the hot milk? Jimmy and his more callous approach, his attempts to get rid of the baby, taking it to the Barnardo home, the authorities unwilling to take the baby, his taking the baby to the neighbour, wanting to give the baby to his wife?
8. Jimmy, his character, working for money, for the bosses, his callous attitude towards the baby, taking the used-by medicine to Babu’s wife, the final confrontation with the bosses and his losing his job?
9. The neighbour, friendly with Babu’s wife, helping out, taking the baby, taking Babu in when he was locked out by his wife? Her pleading his cause to the wife?
10. The wife, the need for the medicine, her not wanting to be in the city, the phone calls to Babu, her anger, Jimmy bringing the wrong medicine, the baby, her misinterpretation, the girlfriend at the café, ousting him?
11. Babu and his being locked out of the house, his seeming to have no hope? The kindly neighbour?
12. The boss, giving Babu the sack, his wanting to tell the truth, the irony of the press wanting to get into the conference, Babu as a hero, the reward, the boss and his having to claim him – and the final photo, the reconciliation with his wife, Babu the hero?
