Under the Kundè Tree review – a fractured tale of family strife and colonial uprising

Good chemistry … Selina Jones (left) and Amma-Afi Osei in Under the Kundé Tree. Photograph: Steve Gregson

The story begins inside a household of banana sellers in French Cameroon, with a daughter defying her father, but around them a far bigger political drama is gaining ground: that of the nation’s independence.

Sara (Selina Jones) has seen a group of women speaking about mobilising against colonial rule, and the vision has inspired her. Meanwhile, her father, Pa (Yinka Awoni) has arranged a profitable marriage for her, although she has promised herself to outsider Jean (Fode Simbo). We see her journey and that of the country entwined: Sara’s rebellion against her father, and the nation rising up against its French colonial occupiers.