A Night at the Movies

I’ve tried over time to write a little bit about some of the more ordinary things about Naija life. One popular activity I should also mention is movies.

Nigeria, it would seem, has a thriving, albeit budget, movie industry. They seem to be churning out movies by the dozen both in English and local languages (well at least Yoruba anyway). It seems anyone with a camera, a few actors and a compound can knock together a film in a few days and get it distributed. A lot of people tend to rent them from video clubs (which are everywhere). You also can rent dodgy, in cinema VCD copies of American movies (from Thailand and Malaysia).

The Nigerian movies are not to my taste generally. They are really melodramatic, with lots of death, tears, adulterous relationships leading to unwanted pregnancies, and many with Nigeria’s other favourite – juju (magic). A lot like to use really, really budget special effects too. I wish I could describe how painfully amusing yet terrible they are. Plus they are extraordinarily long. With two discs and most popular movies having a part 1 and part 2 (ie. 4 CDs of viewing before you see how it all turn out). I do however tend to like the village setting movies made by one particular group.