A Storm Was Coming

About the movie

The movie starts showing an actor declaiming the official report of the Spanish Governor to the authorities in Madrid about the detention of King "Sas Ebuera" (actually Esasi Ebwera) of the Bibu people in Fernando Póo (today Bioko), Equatorial Guinea. This territory was (from the European point of view) a colony of Spain, but King Ebwera resisted the Spanish occupation. The Governor shows his satisfaction with the end of the Bibu resistance and with the whole operation, which he described as bloodless and clean.Then, the voices of descendants of the Bibu are presented, severely questioning this official report while old and new imagery of the places mentioned is shown, including the now completely deserted former capital of the Bibu, Maiyé.Further lectures of further reports show how even some Spanish authorities (particularly a judge) question the real amount of violence used in the operation and its effects on the Bibu population. The Spanish troops are accused by the descendants of committing a real massacre, including the murder of children and practical enslavement of dozens or hundreds of Bibu. The report of the death of the king is also severely questioned, indicating the strange omissions and contradictions in the reports. The dungeon where he was held is indicted and the demands from Madrid of further investigation on the matter, which was never held.The movie does not attempt to establish a final truth, giving contradictory versions a voice. It ends mentioning the attempts to rescue the Bibu language by Prof. Bulá Bitema, and a poem about King Ebwera is being declaimed by him and his daughter.