On Becoming a Guinea Fowl (2024) Review: Silence at a Wake

Is On Becoming a Guinea Fowl worth watching?

Yes. On Becoming a Guinea Fowl is a superb, fearless second feature from Rungano Nyoni, a funeral drama that is by turns absurd, chilling and heartbreaking, and one of the most distinctive films of its year. Nyoni’s control of tone is extraordinary: she finds dark comedy in the rituals of mourning and then lets that comedy curdle into something far more serious. The one caution is that the film withholds easy answers and moves at its own quiet pace, so viewers who want a conventional family drama may find it elusive.

What is On Becoming a Guinea Fowl about?

Driving home late one night along an empty road, Shula (Susan Chardy) finds the body of her uncle. She is strangely calm about it. As the extended family gathers and the elaborate machinery of a Zambian funeral begins to turn, with its customs, obligations and expectations of grief, Shula and her cousins find themselves at the centre of a gathering where everyone is performing sorrow while something unspoken hangs in the air.

On Becoming a Guinea Fowl is written and directed by Rungano Nyoni, following her celebrated debut I Am Not a Witch. It is a Zambian-set international co-production that moves between English and local Zambian languages, runs under two hours, and premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes in 2024, where Nyoni won the section’s directing prize.

Funeral rites as a theatre of silence

Nyoni’s great insight is that a funeral is also a performance with strict rules, and she films it with an anthropologist’s attention and a satirist’s eye. Relatives arrive, wail on cue, argue about food and money, and defer to elders whose authority is absolute. The women in particular are assigned their roles: cooking, cleaning, kneeling, mourning correctly. The comedy of these scenes is deadpan and precise, and it slowly reveals how much of the family’s life is organised around keeping up appearances.

That structure is what gives the film its power. As the funeral proceeds, the rituals begin to look less like expressions of grief and more like a system for maintaining silence, and the film asks, without ever lecturing, who that silence protects.

Susan Chardy’s watchful, opaque lead

Susan Chardy gives a remarkable performance as Shula, a woman who seems to observe her own family from a slight distance. Her composure is unsettling at first and gradually becomes heartbreaking, and much of the film’s meaning is carried by her face in moments when she says nothing at all. The supporting performances, particularly from the actors playing her cousins and older relatives, have an unforced naturalism that makes the family feel entirely real.

Nyoni’s visual style is equally striking. She uses dreamlike images, bold colour and unexpected framing to push the film beyond realism, and the recurring image of the guinea fowl, a bird associated with raising the alarm, gives the title its quiet resonance.

A film that makes the audience lean in

The film’s refusal to explain itself is a strength, but it can also be a barrier. Some scenes are left deliberately ambiguous, the comedy is so dry that it is easy to miss, and the pacing is patient rather than propulsive. Viewers expecting a conventional revelation-driven drama may feel held at arm’s length. That distance is carefully calculated, and it pays off in the film’s cumulative force, but it asks for trust.

Who should watch On Becoming a Guinea Fowl?

It is essential for viewers who follow international art cinema, African filmmaking and bold new directorial voices, and a strong choice for anyone who enjoys drama that blends satire with serious themes. The subject matter is heavy: the film deals with abuse, family complicity and grief, discussed rather than shown graphically, and some scenes are emotionally difficult. Current streaming and rental options are listed on the where-to-watch section of the film page.

Good companions:

• I Am Not a Witch, Nyoni’s debut, which uses similar surreal satire to examine how communities control women.
• Atlantics, Mati Diop’s haunting Senegalese drama, for another African film that blends social realism with the uncanny.

The verdict

On Becoming a Guinea Fowl is a brilliantly controlled film that turns a family funeral into an unforgettable portrait of silence and complicity, with a haunting lead performance from Susan Chardy. Its deadpan style and deliberate ambiguity will not suit everyone, but Nyoni has made a work of rare confidence and moral clarity.

Rating: 5/5