Here is an underdog boxing movie from the Democratic Republic of the Congo that has a powerful, heart-wrenching true story behind it – as well as featuring a compelling performance by young South African actor Ama Qamata. She plays a teenage victim of the widespread sexual violence against women and girls in the DRC, who is discovered by a boxing coach while living homeless on the streets. It’s directed with a steady hand by American film-maker Matthew Leutwyler who puts together an earnest heartfelt drama that doesn’t look away from the horror, but chooses to focus on the strength and resilience of women and girls.
Qamata plays Safi, a teenager working in slave-like conditions in a mineral mine. One day she escapes, reaching the city of Goma barefoot, where she finds a scrap of kerb to sleep on, surrounded by thugs and spaced out kids sniffing glue. It looks so real that it has to have been filmed on the actual streets; no amount of street casting and set design could recreate how raw and edgy this feels. Flashbacks show Safi’s life as a child living happily with her family and explain how she came by her ferocious right hook.
One day, Safi meets real-life boxing coach Balezi “Kibimango” Bagunda (played here by Hakeem Kae-Kazim), a former child soldier turner boxer who trains a team of female fighters. The script ticks off practically every boxing movie cliche as Safi begins training at Kibimango’s gym, where the star fighter is a woman called Aisha (played by boxer Clarck Ntambwe, who was the film’s inspiration). These moments are formulaic but there is emotional power in the performances from the cast, many with lived experience of wartime atrocities. There’s a devastating twist in the end credits, with news that Kibomango was killed in 2025 while evacuating children from a local orphanage.
• Fight Like a Girl is in UK cinemas from 22 May.
