MY WORLD OF MOVIES

From what I remember of  Nigerian television in my own world, we used to keep a date with the NTA on my Grandfather’s massive TV set (the one with the sliding doors) and of course we would switch it on like way before the startup time of 4pm and sometimes sit there watching those coloured vertical lines with that high pitched tone that goes on in the background. Sesame Street was every kid’s delight then (the ones who had access to TV anyway) and I was not an exception. In addition to that was my weekly dosage of “Tales by Moonlight” on Sunday evenings, with that  lovely lady who sits kids down and tells them stories(I can’t believe I haven’t found her name out till now). And yes, I remember the story telling programmers anchored by Jimi Solanke on weekdays. My then lovely NTA Kaduna had programmes I loved, like the series “Wisdom is an asset”(Magana jari che  in Hausa) featuring Mallam Kassimu Yero. I have so many others I cant really recollect, but for me those were the glory years of Nigerian Television (not like I had access to the foreign media then anyways).

I wonder why I enjoyed Nigerian Television then, and I ask myself if it was a case of “when the desirable is unavailable, the available becomes desirable”. Or was it just that as a child I didn’t really have a choice as to quality. Its actually hard for me to conclude on that as I cannot remember the value system of the 4 year old me. I remember I used to also enjoy(?) watching Indian movies, and could go with a Chinese movie till the final credits start to show up, but I doubt if I can sit to watch 5 minutes of any of those now. Well, maybe I know better now.

Growing older brought me in contact with the VCR and the world of foreign movies. I remember that all we knew about a foreign movie then was the shooting, and the “actor” (protagonist) having the “last fight” with the “boss”(antagonist) and of course the ‘boss’ getting killed and the ‘actor’ coming to kiss that babe the ‘boss’ was holding for ransom before that scene. Don’t  blame my outlook then on the little kid, rather blame it on Roger Moore, Sean Connery and   Pierce Brosnan  who allowed themselves to be used in acting out the ‘007’ legend for me to watch. I guess my exposure to the foreign media made me to take stand on my desires in a movie, and I would say I had a falling-out with the Nigerian movie industry, popularly called Nollywood.

I have my personal philosophy as to what a movie should do to the audience, and I think any movie should do at least two of the three things I believe a movie should do. I believe a movie should entertain, educate and inform.

For a movie to entertain, it certainly has to have the comic effect that brings smiles to my face, and I remember getting so much doses of that from the “Charlie, Charlie” (Charlie Chaplin) series on NTA. Of course there are movies solely designed for the comical purpose, but I believe that this effect can be incorporated in movies that do not have the comical theme.

I know that I have learnt things from movies I wouldn’t have known from school or from reading books. Movies have whet my interest in certain world events and thus driven me to make research about them. I remember how movies like “Escape from Sobibor” and “Nuremberg” drove me to make some personal research on WWII and on the man Adolph Hitler.

Even though a movie is not expected to always be about current affairs, or a substitute to the daily news, I believe that a movie can inform. Movies based on true events, or adaptations from true events can inform the uninformed on some renowned subject matter. Maybe that’s why I don’t enjoy Sci-fi and other inanimate movies, I can hardly relate to them or get informed in any way.

I ask myself if I am biased against Nollywood, or maybe I just have this notion that anything that comes from Nollywood is bad.But then I realize that I have had cause to trash some American movies for their poor production standards. And oh yes, I have seen a few (the functional word here been few) movies made in Nigeria that have caught my interest. I have always loved the productions from Mr Tunde Kelani of the Mainframe Productions.

Where does one draw the line between patriotism and placing a high demand on quality? I know I wouldn’t place a price on a good Nigerian movie production because I have this sense of collective achievement when I see a high quality production from the stables of my Nigerian brothers. I am particular about some things in my world, and sometimes when I am forced to watch some Nigerian productions, I spend most of the time criticizing the work so much so that I lose taste of the whole thing. I sometimes wonder if some of our producers/directors assume that the people watching their movies are daft or stupid. Some presentations can be so bereft of initiative and originality. I once saw a Nigerian movie that I would call a slapstick presentation of the play “Wedlock of the gods” by Zulu Sofola. I felt like crying not just because it was so glaring a case of plagiarism, but the fact that I had taken part in acting out that play while I was in secondary school. When would our Nigerian producers understand that a good production would always speak for itself, and that we deserve way more than the vermin they serve to us in the name of movies? You think am harsh in qualifying their products as vermin, then wait till you have sampled the mindset of majority of the ones who are die hard Nigerian movie audiences. I do not subscribe to Nigerians having the American mindset because I don’t myself, but I believe that we deserve to have a qualitative mindset in our own Nigerian way.

I am not a movie freak, but I have had quite a number of memorable encounters in my world of movies, and I believe that

WHO IS A MAN?

I just came out of a meeting where one of the participants was introduced as preparing to get married next month. In the words of the moderator “…next month he becomes a man…” and I began to argue with that thought line in my mind, asking myself the question “what makes you a man…? Because honestly, am not sure I have a definite answer to that.

I grew up knowing that the man is the one who fathered you, as in, he doesn’t get to carry you in the womb. He is the one who’s last name you get to bear in school. He is supposed to be the one you ask first when the fees are due in school. All of these are the realities I grew up with as a child, but as an adult, should I still see these things as the defining factors of who a man is?

Going back to what prompted all these thoughts in the first place, marriage. My bible tells me that “…therefore shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave unto his wife…” (Gen 2:24). I have heard pastors quote this passage at the few wedding ceremonies I have been at, or at marriage-related seminars, stressing the fact that the bible says A MAN was going to leave and cleave, and not a boy, obviously trying to buttress a point, but it always leaves me wondering who gets to be called a man. Obviously, my moderator at the meeting tonight had the notion that marriage made you a man(and I have heard so many people tow that line of belief as well), but I have also heard pastors say from the bible that you had to be a man BEFORE you get married.

In exploring various thoughts, I know that there were cultural practices(some of which may still be in existence), which required teenage boys to go through initiation rites, after which they became men, not minding the fact that these rituals didn’t go on for years, not even months. I have raised this point because, although it is no longer a common practice, there was a time and in different cultures too, when it was the acceptable norm and I do not think we are light years wiser than those who carried out such practices. I see no difference between this practice and the beliefs that you become a man as soon as you get married. After all, they both say an event makes you one.

To some people, you become a man as soon as you can impregnate a woman, and though I do not have ready medical statistics nor evidence, but I should think that any 15 year old would be able to do that(correct me if am wrong). I know I would get knocks for this thought, but I have heard an Igbo adage which though I do not remember verbatim, it basically says “Once a young boy starts checking out his father’s wife, then it’s an indication that has become a man”. Now I ask myself when the average teenager starts having feelings for women, whether he admits it or not, and the answer I get is… (Never mind just put yours, lol). So if I understand that cultural point of view, you become a man when you can impregnate a woman.

Now another point of view: you become a man when you have a job and can take care of yourself. This view gets me upset because I have seen people get out of school and stay five years without getting a job. We all know how ‘easy’ it is to get a job in this part of the world, so then I ask myself “if an external factor way beyond your control is used to measure who you are, can we be said to be fair in our judgments?’ I mean, if I have my way, I would want to leave school and get to start working immediately at the peak of my profession. So technically, my childhood friend with whom I happen to be age mates and we both left school at about the same time, gets to become a man five years before me if after school he immediately got a good job, but I had to wait for five years to get a decent job. Hmm, how logical a thought!

I would want to present a final viewpoint; one which I find interesting because it really has no clear cut demarcation as far as I am concerned. I am sure a lot of you guys would say been a man is about been matured. Now, the question is “what exactly defines as maturity?’. I have had people tell me that maturity is of the mind, but that always sounds as vague and elusive to me, as the concept itself. Don’t get me wrong, I totally accept the word on its own merit, but who defines what? It obviously has nothing do with age, and call me “over-logical” if you want, but I always have a problem with concepts that you cannot pin down and nail on the head. With such concepts, people very easily begin to speak from both sides of their mouth.

On a lighter note, I would want to share an incident with you. I was sitting in church next to a young lady, and in the course of the sermon ,the pastor made a statement, saying “…let all men be liars, but let God be true…”, and the lady mused to herself( but loud enough for me to hear) “…yes pastor, all men are liars…” You and I both know they were obviously talking about different ‘men’.

And that has always left me asking the vital question, “Who is a man”…