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| Bob Ejike |
Dr Ola Balogun’s recent acrimonious attack on the Nigerian film
industry came as a rude shock to most of the country’s moving picture
practitioners. Majority of Nollywood film makers murmured their indignation
because of the pioneering role Dr Balogun played in the creation of the
Nigerian film tradition. But it is my considered opinion that by publicly
disowning Nigerian film and acidly castigating the professionals, Dr Ola
Balogun has nullified the hallowed consideration accorded him as one of the
pioneers of Nigerian film. The doomsday undertone of the doctor’s tirades are
to say the least repugnant and reminiscent of the ‘market woman’ criticism that
Nigerian film has faced from disgruntled seminal columnists, misguided elites,
former specialists, former this, former that, seeking relevance where they have
invested no effort.
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!
