Documentary film “Bobi Wine: The People’s President”, which recently received a nomination for Best Documentary Oscar, focuses on a popular musician who became a defiant political fighter for his country and people. While he has been brutally oppressed a lot by the corrupt government and its autocratic leader, he does not give up at all even at this point, the documentary presents an informative presentation of his dramatic political journey as well as how things have gotten worse in his country during recent years.

The central figure of the documentary is Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, a prominent Ugandan politician who is mostly known by his stage name Bobi Wine. After starting his musician career around the early 2000s, Wine was pretty successful during next several years, and then he decided to try on local politics after being quite vocal in his criticism against the Ugandan government. Once he won his first election and then became a parliament member, he quickly rose as one of the main public figures opposing against President Yoweri Museveni, who governed the country for more than 35 years after getting elected in 1981.

While he was initially welcomed a lot by many people in Uganda when he rose to the power shortly after the end of that infamous reign of terror by Idi Amin, Museveni became a very person he was supposed to be against, and, not so surprisingly, he was quite willing to extend his presidency more by any means necessary. Because the Ugadan constitution happened to have an article on the age limit on presidency, he technically could not run for the president in 2021, but he and his governing party was very determined to change that article in 2018, and that was certainly openly opposed by many figures of the opposition parties including Wine.

Not so surprisingly, Museveni and his government were already quite ready to achieve their goal when the parliament members were going to vote on that constitution article in question. He willfully used the Ugandan police and military against many of his opponents including the mayor of Kampala, and there is an alarming moment showing how the mayor was promptly arrested and then taken to somewhere even though many people including local reporters were watching the whole incident. When the voting day came, Museveni continued to impede his opponents in one way or another, and Wine and many other opposing politicians were not so surprised when Museveni eventually got what he wanted, though they all were certainly quite angry and disappointed about that.

Nonetheless, Wine continued his defiant stance against Museveni, and that surely made him targeted more by Museveni’s government more than before. When he was arrested for a trouble associated with a local independent candidate supported by him, he was immediately taken to a military base and then held there for next several days, and his wife tells us how much he suffered as being brutalized a lot by his captors. Around the time he was subsequently sent to a military court, he was visibly not so well to say the least, and he and many others were surely reminded again of how ruthless Museveni and his autocratic government can be.

At least, Wine was eventually released not long after that, and he was not daunted at all while gradually recovering from the first big blow against him. While receiving some international support from the outside world, he came to draw more supporters during next few years, and he was also active in helping the people of his country cope with the lockdown period caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Meanwhile, Museveni and his government already embarked on fixing and then winning the next Presidential election to be held in 2021. As Wine and a number of other opposing candidates started their campaigns here and there around the country, they had to deal with various obstacles, and their powerful opponent was certainly willing to oppress them all again, even while throwing the whole country into more violence and chaos.

Not so surprisingly, Wine eventually got arrested and then detained in the middle of his election campaign, and that led to more protest and then more oppression while Museveni and his government only focused more on winning the election in the end. Although knowing well that there was not much chance for him and his supporters from the very beginning, Wine remained defiant as before, but then he and his wife, who has always stood by him since their marriage, became more concerned about the safety of the people dear to them, and there is a little poignant moment when they gently explain to their children on why they decide to have their children leave the country for a while.

I wish the documentary could show more of such private moments like that for letting us get to know Wine as a person, and I also think it could show a bit more of how he has worked as a politician besides his defiant stance against Museveni. Because Wine’s story is still being continued at present (He got arrested again in last year not long after the documentary was released in US, by the way), it feels rather limited at times, but “Bobi Wine: The People’s President, which is directed by Christopher Sharp and Moses Bwayo, is still engaging on the whole as steadily driven by Wine’s charismatic presence, and you may want to know more about this remarkable figure after watching it.