Nollywood Themes Are Deep Like Rivers
10 Jun 2011 Leave a Comment
Last night I watched an African movie titled Total Love. The tale had a pretty good premise (despite a few developmental hang-ups). An ex-military general’s only child thinks she’s deeply in love with a handsome African man residing in Canada. Daddy (Olu Jacobs) hasn’t completely let go of his military ways, so he invites his daughter’s cutie (Van Vicker) to their luxurious compound in Nigeria and commences to torturing the poor guy… military style. Daughter gets fed up and fakes her own disappearance. Daddy and cutie bond, daughter shows back up, and the rest, as they say, is history. If you’ve ever seen a Nolly or Gollywood film, you know their split—split in two parts to be exact. The summary I just gave is from disc one. The father tells his daughter, Louisa (Jackie Appiah), that the man she loves is not right because he does not possess the heart of a soldier. He explains that she needs a man who can protect her, provide for her, and create strategies to maneuver around his own feelings to accommodate hers.
I thought the old man’s argument was quite developed when I finished watching disc 2, which featured the father shedding his soldier mentality and falling for a twenty-four-year-old woman (Tonto Dikeh) who only meant to use him for his healthy bank account. Louisa returns home when her father calls and tells her that he is about to marry the woman, and hires an investigator to trail the woman to find out what she is all about. She digs up dirt and tells her father, who forgives the woman without knowing her crime. In the meantime, Louisa’s husband is in Canada cheating because he feels abandoned and lonely (his words). Her father ends up begging his son-in-law’s forgiveness, but only after admitting that the soldier’s heart he spoke of in part one is hogwash.
But there was something of substance in his disc 1 speech. If you look past the patriarchy and stereotypical hogwash of the role he was impressing on her husband-to-be, he was speaking to the heart of marriage, love, and friendship, right? As partners or friends or lovers should we not protect our mates at all costs? Give what we have to make them happy? And not put our own selfish feelings ahead of theirs? The daughter’s husband cheated because he couldn’t get past his own selfishness. He hurt her deeply (her words) and ended up on his knees begging her forgiveness. She exhibited the heart of a soldier by looking past her own pain, but she did something else when she gave him another chance. A soldier does not always act out of love, but moreso, out of obligation or duty. She didn’t give her cheating cutie another chance out of duty, but out of love, right?
The father, on the other hand, shed his soldier stubbornness and allowed room for compassion and forgiveness. This made him easier to love, but he was still stern with his orders. When he learned the young girl had been deceiving him he told her that she did not have to. He had given his heart freely and anything he had was hers. “Whatever you are doing,” he said with tears in his eyes. “Stop. Just stop it now.” And she did. I must say that Olu Jacobs is a very strong voice and image on screen. I have seen him in several Nollywood films and I would equate him to Hollywood’s James Earl Jones or Forest Whitaker. He commands attention and respect, and portrays a soldier easy.
In any case, I think he was onto something in that soldier’s heart speech. While those aspects he listed are important, which was proved when his daughter’s husband, who possessed none, cheated, more than just a soldier’s characteristics are needed. Olu Jacobs’ character proved this by only being loveable after shedding some of that soldier stuff. I think a more developed and complete ending to the tale would have been one where Jacobs reissued characteristics of a couple’s heart to his daughter. I walked away with the message that the heart of a relationship is entwined and one, but I’m not sure that it was the one that the director meant for me to gain. A lot of these movies end with fluffy happiness. I’ll admit that it’s refreshing considering all the mess we get from reality TV and Hollywood films. But these films have such powerful messages that I think they would get more recognition if those messages were explored.
In any case, the heart of soldier is an idea that resonates with me. I’m not sure what type of a heart one should aim for in a mate, but it must be one that blends well with their own. My husband has the heart of a businessman and I have that of an artist. We balance out, I suppose. I don’t think I’d do well with another artist. We’re crazy.
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