Mami Wata is a lot of things, to a lot of people. She is a trans-Atlantic goddess present in more spiritual traditions in West Africa, the Caribbean, and the Americas than can be counted. I know Mami Wata from my study of African art history. Visuals of her are tremendously varied, and there are few hard and fast rules of how to depict her. She could have a mermaid tail, or a great snake entwined about her shoulders like a shrug, or both; she could be black, or white, or brown depending on who is worshipping her and the histories underpinning that worship. But she is always a fierce woman, a force of nature in the truest sense, connected not only with the ocean but everything that body of water represents for folks on both sides of the Atlantic. 

There are two local museums in which I have studied or worked. In one, their wooden Mami Wata figure is believed to have caused a flood in the galleries, necessitating that she be given proper offerings and adulation occasionally henceforth in order to prevent her wrath from reoccurring. In the other, Mami Wata's bare feet sculpted in wood came to the museum badly damaged; in consultation with local adherents and artists, the curator and conservation staff repaired her feet with the addition of silver metallic high heels, a perhaps surprising symbol of modernity but completely consistent with the goddess's syncretic and ever-evolving role in visual culture. 

In Mami Wata, the goddess is at her most elemental. She is the ocean, she is woman, and she is balance: for everything she gives, she takes something in return. The question that the characters in the film grapple with is: In an increasingly modern world, what should be the role of spirits such as Mami Wata? How much power should be granted to them, and how much should society reflect that power? What if she is not real, and never was? Shouldn't society move past her, and focus on what is scientific and empirical in order to improve everyday life? 

The answer that the film provided through its protagonist, Prisca, is a lot like those silver shoes. Prisca is proof that tradition and modernity can exist simultaneously and in harmony: that the opposition between the two is artificial. She participates in the worship of Mami Wata and is deeply bound to village culture and traditions, but she parties and drinks and rides a motorbike everywhere she goes. Unlike her adoptive mother, Efe, whose adherence to Mami Wata leads her to reject life-saving medical treatment for the village from an urban doctor, Prisca knows that the trappings of modernity which improve quality of life are not something to be feared, nor something that will somehow diminish the spiritual power Mami Wata. She fights to protect her people, swims into the sea to rescue her friend, harnesses the mysterious power of the sea to reduce those who use violence for personal gain into nothingness. When we finally see Mami Wata not merely as the ocean but as an embodied goddess, we see Prisca. Of course we see Prisca. 

This movie is imperfect, and from a filmmaking perspective it probably deserves a half star less. The script is repetitive, the dialogue slow and sometimes redundant, the editing and directorial choices sometimes showing a lack of refinement. But it is also stunningly beautiful, shot in high-contrast black and white with a production, makeup, and costume design to make full use of this cinematography choice. Some shots are overflowing with the breathtaking detail borne of that carefully cultivated contrast: printed fabrics with intricate designs, patterns of white paint on glistening black skin highlighting each actor's features while making them feel otherworldly and mythical; cowrie shells and pearls shimmering in gravity-defying graphic hairstyles; and all of it against a house with walls painted white with darker figures of ocean creatures and the goddess herself as decoration. It is a feast for the eyes that, while feeling true to West African culture, is never too specific, never too regional, never too historically precise. Just like Mami Wata, this myth transcends the boundaries of the wide Atlantic ocean. 

There is a lot more I could unpack and write, but for now I'll just conclude that despite its flaws I am grateful to have seen this film and the ambition and intentions behind it.