I WATCHED ELESIN OBA,THE KING’S HORSEMAN; SO YOU (DON’T) HAVE TO. (NO SPOILERS)

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• Social issues historical drama, tragedy
• October 2022
• Odunlade Adekola,Shaffy Bello, Deyemi Okanlawon, Jide Kosoko,Omowunmi Dada, Olawale ‘Brymo’ Olofooro

This emotional movie was co-produced by Ebony Life tv studio and Netflix. It was adapted for the screen and expertly directed by the late Biyi Bandele. The movie is based on a 1975 play by Nigerian author, Wole Soyinka called ‘Death and the King’s Horseman’. It was set during World War II and based on real-life events in the Oyo empire.

Having watched Biyi Bandele’s exceptional directing in blood sisters and the movie adaptation of half of a yellow sun, I was eager to see his interpretation of this story. Especially as I have read the play by professor Soyinka. I was even more excited to see Brymo (musician) make his acting debut. I am also always eager to watch Nigerian history or folklore brought to life.

PLOT/SYNOPSIS

The story revolves around the Elesin Oba (played by Odunlade Adekola) and his day-long journey towards fulfilling his destiny as one fated to die with the king of the land. A man known to be given to ‘fleshly desires’, his momentary pause proves a deadly mistake and leads to an unexpected and tragic end.

If I hadn’t read the book, I would still perceive the plot to be predictable and almost boring. It was 1-hour 36minutes of the usual high budget Nigerian cinema movie.

Although well-directed, it seemed to me like this movie could have been cut down by a few minutes if all the singing and dancing was reduced. It made some scenes appear to drag a bit and start to bore. It also started to look like too many things were going on at the same time in some scenes

With regard to character development, this movie gets straight to the point. The strongest characters in my opinion were the Elesin oba and Iya Oloja (Shaffy Bello) who delivered their roles convincingly.

I felt like some characters in the movie were unnecessary or could have been given a chance to contribute more to the story. Joke Silvia and Taiwo Lycett’s roles seemed to me like an attempt to add more big names to a movie already saturated with the usual Nollywood actors. Their roles contributed nothing.

The fact that the Oyibo characters didn’t need an interpreter to converse with the locals left an almost sour taste in my mouth guys! So much for originality!

Jide kosoko’s depiction of a man caught between his job and cultural beliefs was somewhat comical and his pidgin amusing.

One of my favorite scenes was the dialogue between Olunde, Elesin’s son and the district officer’s wife. Truly, one man’s culture may never make sense to another. I also think the character of olunde was somewhat abruptly introduced in the light of his important role in the movie.

I must commend the production design for the effort in making the setting believably pre independence/colonial era looking (did you see that vintage car?). One cannot fault the on-point camera angles, the non-fussy costumes by Nike Davies and accuracy of the police officer’s uniforms which all perfectly fit the narrative.
The film’s makeup artist deserves their flowers don’t you think? They went beyond the usual chalked up beard we see in some Nollywood movies. I almost didn’t recognize Odunlade.

Apart from a scene where the sound design with crickets on a dark night seemed to almost overpower, the background songs seemed to mostly work with the film. I particularly liked brymo’s score (fan bias perhaps?).

I enjoyed the film’s use of parables and satire but if I had heard the name Elesin Oba chanted one more time, I would certainly have burst a vein! It was clear who he was in the first few scenes of the film guys! We didn’t need a per second reminder!

“The odour of my shame has gone far and wide. It needs no hunter’s dog to find it- Elesin Oba

We also see in this movie, the effort made by colonial masters to erase whatever cultural beliefs or identity they couldn’t understand or felt would be problematic to them.

This film reinforces the importance of family and duty as well as the fact that complacency often comes with consequences. A rather sad reminder that particularly hits you at the climax of the movie. It also strongly echoes our belief in destiny, the reality of mortality and courage.

Final thoughts

On a scale from zero to five, I’d give this film a three for effort. Translating a stage play into a movie is no easy feat and beyond the unidirectional plot, a great deal of effort seemed to have been made to do an accurate delivery of this story. I feel like the characters could have been more interesting with more tangents added to keep viewer’s attention.

I would definitely recommend this film to anyone who likes historical drama and folk tales.

– Dr Chandus