Warriors: The sinister secret behind Maasai cricket, and how cricket conquers all #WakeTheLion

Yet another magnificent documentary on the sport beyond the realm of Test cricket, television, and franchises; this is on cricket at the barest, rawest, most humane level.

“It’s now to prove that we’re the greatest hero, we’re the lion in the desert, and as they say, the lion has just waken [sic] up”

The early photographs of Maasai warriors playing cricket released on the internet had seemed remarkably Facebook-share-worthy. They could easily have been the part of that National Geographic you had subscribed for at a discounted rate. It all seemed so spectacular — the rise through the ranks of a traditionally lion-hunting (well, not necessarily that) warrior tribe, full of fun and frolic and gay abundance and painted faces and bare torsos and red robes and unorthodox techniques.

Indeed, it is with these expectations that I started watching Warriors. It begins as expected, with Maasai cricketers making two-mile motorbike journeys to Il Polei, Kenya, with Vampire kits. The sport comes naturally to them, for cricket — batting and bowling — is based on the same principles as hunting.

We meet Sonyanca, the captain; fast bowler Jonathan and fast-bowling all-rounder Christopher, cricket man (?) Daniel; and the South African coach, Aliya Bauer. They play exciting cricket against a lovely picturesque backdrop, pulling and swatting almost everything.

And yet, the batsmen negotiate fast bowling (the real stuff) with bare heads and fists, and in sandal-clad feet, as Daniel contemplates the ‘perfume delivery’ against them, and does not hesitate to utter ‘chin music’.

So far, so good.

“I saw a woman who is known for cutting girls; I knew I would be next”

It is then that things take a sinister turn. We see people, men, sitting in a group. One of them, presumably a ‘village elder’, speaks in Maasai: “Families cannot marry off uncircumcised girls, and even if they have a baby before circumcision and then later undergoes the cut, she will not be able to marry.” An uncircumcised girl is “disgusting and should not be allowed,” near-echoes another voice. They even scorn at the fact that you can be arrested these days for touching a woman without her permission.

Female (and male) circumcision is still a common practice in the Rift Valley of Kenya, as are polygamy and child marriage. Girls as young as six have to go through the horror of female genital mutilation (FGM), and are thus exposed to HIV.

Little girls, barely in their teens, even tweens, recall being married away for cattle and sugar when they wanted to pursue studies. They know when they need to go through FGM, and precisely what will follow. They are in complete awareness of their ghastly future from the moment they learn to speak, to understand. The dread does not end with FGM and getting married off in their teens. Domestic violence is common in the patriarchal society.

The filmmakers could easily have chosen the easy way, for this is Kenya, where thousands of tourists flock to every year. The photography is breathtaking at times; the background score, soulful; but the makers made sure the focus remained on the theme, and did not deviate from the rise of the people, to take up bat and ball to fight for their women, to change a generation.

“They play cricket, sleep cricket, dream cricket, and drink and eat cricket every day”

In contemporary cricket, the rise of Maasai Warriors can be compared to only Afghanistan’s. They took giant strides in the world of cricket despite having no infrastructure, kit, or exposure to quality cricket.

Despite that, they wanted to fulfil the ultimate dream — of playing in England — and compete against teams from Test-playing nations in the amateur Last Man Standing Twenty20 World Championship. The final, after all, was at Lord’s.

“We can win the trophy”, say the Maasai Warriors in unison as they inch closer to fulfilling their dream. Warriors is a masterful artwork on their 2013 journey. It is about chasing a dream. It is about a group of amateurs practising hard, working out (without a gym), and trusting more on natural reflexes and athleticism; and slowly moving on to the finer aspects of the sport.

In the beginning catches are missed, bowling is wayward, and strokeplay is agricultural. Then things start falling into place. Softer hands, tighter line and length, bouncers, and shots on the ground emerge. They even discuss the googly. And, as if by some miracle, the smile is omnipresent throughout the journey.

“Please note: All net users to wear white conventional cricket clothing”

And so they move to England, to participate in Last Man Standing, to take on teams from around the world. They take a detour of the Long Room, and for once MCC does not mind; even they know all this is for a cause, and the Warriors will only make cricket brighter. Mike Gatting, Michael Vaughan, and James Anderson all make appearances.

The camaraderie is unmistakable. This time the gloves and pads and helmets and thigh-pads are on display, but they are not clad in cricket attire; neither are they inclined to practise in white. They lose match after match, and yet enter the field determined every time. They even perform a war-dance that can put the Haka to shame.

No, it is not a fairytale. They do not make it to the final at Lord’s. But instead, they return home as heroes. More significantly, they return home being important enough to counter the elders, to make statements, to stand up against FGM.

The brothers, representatives of the new Maasai generation, make a statement as profound as any: they vow to marry only if the women have not undergone FGM. And the elders accept, for the Warriors are the heroes now. They even want to adapt the sport that has taught an entire tribe so much. Indeed, they knew when to shed their egos.

This is, after all, a fairytale. And a wonderful one, at that.

All in all, this is yet another magnificent documentary on the sport beyond the realm of Test cricket, television, and franchises; this is on cricket at the barest, rawest, most humane level; and the makers have done a wonderful job. READ: Death of a Gentleman: Numbing, scary…

Warriors, by Heavy Soul Films
Director: Barney Douglas
Producer: Barney Douglas, Michael Elson
Director of Photography: Ben Wilkins
Editor: Julian Rodd
Music: Barney Douglas, Ali Gavan
Languages: English, Maasai
Duration: 87 minutes

WARRIORS is available on DVD and iTunes from 25 January 2016
www.warriorsfilm.co.uk
#WakeTheLion

(Abhishek Mukherjee is the Chief Editor at CricketCountry and CricLife. He blogs here and can be followed on Twitter here.)