THE STORY – A look through the life and work of Ghanaian filmmaker Chris Hesse.
THE CAST – Chris Hesse, Kwame Nkrumah, Anita Afonu & Edmund Addo
THE TEAM – Ben Proudfoot (Director)
THE RUNNING TIME – 99 Minutes
Before winning his two Oscars, both for Best Documentary Short Film, Ben Proudfoot directed his first feature film, a documentary titled “Rwanda & Juliet.” That film followed a professor traveling to Rwanda to stage a performance of “Romeo & Juliet” with students of both Hutu and Tutsi backgrounds, using storytelling to foster reconciliation. Interestingly, Proudfoot’s newest feature documentary shares much in common with his first. “The Eyes of Ghana” travels to Africa to examine the history of the titular nation through the eyes of a storyteller. Instead of Shakespeare, “The Eyes of Ghana” uses documentary filmmaking itself as the lens of revolution, showcasing the work of Ghanaian filmmaker Chris Hesse and the revolutionary leader Kwame Nkrumah. The result is an uncommonly inspiring documentary; as engaging a dive into history as it is a testament to the power of a camera.
During Nkrumah’s rise to power between the 1950s and 1960s, Hesse served as the leader’s personal cameraman. In that time, he filmed over 300 hours of footage both at home in the Gold Coast, as it was known then, and abroad, meeting with world leaders such as John F. Kennedy and Queen Elizabeth II. “The Eyes of Ghana” tells the story of Nkrumah’s revolutionary efforts to decolonize Africa through Hesse’s perspective as the filmmaker, now in his 90s, reflects on that era. Proudfoot uses this framing to both unravel the story of one of the most consequential leaders of the 20th century and demonstrate the political and cultural impact filmmaking can have. As Hesse explains, Nkrumah saw how America marketed itself through film and wanted the same for Africa. While colonizers made films depicting Africans as savages or uncivilized, Nkrumah sought to combat that image through cinema. He built one of the continent’s greatest studios, complete with a sound recording facility and more, where filmmakers from across Africa could make high-quality films. Hesse recounts his experience following Nkrumah through such a revolutionary time, one that saw the decolonization of the Gold Coast, renamed Ghana, and the installation of Nkrumah as its president. He also chronicles Nkrumah’s vision for a United States of Africa, ensuring that a united continent could never again fall under colonial rule.
Though Hesse spent his life behind the camera, he’s an incredibly charismatic storyteller. Proudfoot captures his interviews in tight close-up, moving right in on his face throughout the film. Hesse leans toward the camera, inviting the viewer to lean in too, eager to hear what he has to say. We are entirely in his world. Beyond the filmmaking, Hesse himself is thoroughly engaging as he exudes an easy confidence that must have served him well throughout his career. As Nkrumah’s personal videographer, Hesse says he was often the only Black cameraman in the room, so he had to stand his ground to get the best angles. His recollections from this period are sharp, insightful, and above all, deeply inspiring. To be around such an important figure and to have a hand in shaping how he was seen by the world is no small feat.
Proudfoot brings a polished, natural style to “The Eyes of Ghana.” The modern-day cinematography is rich and warm, while his interviews are intimate and engaging. The film transitions beautifully between newly shot footage and archival Ghanaian film from Hesse, often fading from what appear to be negatives into fully restored digital images. It’s gorgeously assembled from top to bottom. With a triumphant original score by Kris Bowers, who shared an Oscar with Proudfoot for “The Last Repair Shop,” the result is a mesmerizing experience.
But the film isn’t simply polished for its own sake. “The Eyes of Ghana” also features Anita Afonu, an up-and-coming Ghanaian filmmaker and Hesse’s mentee, and Edmund Addo, the owner of Rex Cinema, an open-air venue he’s renovating to revitalize filmgoing in Ghana. As the story of Nkrumah unfolds in the past, we see cinema’s ripple effects in the present day. Film becomes both an inspiration and a unifying force. It’s a tribute to Ghanaians living in the world Nkrumah dreamed of, free from colonization and using art to project their own stories and messages to the world. For years, the 300 hours of footage Hesse captured were thought to be lost, destroyed in a fire during Nkrumah’s ousting in the late 1960s. Miraculously, the original negatives were later discovered in a London film lab where they had been sent for development. That footage is now being carefully digitized to preserve this crucial period in its entirety.
Even for viewers less familiar with Nkrumah’s rise and rule, it’s clear that “The Eyes of Ghana” serves as a broad overview of his story rather than an in-depth analysis. We see the arc of his vision for a free and united Africa, but we don’t necessarily learn the finer details of how that struggle unfolded. This is most apparent in the film’s later section, which briefly mentions critical moments, such as Nkrumah declaring himself president for life, reportedly suppressing free elections, and eventually being overthrown, without delving deeper. These omissions leave some questions unanswered and slightly cloud the historical portrait. Hesse still stands by Nkrumah, but when asked in a film class about his own perspective on the exile, he simply says, “I filmed his life. It’s for you to watch and judge.”
Those criticisms aside, Proudfoot skillfully weaves past and present together in “The Eyes of Ghana.” As Hesse recounts this revolutionary period in Ghana’s history, we see a contemporary push to rekindle the nation’s cinematic spirit. It’s easy to take for granted our overabundance of film and photography today, but even sixty or seventy years ago, that wasn’t the case. Some might call “The Eyes of Ghana” overly sentimental, yet it succeeds in crafting a genuinely moving chronicle of this pivotal time. It stands as a tribute to the power of storytelling, the influence of the moving image, and the enduring spirit of revolution in all its forms.
