FOR more than two hours, the choice crowd at Filmhouse Cinema, Surulere, Lagos, was glued to Kunle Afolayan’s portrait of the ills of Western education. The much-anticipated film, October 1, is an admirable piece of surprise, dwelling on the unusual, untold, silent and unimaginable nefarious activities of the colonial masters, a deflation of the ‘beauty’ of their missionary adventure.
“Western education is evil”, Koya, the supporting actor, cried out, relating his agony, as a sexually molested boy of 14, in the hands of non other but the revered Reverend Father Dowling Colin played by David Reese. That popular slogan of the dreaded Boko Haram sect is one of the several take-homes which the writer, Tunde Babalola, uses as punch line.
In that psychological thriller, colonialism, Western education and the shortcomings of some religious leaders come under attack, and Police Inspector Waziri (Sadiq Daba) is almost going to share in the vengeance when Koya (Kunle Afolayan) comes upon him with rage. Is it a narrow miss that the knife does not slash the throat of the officer, who is already half- dead from the angry attack? Is it about his resolve not to take vengeance out of anyone, while he continues to play ‘deaf- mute’ to the memories of his sexual molestation?
October 1 captures the approach used by two young men who are vexed by a system (Western education) they expect will make them better humans, but which ends up corrupting their traditional upbringing; worse still, by men of same sex.
Koya returns quietly to his cocoa farm six months after being taken to the College in the city. But Prince Aderopo (Demola Adedoyin) remains until graduation. Although angered by the system, he is desperate to acquire Western education. The psychological effect is an erratic sexual desire that makes him to unleash terror of rape on innocent maidens in his native land.
While the work tries to provoke thoughts about events leading to the inevitable let-go by the colonial masters, the very dehumanising vice called rape is used in the most decent manner that leaves so much to the imagination of the viewer.
There is a creative chain effect in the drama, and rape is used to carry the message through-from subtle molestation of an unwilling child, a raging anger is born. It grows with him into the future, where he becomes more volatile than valuable to his society. Such is the mentality which, today, has pitched one ethnic group against another.
“Good or bad, it is your country now,” says one of the colonial masters. The phrase is apt in describing the shabby handover of the country’s affairs. And most painfully, it is a statement of mockery directed to an upright officer, who learns the honest policy from the colonial masters. But unknown to him, the policy is not meant for the locals, especially when the issue affects the white man’s interest.
Interestingly, ever since the film hits the Nigerian cinemas on October 1, it has continued to generate interests; and like the film’s initial title, Dust, it has continued to raise dust concerning some of those whispering talks about religions and some of the sexual anomalies of today.
“The rape of those boys is a well-known fact. These things occurred. Whether or not they happen in Nigeria, we can’t be certain. But we know they are quite worldwide and it’s a very open subject to deal with. I had to do research into the stories of people who were so abused when they were young. I wanted to make sure that when people see the film, they will be able to relate to it in a very sensitive manner. And I think Kunle did a pretty good job without putting it right there in your face. We don’t have to be in the room to know what’s going on, and he rightly portrayed the pain and anguish of these people,” Babalola said during one of the pre-release screenings.
I am particularly thrilled that the film appears to be living up to expectations. And if the figure of N40million-in-two weeks, as given by promoters of Half of a Yellow Sun is anything to go by, then, Kunle Afolayan has little to worry about regarding how to recoup his investment.
Indeed, the budget for October 1 is the biggest so far in the country, only next to Half of a Yellow Sun, which got more corporate funding in Nigeria and support from the British Film Institute (BFI).
But Afolayan’s achievements, so far, are worthy of praise – little wonder, he has been described in some quarters as the poster boy of Nigerian cinema.
Not resting on his oars, the young filmmaker has evolved other methods of subsidising the money spent on the movie, knowing that with huge taxation on cinema exhibition and the waiting piracy upon video release, meeting the N200million he has spent so far may be a far cry.
It is commendable that the filmmaker is operating the business side of showbiz, which many have not been able to engage effectively. Already, the film has enjoyed three private screenings for top Nigerian companies, including Oando Plc, Leadway Assurance, Standard Chartered Bank and DStv, with a promise of many more to come.
I listened with raft attention as he explained how N200million had gone down, even while the film was still in post-production stage, and I think that we need to understand that this is another phase in the history of the Nigerian motion picture industry worth emulating, if we must be seen and addressed rightfully as film making nation and not the home video title that has been used to describe Nigeria.
“We shot on RED cameras. All those forest scenes were shot using two pieces of 12K HMI light. To rent one 12K costs between N80, 000 and N100, 000 per day, and we shot for about 60 days. We had more than 30 lights on that shoot altogether. We had about 100 cast and crew members, living and feeding on the production. Post-production costs more than N20 million, which is why the film looks good. We tried to maximise the potentials that we have in-house. By this, the only thing we did outside the country was colour correction and grading. We used two RED cameras, each one costing over N100, 000 a day. Also, look at the costumes for that period as well as the cars. We had to refurbish some of those cars so as to create that period and put them to use. The CDI, the PFX (production effects) etc, in that town, are electric poles, electric wires, transformers and billboards, MTN, Airtel and Globacom masts all over the place. Did you see anything like that in the film? They were all removed at post-production. And PFX costs fortunes. If I start breaking it down, we will be here all day,” the filmmaker explained.
Perhaps, the most elated thing is that Afolayan believes, first and foremost, in the Nigerian market, even as he thrives to make international festival circuit with October 1.
“The reason we have spent so much is that we believe strongly that there is so much potential for this kind of film. How many viewers do we really need to be able to recoup that money? It’s not a lot. The good thing is that, you now have Filmhouse, whose cinema chain seems to be expanding every day. And they already said to me that by the time we are releasing it in October, they will be having about 20 screens compared to the six that we had when we released The Figurine and Phone Swap,” Afolayan stated.
Still trending in the cinemas, October 1, I dare say, is a must-see movie.
