Doing History with Light and Shadow: A Formalist and Contextual Analysis of Bangarang (2021) as an Archive of Kenya’s Socio-Political Ailments

Abstract

This study investigates how the Kenyan feature film Bangarang (2021), directed by Robbie Odongo, recreates, interprets, and visually archives the historical reality of Kenya's post-election violence through its formal cinematic elements while serving as a critical mirror to the nation’s ongoing socio-political crisis. Situated within Kenya’s contemporary socio-political landscape, this research explores how creative practices respond to the shifting dynamics of youth-led political contestation, state authority, and economic precarity. Central to this inquiry is the transformative impact of recent youth-led civil resistance against aggressive fiscal policies, public-sector corruption, and systemic youth unemployment. Drawing on formalist film theory synthesised with historical film studies, critical pedagogy, and contemporary African cinema frameworks, the study qualitatively analyzes the film’s mise-en-scene, cinematography, sound design, and editing patterns across its entire runtime. The paper argues that Bangarang is not merely a retrospective historical drama, but an active, counter-hegemonic intervention that directly diagnoses persistent ailments of the Kenyan post-colonial state: systemic youth disenfranchisement, tribalised political manipulation, state security impunity, and the human cost of economic austerity. By expanding its critical vocabulary to encompass concepts of visual trauma, spatial politics, acoustic memory, and narrative sovereignty, the study highlights film’s capacity to preserve collective memory, subvert official state amnesia, and foster public political consciousness.