“The Eyes of Ghana” makes a rather literal start to its story. The first frame of the film is of its protagonist’s eyes. He’s Chris Hesse, a Ghanaian filmmaker in his 90s. He’s seen getting his eyes checked and receives the news that he will lose his eyesight. However, the film is concerned with his metaphorical eyes and not his real ones; with his work, not his health. Filmmaker , an Oscar winner for his short “The Last Repair Shop,” shows reverence to both Hesse and to the importance of cinema in a winsome tribute to a man on his last chapter of life who’s been ignored for decades.
In the 1950s and ’60s, Hesse served as the personal cameraman of Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first leader and an inspiring figure in African nations’ quest for independence. Nkrumah led Ghana’s fight for independence and inspired many by calling for “a united states for Africa” that would make the continent a superpower. He also believed in the power of cinema and wanted to harness it the way the U.S. used Hollywood to influence world culture.
Hesse was always at his side, carrying a camera and photographing the prime minister. He escorted him on his travels around the world and on his rallies at home. When Nkrumah was deposed, all these films were destroyed by his successors, who wanted to erase all evidence of his rule. Fortunately, the negatives were stored far away in London. Hesse is on a quest to have them restored and shown in Ghana. A student of his who is also a filmmaker in her own right, Anita Afonu, becomes Hesse’s ally. Through their on-camera interviews, passion and reverence for cinema comes clearly through, making the film a touching paean to the power of the artform and the people behind it.
Also on camera is Edmond Addo, the proprietor of a run-down outdoor cinema in Accra. Afonu hopes to screen Hesse’s work there. Through his testimony and memories, the filmmakers add a poignant note about the grandeur and unique appeal that cinema held decades ago — a status that has since been diluted with the proliferation of other entertainment media. The film’s best passages occur when it calls back to the nostalgia of cinema as a revered art.
Additionally, the presentation of the relationship between Hesse and Nkrumah is intriguing. One had ultimate access and the other had ultimate power. They developed their own language: Nkrumah used a walking stick even though he didn’t need it, in order to signal Hesse what he wanted him to shoot. Hesse believed in Nkrumah and particularly in his dream of a united Africa, something he still carries with him today.
Afonu becomes the voice of a different generation, one that sees Nkrumah as the dictator he became. The film pointedly calls out Nkrumah as a dictator but never questions whether Hesse’s documentation of his rule was akin to propaganda, since it was all on his own terms. “The Eyes of Ghana” shows little of Hesse’s footage, which is understandable since most of it has not yet been restored. Documenting that time of a young independent Africa is certainly a worthy endeavor, even though the film never discusses the artistic and moral merits of these documentaries.
Hesse remains a fascinating protagonist from beginning to end. His gentle way of speaking invites the audience to relax and listen, as if they are listening to a favorite older relative tell them of the good old times. His rapport with Afonu palpably carries through the film’s narrative. Their shared belief in the importance of cinema breaks through the screen, contagiously inflicting those watching, striking a hopeful tone to cherish and admire that also prevents the film from appearing earnest and naive.
In 2025, it’s inconcievable to hear Hesse talk of his hope of Nkrumah’s dream of a united Africa becoming a reality. With a genocide in Congo and war, famine and ethnic cleasing in Sudan, to cite just two of the conflicts currently happening in Africa, that dream seems impossible. Yet Hesse’s good-natured conviction and the appealing way Proudfoot frames him almost make it believable.