Supa Modo is the most impor­tant super­hero movie you’ll see this year

Like oth­er chil­dren her age, the pro­tag­o­nist of Supa Modo is adamant that ​“Super­heroes don’t die”, but direc­tor Likar­i­on Wainaina’s heart­break­ing debut proves that this isn’t always the case. A super­hero film like no oth­er, Supa Modo fol­lows a Kenyan girl named Jo (Sty­cie Waweru) who takes flight from the harsh real­i­ties of life by escap­ing into a fan­ta­sy world of her own making.

At just nine years old, Jo is diag­nosed with a ter­mi­nal ill­ness that threat­ens to steal her away from the peo­ple she loves most. The walls of her bed­room are adorned with super­hero posters that inspire her to con­tin­ue fight­ing. But it’s not always easy. After she is brought home from hos­pi­tal, Jo’s sis­ter Mwix (Nyawara Ndambia) draws her own inspi­ra­tion from these idols and begins trans­form­ing fan­ta­sy into real­i­ty, encour­ag­ing our hero to believe that she pos­sess­es real super­pow­ers of her own.

Things start off small. First, Mwix asks Jo to open a tricky jar using her ​“super strength”, but it’s not long before our pint-sized hero is bat­tling shoplifters with the help of the entire vil­lage, who secret­ly ral­ly togeth­er in sup­port of Mwix’s cause. The only per­son who fights against this plan is Jo’s moth­er, who remains con­cerned at how this could affect her daughter’s well­be­ing in the long run.

If this all sounds rather heavy, it should come as a relief to hear that Wainaina also threads lighter moments through­out Supa Moda in a way that feels gen­uine with­out ever under­min­ing the grav­i­tas of the sto­ry. John­son Chege is charm­ing in the role of Mike, a friend who shares Jo’s deep root­ed pas­sion for cin­e­ma, and Nyawara Ndambia is painful­ly con­vinc­ing as Mwix, try­ing her best to crack jokes and keep smil­ing for Jo in the face of over­whelm­ing odds.

None of this would amount to much though with­out a strong lead to anchor the film, and it’s here that Supa Modo proves itself to be a true heavy­weight in the super­hero genre. Mwix explains to her moth­er that Jo real­ly is ​“A lit­tle super­hero,” and it’s hard not to believe that too, thanks to new­com­er Sty­cie Waweru.

Whether she’s fly­ing in her dreams or soar­ing through the sky in her very own ama­teur movie, Waweru imbues the role with an infec­tious enthu­si­asm that estab­lish­es Jo as much more than just a vic­tim of circumstance.

Leti­tia Wright recent­ly made Mar­vel fans sit up and take notice of young, black hero­ines thanks to her role as Shuri in Black Pan­ther, and now Waweru picks up that same man­tle, chal­leng­ing and redefin­ing the rep­re­sen­ta­tion of African women on screen. Not all heroes wear capes, but this one sure does, and she’s more inspir­ing than the entire ros­ter of the Avengers combined.

A love let­ter to the pow­er of escapism, a dev­as­tat­ing por­tray­al of grief and a Kenyan fam­i­ly dra­ma that defies stereo­types, Supa Modo serves as an impor­tant reminder that even when heroes die, they can con­tin­ue to inspire oth­ers long after they’re gone.