"On Becoming a Guinea Fowl" (2024)

In On Becoming a Guinea Fowl (2024), Shula finds her uncle’s body on a dark Zambian road. The family gathers for the funeral, and as customs unfold, buried truths begin to stir. The man being mourning was a sexual predator. Many in the family seem to know this, but no one has spoken up.

The film is not about death, but about silence. It shows the way families hide sin to protect themselves and their reputation. It shows how communities, whether bound by blood, culture, or religion, decide that honor is more valuable than truth. It becomes a haunting portrait of collective denial. Every ceremony, every speech, every polite exchange is another layer of protection around the family’s secret. Tradition becomes a shield for sin. The unspoken rule is clear: protect the group, even if it means protecting the guilty and sacrificing the innocent.

Christians sadly find this familiar. The instinct to preserve reputation often infects churches. When leaders fall, or abuse is uncovered, the first response is to contain it. Keep it quiet. Protect the ministry. Do not give the world another reason to mock the faith. Yet this logic belongs to sin, not faith. The gospel never commands silence to preserve appearances. It commands truth to preserve holiness.

God told His people in Isaiah chapter one that He hated their sacrifices because they masked iniquity. He warned them to stop doing evil, to seek justice, and to correct oppression. To correct oppression, someone must name it. Someone must speak.

That is what Shula becomes. A guinea fowl is a warning bird. It cries out when danger comes. Shula becomes that voice in a family that has forgotten how to tell the truth.

For Christians, that is our calling too. We are not keepers of secrets. We are bearers of light. The church should not resemble a family that hides its shame. It should resemble a Savior who faced shame openly so it could be healed.

The film ends without tidy resolution. Families remain fractured. Truth costs dearly. Yet truth spoken aloud is the first step toward redemption. Silence can protect an image, but only confession can heal a soul.