In Ghana, the film industry based in Kumasi, the capital of the Ashanti Region, is known as Kumawood. The name is a play on words between Kumasi and Hollywood, similar to how Bollywood refers to Indian cinema. Productions from Kumasi have gone viral more than once because they are quite charismatic, though let's be honest, utterly terrible. And now they're about to release their own adaptation of Mortal Kombat! That's definitely something to watch!
Kumawood productions have an extremely low budget (the kind you spend when you go out partying with friends), non-actors, completely improvised scripts, and very poor technical quality. Yet, despite these obvious problems, these productions always manage to attract the attention of a few hundred thousand people across the web, if not millions. What's the secret? Simple: if you watch them with the right mindset, they're extremely fun movies, and the low budget only adds to the entertainment. Check out this video if you don't believe me!
But now things have gotten even better, because we're looking at a Mortal Kombat adaptation, in what could be the most epic bootleg in the world, even better than the pirated version of MK for NES. The plot of this strange adaptation revolves around Kitana, the princess of Edenia, beloved daughter of Sindel, whose life takes a turn for the worse when her kingdom is invaded by Shao-Kahn and his Outworld warriors. And it must be said, of all the trailers of Ghanaian films we've seen, this one looks more than decent.
You can see the producers made a real attempt to be faithful to the video game, with correctly designed costumes, signature moves and powers for each character, a plot that shapes up pretty well, and... even the original sounds taken from the game! A fun movie with deadly fights, made with effort and love for its source material. What more could you ask for? Ideal for watching with friends, beers, and something nice to smoke, and laugh your head off. Personally, I have genuine admiration for projects like this. I love the pure ingenuity poured into every shot, where nothing is impossible to film (even if it looks pretty ugly), because what matters isn't the form, but that the result is entertaining. And it sure is! I can't wait to see it!
