Showing @ Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow, Sat 01 & Sun 02 Mar
Biyi Bandele / UK/Nigeria / 2013 / 111 mins
Adapted from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Orange Prize for Fiction winning novel, Biyi Bandele’s film is as beautiful as it is traumatic. Beginning in 1960, as Britain grants Nigeria it’s independence, it follows the blossoming romance of Olanna (Thandie Newton) and Odenigbo (Chiwetel Ejiofor), an intellectual with fierce political views. Their love story parallels with the Nigerian-Biafran War, a devastating conflict fuelled in part by clashes between the Igbo and Hausa people.
As with most book adaptations there will always be bits left out but this production skips along at such a pace, it’s sometimes difficult to tell what year you’re currently in. Despite this, Bandele is careful not to make ignorance of the subject a reason for confusion, with well-placed exposition coupled with old newsreel footage, explaining the beliefs behind onscreen racial and religious tensions. Nigeria is presented as a country with two personalities: one portrays the aftermath of colonialism; modern architecture and French wine – the other reflects the old ways; wooden-shack villages and Odenigbo’s passionately traditional Mama (Onyeka Onwenu). This theme of contrast is also seen in how Bandele represents Nigeria; depicting both the serenity of its natural landscapes but also its brutally violent past. Essentially a story about identity, whether personal or national, Bandele’s production is both intellectually stimulating and so visually intoxicating it should be deeply inhaled.