ON GENEVIEVE NNAJI’S LION HEART
The problem which has over the years arisen in Nollywood, is the blatant attempt to commercialize the industry at the expense of the insistence good scripts and good executions of the story on screen. This has caused Nollywood movies over the years to take a back seat in the cinematic preference of the supposed elites. Or generally people who watch movies, looking for something fresh to excite them. I haven’t been much of a film person in recent times, yet I am acutely aware of this. Looking at the Nollywood industry today, there is almost like a demarcation between two class of actors and filmmakers: the ones who were sort of pioneers of the industry and barely make movies these days and once in a while, make some movies which are usually hyped and considered to be of great standards, because of certain qualities present in them, mostly missing in that, produced by the other class. In this class, there are also filmmakers who are not necessarily veterans in the movie industry, but moneyed people in the entertainment industries who have taken up filmmaking as a hobby with some spectacular success. The other class are the less buoyant ones who make use of amateurish or less famous actors in their casts, which is okay. Their storylines are often not very impressive, but the main fail is to me, the fact that the people who direct those movies are very bad directors. Because even with no professional experience as a director, each time I sit behind the screen to see these movies, I end up seeing a lot of things which should have been done better and differently. Forgive my digression, my essay is about LION HEART.
What makes a good movie are: a good story line (with the settings and interesting characters), good execution by the casts, good directing which for the most parts, shapes the execution. An average story line (not a bad one) could still make a good, albeit not excellent movie if the roles are well executed by the casts. And based on these yardsticks, I think LION Heart is not the best movie to come out of Nigeria, it is not excellent, but it is a very good movie, and an attempt at a fresh perspective and not a bad attempt at a business film.
The strength of the movie does not lie in the story itself— even though it was a good story, it was not excellent. The strength of the story lies first in the beautiful execution of the major roles by the hexagon of Pete Edochie, Nkem Owoh (my favourite), Genevieve Nnaji, Onyeka onwenu and the antagonists, Kalu Ikeagwu and Kanayo O Kanayo. The roles were almost perfectly suited for the casts. And in the course of the movie, I could see a thing or two borrowed from Hollywood and Bollywood respectively. This is especially seen in the way the new CEO’s footstep was recorded as he walked into the meeting where the conference call which enthroned him came to an end. And yet there were times towards the end, where I thought the plot was a little too tidy, but I guess the job was done—because prior to watching the movie, I had read where a friend talked about how kindness brought better luck than connection and money, of which I gathered was of this same part of the movie of which I talk about. And considering that this is a movie centred on the saga and ethics surrounding a business venture whose ship was being rocked, the movie was not very well researched. I personally wished the pains were taken to fix the aberrations which wouldn’t have taken the duo of a good researcher and playwright more than a few days to fix in the plot. That would have lent more sophistication to the movie—as opposed to the sometimes shallowness.
But again, the setting was beautiful, likewise the cinematic quality, and most importantly, the execution of the roles by the cast. The parts of the movie where Igbo was spoken lent more credence to the originality. And there is no doubt that Genevieve Nnaji had her eyes set on the highest quality, setting out to make the movie. A gesture rewarded when Netflix bought the rights of the movie for $3.8 million, which is a lot, from the Nollywood standard of things.
While LION HEART is not the best home video I have seen and had its flaws, I still think it was a good movie. I am sure I will enjoy taking a second look. It is that good. It gets four stars from me.
