‘Till I Find a Place’, the movie…
CREATIVE films concerning Guyana, partly at least, had its first international boost in 1958 with the arrival in Georgetown of the famous Hollywood  actor, Mel Ferrer (husband of the truly great Hollywood actress, Audrey Hepburn) whose leading roles in films include ‘Rancho Notorious’, ‘The Sun Also Rises’, ‘Scaramouche’, ‘The World, The Flesh, And The Devil’, and ‘The Fall Of The Roman Empire’; also Anthony Perkins, another Hollywood star with a huge list of superb films, and Lee J. Cobb, a veteran actor with a multitude of unforgettable roles. They were in pre-Independent  Guyana  to make ‘Green Mansions’, directed by Mel Ferrer, in Essequibo, and used the town of Bartica as their base, allowing local residents to see much of them.

The next film after ‘Green Mansions’ which gave Guyanese perhaps their highest boost in the eyes of the world to date is ‘To Sir With Love’ of 1967, taken from the outstanding novel of the same name by Guyanese writer, E. R. Braithwaithe, and starring Sidney Poitier as the Guyanese immigrant professional in London.

After these films came a number of local films made by a mixture of Guyanese, returning Guyanese immigrants, and foreigners; films like ‘Aggro Seizeman’, ‘If Wishes Were Horses’, ‘Mustard Bath’, ‘Rainbow Rani’, and other local films of a promising nature made by Mike James and Anancy.

The latest addition to the list of local films is ‘Till I Find A Place’, directed by and starring Mahadeo Shivraj, with able local co-stars, Sonia Warde, Alicia Persuad, Linden Jones, Rajan Tiwari, Andrew Wiltshire, and Shondell Marshall.

Shivraj created a script based on the original 1991 stage play by popular Guyanese playwright, Ron Hollingsworth.

First of all, the good points about ‘Till I Find A Place’, as a film, is the superb acting by Shivraj as ‘Dave’, also  the truly able performances by all of the supporting actors and actresses, also  most of the dialogue, and above all, the refreshing emphasis on sensuality, even though the story becomes bogged down in  tragi-comical pantomime.

Shivraj  and Yarde carry the film with their superb performances, but it cannot make up for what the film is unable to portray by the absence of good visual direction; maybe Shivraj had too much on his hand while acting, so a huge imbalance occurred in his approach to directing.

For instance, there are no truly memorable scenes of Georgetown in the film, which would only have occurred if scenes diverted from focus on the house and utilized the abundance  of beautiful places in the city, outdoors and indoors, rather than simply sticking to the straightforward photos of a house-front, a street and neighbourhood with no name seen or mentioned, etc.

The idea of a stage play dominates the film rather than a chance to use the distinct qualities of the cinematic/photographic medium; this is proven by the use of blinds instead of bedroom doors, where actors disappear behind as though they were on stage.

At the root of this film’s shortcomings is the almost stereotypical repetition of the same sort of stories (or plays), with the same sort of characters locked perpetually in gossipy soap-opera  family dramas which are presented as though this is a typical Guyanese lifestyle. It is not;

regardless of whether the audience, who religiously attend the National Cultural Centre to see these sorts of plays/films, tend to believe so.

‘Till I Find A Place’, as a play and film, represents a tiny aspect of Guyanese personalities,  problems, pleasures, and lifestyles. For this reason, it was beside the point to hear, at the film’s opening, how the use of only Guyanese actors in this film is something special; it is not an all-Guyanese cast that will make any local film  special or outstanding, but the distinguished creative use of camera work, scene-structure, acting, originality of topic and content, etc.

In fact, the emphasis on promoting a local film for its local cast and content alone could end up exposing Guyana and Guyanese to embarrassment in the outer world, when such films are seen in comparison to what others have achieved in filmmaking in developing countries of the Orient, Africa, and Latin America.

Coming back to  those films mentioned at the beginning of this article: What makes ‘Green Mansions’ an asset to the Guyanese identity, especially in the light of the new awareness and emphasis on the ecological and natural wealth of the nation, is the fact that Audrey Hepburn (she could not voyage to British Guiana to shoot her scenes because she was recovering from malaria, so her husband took back the scenes of Essequibo and Kaieteur to Hollywood, and she was superimposed against them) acted as the poor Guyanese girl of the interior who is magically acquainted with its fauna and flora.

There are many Guyanese females like her today, as yesterday, rooted in the very geographic makeup of their country, and far removed from infidelity mix-ups, intrigue, and social competition.

Similarly, Sidney Poitier acts as an exemplary Guyanese character in ‘To Sir With Love’, a role which not only enhances a general respect for Guyanese, but creates a valuable and influential educated role model for all male and female Guyanese.

‘Till I Find A Place’ shows enormous promise in its acting, and Shivraj is a veteran actor who has done some good work in the USA, where a new batch of Guyanese-related actors like Mark Gomes and Sean Patrick Thomas are finding work as well.

So the framework for a progressive local cinema is strengthened by his and his able co-stars in this film, but they perhaps need to be joined by several new ‘rookie’ local actors and actresses who will bring a completely new approach to local topics, behaviour, intelligence, linguistic and fashion style, not to forget the introduction of diverse attractive bodies and local scenery. Then perhaps contemporary Guyanese filmmaking will go beyond attempts, into firm achievements.