Kabwita is headed to the market with two items on his shopping list: medicine and metal roofing. The market is 50 kilometers away, and Kabwita’s only means of getting there is on foot. Moreover, he needs something to trade, so in a series of breathtakingly beautiful process scenes, we watch him single-handedly fell a tree and convert its wood into charcoal. With payload packed, he begins his epic journey. Makala offers a flood of stunning sensorial detail as it captures this high-stakes journey through the Congo. Will Kabwita make it past the tollkeepers, whizzing vehicles, and exhaustion? As much as Emmanuel Gras’ mesmerizing film takes on a mythological dimension, it refuses to turn Kabwita into a symbol. The film pays close attention to his idiosyncrasies, his family life, and the peculiarities of the economy. (CB)