Producer
Toni Kamau
Director
Sam Soko
Doc Society Support
Production support
Film Details
Runtime: 96 minutes
Format: Feature length film
Boniface “Softie” Mwangi has long fought injustices in his country as a political activist. Now he’s taking the next step by running for office in a regional Kenyan election. From the moment Boniface decides to run, telling his wife, Njeri, in passing with a hesitant laugh, he responds to each challenge with optimism. But running a clean campaign against corrupt opponents becomes increasingly harder to combat with idealism alone. And Boniface soon finds that challenging strong political dynasties is putting his family at risk. Should country really come before family, as he’s always believed?
Subjects
Activism Politics
Awards & Festivals
Awards
Festival Screenings
Reviews
Softie doesn't necessarily provide a 360-degree view of Kenyan politics, or even its hero (who attracted some controversy himself in the last couple years), but what we do get is pretty eye-opening.
For Mwangi, "Softie" serves as testament of the domesticity he's been absent from to satisfy the demands of his thankless vocation. But for the rest of us, it stands as a portrait of the kind of selfless...
The on-the-ground campaigning and complex history could use a better shape than the film's fits and starts.
It may take place an ocean apart from Western shores, but it's especially relevant to viewers as a cautionary tale of what results when tribalism overtakes national identity, and when leaders willfully manipulate those tribal ties for their benefit.
Fresh score.
Eye-opening as "Softie" is as an immediate account of toxic Kenyan politics, it's an equally moving marriage story, unsentimental but generously sympathetic in its study of a family brought to the brink of collapse for a greater good cause.
Softie is a compelling act of defiance, made more alarming by the violent events documented throughout the film, including the torture and murder of an official charged with keeping the elections fair and safe.
Fresh score.
Softie is a grim assessment of both the cost of revolution and modern-day manhood.
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