The movie ‘Tun Tum’ by Ghanaian filmmakers Socrates Safo and Michael Tettey Narh, visually illustrates the phenomenon of the dark-skinned human, including where and how this unique colouration was born, using modern animation and artificial intelligence.
The movie carefully inculcates vivid illustrations, symbolism, and a voice-over in English using simple diction to carry the story through, thereby making it easy for any viewer to comprehend the film. Nevertheless, ‘Tun Tum’ meaning ‘black’ referring to ‘dark skin’ (in popular Ghanaian dialect ‘Twi’) in this movie, is suspense-filled and likely to glue one’s eyes till the end. But, what is most captivating about ‘Tun Tum’ is the message and its different perspective on the ‘Origins of the African’.
The movie first offers its own opinion of how the African was brought into existence. Contrary to the evolution of man’s theory by Charles Darwin and the ape’s sequential transformation, it shows how the African was selectively moulded by the hands of God. He is shown as the creator using water, fire, and earth to gradually form the shape of the African, and breathing into the molded object life as the final ingredient.
Then, as the story progresses, the movie takes a very controversial turn when the ‘intruder’ arrives. A biblical and to some extent historical reference can be made when the ‘intruder’ arrives as a fallen star engulfed by a fiery explosion when impact is made with earth.
The intruder embodies a white angelic image of a handsome man; some might attribute to the fallen angel ‘Lucifer’ who later became the devil and also the colonial masters of old. But, the movie again, takes another turn which drifts away from the religious ‘Lucifer’ character when the object of deceit later used to infiltrate the African’s peace is revealed to be a white woman. The movie ends with a message of unity and hope for the future of Africa.