Warriors' ambitious subject matter fails to pack a punch

Warriors is an important and, at times, genuinely moving documentary. It tells the story of the Maasai warriors of Nairobi, how their culture promotes FGM, and its ties into the AIDS epidemic. In a society where the elders are believed to have a link to God, it’s hard for the youth to be heard. The solution to this? Form a cricket team. It sounds odd, and one does spend most of the film wondering how this club is actually doing anything to help, but we do eventually get an idea, if a little too late.

Firstly, the game gives the community links to the West: the team works with the British army to build their pitch, and they travel to Lords to take part in an amateur competition. All this gives the men a different perspective on their often dogmatic culture, and it is this that spurs them to call for an end to FGM.

The film suffers from an awkward dichotomy in its tones

Secondly – despite a fiercely patriarchal society – the club allows men and women to play together as equals. Much of the film is spent following the team as they train for, and eventually partake in, their competition.

The question, however, is: how does this quirky tale of a cricket team fit in with the dark themes tackled? The answer: it doesn’t really. The film suffers from an awkward dichotomy in its tones, reminiscent of when a news anchor has to swap from a serious story to a feel-good one – awkward smile and all. Warriors would perhaps have worked better if it either focussed on the team and – more importantly – its members, or as a Horizons-style programme focusing on the problem of FGM with cricket as a brief side point.