 |
| Bob Ejike |
Since Nigerian film broke out of the chains of NTA hegemony
about a decade ago, the high living and low thinking elites have sought to
prove their social pre-eminence by advertising their DSTV patronage. The
Nigerian media which, in any event thrives on negativity, initially wrote off
the film revolution as an exercise in mediocrity, while the often racist
western press dismissed Nollywood as ‘how not to make a film’. Admittedly, it
is how not to make a Western film, but it works!
The dominant theme in these destructive critiques questioned
the logic behind the very existence of a Nigerian film culture, the major
complaint targeted the overemphasised theme of witchery and sorcery. Indeed
this is the first time that the theme, rather than the acting, directing,
storyline, of films would be subject to mass critical rejection. Hollywood has
its recurrent theme of James Bond-style detective thriller, Indians emphasize
their peculiar brand of romance and Hong Kong repetitively features kung fu.
What then is wrong with Nigeria being known for horror films? What makes it
alright for the horror film to come from Hollywood, and fetish if is it comes
from Nollywood?
The form of Nigerian films as shot with digital video camera
format and packaged in VHS video and VCD was and still is maligned by
theoretical critics and most of the less cerebral critics unfairly compare low
budget Nollywood films with mega sponsored Hollywood productions. Much of this
criticism is academic and idealistic rather than practical, their tone often
rude and abusive. The tragedy is that beside irritating and occasionally
distracting the film practitioners, they have alienated many Nigerians and
Westerners from appreciating the original film genre that is uniquely Nigerian,
from sponsorship, acting, directing, production, concept designs, packaging,
advertising, publicity, promotion, marketing, distribution, to, in most parts
consumption. These mercenary critics who begrudge Nigerians the freedom to
express their cultures on their own terms, thereby denying them their, history,
customs, dance and oral tradition, and personality, are not fit to be called
Nigerians.
At this juncture, may I crave your indulgence to examine some
of the gibberish from Dr Ola Balogun, towards re-educating the obviously senile
doctor of films: Hear him: ‘the poorly put-together contraptions that are
inappropriately called films in Nigeria are generally considered with scorn by
people who are knowledgeable about films’ ‘the current crop of Nigeria video
productions, some of which are even shot on VHS video format, and most of which
are lamentable in quality at every level of production, whether it be
scripting, acting, directing, or editing...’. ‘The jumbled productions that
pass for film in Nigeria are of extremely poor quality, no matter from what
angle they are considered. Most of the scripts are childishly conceived,
amateurishly written, and thoroughly predictable within three or four minutes
of the commencement of action. The acting is mostly of the "market
woman" variety, and generally consists of untutored actors gesticulating
wildly and shouting at each other at the tops of their voices. When it comes to
photography, sound, directing and editing, what we see presented as Nigerian movies
are most often deeply embarrassing exercises that illustrate deep ignorance of
essential film values’. Dr Balogun does not spare the practitioners, ‘all one
finds these days are folks who are so busy boasting all over the place about
the non-existent achievements of the so-called Nollywood film industry’
Let us face it, the film of reference in Dr Ola Balogun’s
critique Yesterday, cannot be rationally classified as an African film in the
same sense that all Nigerian films are African, because even though the actors
are Africans, the movie was sponsored and directed by non-Africans. In his
blind fury, Dr Balogun fails to acknowledge the existence of any Nollywood
achievement, just because Nigerian films are shot on practical DVC rather than
the very expensive and elusive celluloid format that he knows Nigerian
producers can ill afford. Many Hollywood films are shot on DV, but no one uses
that as an excuse to deprive them of deserving awards, or tag them home videos
rather than films as is often the case with Nigerian movies.
Dr Balogun refuses to appreciate the simple fact that Nigerians
have been able to organise themselves into sponsors, producers, directors,
special effects and lighting personnel, actors etc, and launch a 50 billion
Naira annual industry from the ashes of his own films which were almost all
commercial failures. No one in his right mind dismisses a 50 billion Naira
annual industry with the wave of a hand. Whatever it is that brings in this great
fortune is what the Nigerian film consumers want and not the hazy and
impractical intellectual idealism of the Ola Baloguns. Nor does the learned
doctor recognise the positive effects of the films in tackling the endemic
unemployment situation which floored even The Federal Government, its impact on
the Nigerian video culture in general, leading to the explosion of tributary
industries like the video shops and video clubs, repair, importation,
production, editing, training etc. which have provided entertainment, jobs and
businesses for families across the nation, and beyond, thus making the film
industry the greatest boost to the nation’s economy since the discovery of oil.
Whether Balogun and the other area boy critics of Nigerian film like it or not,
Nigeria currently has the most exuberant video culture worldwide. His wrathful
declaration that he is, ‘hardly ever able to sit through even five minutes of
what currently passes for the output of the Nigerian home video industry’, is
unpatriotic if irresponsible. How can he see Nigerian films when he is
perpetually glued to DSTV, relishing in the splendour of South African lavishly
sponsored productions, where money and high-tech make up for talent.
It is of course true that due to poor sponsorship, many of our
films are amateurish, yet it is unfair and dishonest to write off all the
actors, directors, producers, executive producers and an entire national
industry as riff-raff, simply because the operators did not have the
opportunity to be schooled like Balogun. The hard but obvious truth which I
think is the real reason behind Dr Ola Baloguns onslaught is that these ‘illiterate
traders’ succeeded where he failed. He failed because he was not and still is
not pragmatic and imaginative. Dr Balogun was aping Hollywood producers and
shooting very expensive flicks in celluloid for a country that has very few
film theatres, that people are afraid to venture to, because of the menace of
armed robbery, so he made beautiful films that nobody saw and was internationally
acclaimed and honoured with several worthless plaques and trophies from Western
countries, while taking nothing worthwhile to the bank. The highly creative and
target-oriented Nollywood executive producers, being video merchants,
understood their market and knew that there was no point wasting millions of
hard-earned Naira to hire celluloid equipment where a simple DV camera will
give almost the same output. The average film watcher does not recognise the
format in which a film is shot, and does not care , as long as it is
interesting, therefore from a pragmatic perspective, the overemphasis of
celluloid production is as irrelevant as it is an unwanted distraction. They
went ahead to package their product in the video and VCD formats that their
customers were demanding for, which they can watch several times with their
families in the safety of their homes. They made the films primarily for their
immediate audience who were firsthand customers of their shops, known
personally to them and whose entertainment needs they were intimate with. This
is why the ‘illiterate traders’ succeeded where the erudite academic doctor
failed woefully. It is not that I expect the elitist Dr Balogun to become a
cheering fan of a popular underclass artistic revolution, yet pouring out his
frustration on the pages of the newspaper only further alienates him from what
has become the mainstream African film expression.
The major tragic after-effect of the unusually cruel criticism
that bedevils Nollywood is that the practitioners became afraid to venture into
the Western market because they have been erroneously convinced that their
products can not compete internationally. This is gradually being disproved as
Nigerian films gain recognition globally. Another of its negative effects is
that many distinguished filmmakers abandoned Nollywood to less able
practitioners. Notable among these experts are Taiwo Ajayi-Lycett, Funso Alabi,
Larry Williams, and Dr Ola Balogun. Lycett chose to invest her late husband’s
fortune in an acting school in the obscure Ejigbo suburb, Alabi escaped to the
English Department of University of Lagos, Larry Williams chose to run a
mushroom cultural dance troupe, until Lagos State University, Ojo, offered him
a place in their theatre, while Balogun opted for an unsuccessful highlife
band. I remember passionately appealing to some of them to contribute their
quota to the building of a formidable Nigerian film industry and they would not
have anything to do with the ‘untutored’ producers. Nobody begrudges them their
choice of course, but whenever occasion permits they never lose the chance to
insult the less skilled or talented people who zealously occupied the place
they abdicated. I once rose to the occasion in defence of Taiwo-Ajayi Lycett,
after boobster Cossy Orjiakor responded to her insult by charging that Lycett
was a nonentity in Nigerian film. I chastised Cossy in my Sunday Sun column
Klieglights, for responding to a woman old enough to be her grandmother, but I
was not lost to the fact that at least within the contest of this generation,
Cossy was right, Ajayi-Lycett is irrelevant. If you have wilfully chosen the
path of obscurity, stop abusing those who chose to weather the storm and give
the nation a buoyant film culture.
In his illusive grandeur from past glory, Dr Balogun feverishly
imagines that the world is still where he left off in the 1970s, when human
success was the straight jacketed exclusive preserve of the dull student who
was considered brilliant because he listened to the wisdom of his teachers and
reproduced it verbatim to earn honours degrees. Today all that wisdom has been
compressed into computer programmes and digital cameras, you no longer need to
be academically clever to be a genius. Bill Gates was a college dropout. You
just need to know which button to press, and Nollywood is pressing the right
buttons and churning out billions of dollars. How can Ola Balogun see this if
he is glued to DSTV, dazzled by programmes made in South Africa, a country
where the 13 percent white population still disproportionately control all the
means of production, occasionally featuring some black performers in their
productions to give the false impression of equity. That is not the kind of
African film we desire in Nigeria.
I watched OJ transform from an Idumota video marketer to a
respectable director with a multifaceted studio that would intrigue any
filmmaker anywhere. Inspite of the epistles of Dr Ola Balogun and other
armchair critics, Nollywood did attract many intellectuals like Professor Laz Ekwueme,
Sola Fosudo, Onyeka Onwenu, Pete Edochie, Olu Jacobs, Justus Esiri, Chief Eddy
Ugbomah, Dr Balogun’s contemporary) to mention but a few. Many of the Nollywood
critics are often appalled by what they see as ‘arrogance’ in Nigerian film
stars. This is mainly because they expect them to wear the cloak of inferiority
and kowtow before their Western counterparts. Luckily this is not the case,
because Nigerian actors are mostly university graduates who realize that they
are trailblazers in a very difficult renaissance. What Dr Ola Balogun refers to
as ‘boasting’ is called ‘promotion’ in entertainment parlance. Something his
own films unfortunately lacked, which is why nobody remembers them. Most of the
ad-hoc measures taken so far in producing and disseminating Nigerian films, may
be unconventional, but the fact that they have worked and bequeathed upon the
beleaguered nation an honest means of livelihood, which even The President
acknowledged as the best public relations initiative of the nation imposes on
all Nigerians the affirmative imperative to encouraged, not destroy it. As
Balogun has already been told, Nigerian films have been recognised by many
authoritative international journals and Western film festivals, but he should
understand that his mindset, which craves the accumulation of useless plaques
and trophies from Europe and America is not the foundation under which the
Nigerian film industry was built. Nollywood will surely evolve to the point
where even the mighty Hollywood will doff its cap.
How art the mighty fallen! Haba! For the great Ola Balogun to
withdraw into the cocoon of an obscure dance band, making absolutely no impact
for over a decade and condescending as low as a bolekaja critic smacks of
senility. Nollywood provided a great opportunity for Ola Balogun to finally
benefit from his efforts but he was blinded by his superiority complex, and did
not see it. Yet it is not too late for him to get on board and make the kind of
movies he believes Nigerians deserve. Sir, prove me wrong, not by the
all-so-easy abusive rejoinders that Nigerians have become notorious for, but by
shooting some quality films in whatever format, to show the world that you are
really better than these Nollywood ‘mediocre’.
Source: Fakafiki, 2005
And Ola Balogun's Reaction to another rejoinder:
 |
| Ola Balogun |
It is a pity that folks like
you insist on trivializing a very serious debate about how best to create a
film industry in Nigeria by mischievously depicting the whole issue as a
conflict between two different generations of film makers. This is absolutely
ridiculous. For the benefit of your readers, I would like to make the following
comments about your column entitled 'Ola Balogun's Nollywood phobia', which
appeared in ThisDay of August 6, 2005.
First of all, although you are
perfectly entitled to dislike Ola Balogun and his views as much as you wish,
you would have done better to try and enlighten the public on the issues that
were debated on the Funmi Iyanda programme in which I participated regarding
the present state of film making in Nigeria, rather than engage in sly
ad-hominem attacks by going out of your way to state that Ola Balogun might
deserve to be called a 'jack of all trades' (and master of none?).
I owe no apologies to anyone
for taking up any pursuits that I am inspired to involve myself in, the more so
as I am perfectly certain that I have had a reasonably productive career as a
film maker, a musician and a writer. Speaking about writing, it might interest
you to know that my first paid professional employment was as a trainee
journalist in 1961, shortly after I left secondary school. Even though so much
time has now elapsed, I do recall that one of the first things I was taught
about attempting to work as a journalist was to have a healthy respect for
FACTS.
Source: NaijaRules, 2005
No comments:
Post a Comment