Africa Squawks: A weird, noisy trip you probably don't need

Is this for you?

If you like old, strange cinema artifacts that make you question what the hell people were thinking back then, maybe. Everyone else? Stay away. You will probably find this deeply unsettling rather than cute. 🐒

I honestly didn't know what I was getting into. I figured it would be some lighthearted animal hijinks, like maybe a precursor to something like Angora Love but with more fur. Instead, I got an hour of monkeys looking confused while someone yells over them.

The "Acting"

The chimps are dressed in little vests and hats. They look like they’d rather be literally anywhere else. Every time they open their mouths, you hear these dubbed human voices that sound nothing like a chimp should. It’s like watching a ventriloquist act gone horribly wrong.

• The sound quality is rough. Like, really rough.
• One of the chimps spends a solid minute just staring at a banana.
• The editing feels like someone threw film strips at a wall and taped them back together in a random order.

There’s a moment in the middle where the film just stops. No joke. It just cuts to black for ten seconds, then jumps back to a chimp sitting at a desk. I don't know if that's a missing reel or just the director giving up.

It makes The Hound of the Baskervilles look like a masterpiece of pacing. At least that one has a plot that goes somewhere. Here, you're just trapped in a room with a bunch of primates being forced to perform.

I found myself wondering about the human crew. Were they laughing? Were they stressed? Imagine the chaos of trying to get a chimp to hold a telephone while someone screams dialogue off-camera. It’s a miracle they got anything on screen at all.

The whole thing feels like a weird, dusty curiosity. Don't go in expecting a story. Go in expecting a headache and maybe a deep sense of pity for the poor animals involved. 🎥

I think I need to go watch something normal now. Maybe something human-led like Charming Sinners just to reset my brain. This was a lot.