Movie title: City of Destiny
Duration: 1hour 20 minutes
Launch date: October 24, 2021
Executive producer: Stephen Kilama Ojara
Reviewer: Arnest Tumwesige
If some Ugandans are still uncertain about northern Uganda’s prevailing peace and available opportunities through abundant land and tourism, especially in Acholi sub region, the City of Destiny movie is their answer. The movie presents a platform to showcase what the region has to offer, but also the related prevailing challenges.
At the centre of the movie is the strong cultural attachment the Acholi people have to the historical tourist sites. While the movie shades light on the available ventures, it also tells how weak the traditional system is today despite having a well-organised cultural system from the grassroots to the top.
Due to the weakness of the institution, it has caused clustered rifts over land by those in the military. Some military officers suspected to have connections with the cultural institution are eliminated. “We want to reduce their number so that managing them becomes easy. My second strategy is to make them poor,” Papa, the head of military, tells his wife.
Earlier, Papa had assassinated Gen. Omolo for collaborating with the cultural leaders and speaking on their behalf to the military.
Despite such occurrences, the head of the cultural institution remains slow to react even when he receives warnings from the divine spirits of the forefathers.
As an alternative, the indigenous people resort to relying on the powers of the native doctors, who get their powers from the Kalawinya hills, located in Angagura sub-county, Pader district. The Kalawinya hills, where River Acwa joins River Agago, are believed to be so sacred that whoever does what is in contrast to the spirits is punished by death.
A scene depicting a native doctor. Photos by Arnest Tumwesige
Top military bosses disagree on the rules of mission execution after shooting a local
A scene set at Amuru hot spring in Amuru district
To the expectation of the natives, the cultural institution, headed by the paramount chief, is supposed to prevail over all such historical sites to create revenue that can benefit the subjects.
Apart from the Kalawinya hills, other sites included in the movie are Amuru hot spring located in Amuru sub-county, where it is traditionally believed who any native that bathes in the water cannot die from foreign land till the person comes back home.
In the second and third series of the movie, which are yet to be released, it is expected that some of the sites like Lututuru hill, where President Idi Amin had set up a palace and Kalongo hill that was used by two martyrs Jildo Irwa and Daudi Okello as their campus direction will feature. The two are located in Lamwo and Agago district respectively.
As the title states, the Acholi sub-region’s city, Gulu, has a big purpose in regard to impacting the development of the other eight districts.
