A stirring and evocative documentary, Call Me Kuchu follows the Ugandan LGBT society as they battle the introduction of a new bill that will make homosexuality illegal. Prepare to get angry…
'Uganda says no to homosexuality!' They sure do, even going as far as introducing an anti-homosexual bill into parliament. Those found 'guilty' of being gay will be given a life sentence and those who don't report homosexuals known to them will be given three years. According to the anti-gay establishment in Uganda, homosexuality is a lifestyle choice and there are those that are 'lured and forced into it.' Human rights, says the editor of homophobic publication Rolling Stone (no, not that Rolling Stone) doesn't include gay rights. It would be laughable if it wasn't so serious.
It is the introduction of the bill and the suing of Rolling Stone that forms the framing device of Call Me Kuchu (Kuchu meaning 'gay'). Rolling Stone, printed in bright colours, the cold sleepy-eyed editor tells us, so to attract young readers, printed names, pictures and addresses of known gays in Kampala, which the LGBT see as a personal attack that could incite violence against them. As they bring the case to court and battle the everyday homophobia they're subjected to, the LGBT attempt to bring the bill to the attention of the United Nations.
Although Call Me Kuchu branches out to include various characters, it is David Kato – the self-proclaimed first openly gay man in Uganda - that is front and centre. A charismatic spokesman for the LGBT, Kato struggles at home as well as in public as his mother lovingly encourages his lesbian best friend to make an honest man of him. It's his journey we're on and it’s one that is as riveting as anything you'll see this year.
Pro-gay rights it most definitely is, but directors Fairfax-Wright and Zouhali-Worrall give the opposing view, Christian fundamentalists, freedom to express their opinion. Pastor Maelle leads the baton charge to call homosexuality immoral, against God's law, etc, while American evangelists are invited over to speak about Uganda being 'ground zero' in the fight against homosexuality.
A whopper of a documentary, Call Me Kuchu is rousing stuff. There's a movie in this.
