Confusion Na Wa

Confusion Na Wa (2013)

Runtime: 106 minutes

Directed by: Kenneth Gyang

Starring: Ramsey Noah, OC Ukeue, Ali Nuhu, Tunde Aladese, Gold Ikponmwosa

From: Cinema Kpatakpata

Here's something different from me, a Nigerian movie. Thankfully it's watchable and not bad. I just wish that some things would have been done differently... you'll see what I'm talking about below: 

In my life I have only seen a few movies from Africa. Thus, I figured I should see this film-which I spotted on Netflix Instant-and despite it being on Instant for everyone to see, at least judging by IMDb and this site, not too many people in the Western world have checked this out; it's unfortunate as it's fine. The title, it's based on the Fela Kuti song Confusion, which to me deserves a thumbs up.

The movie follows a group of characters in the span of a 24 hour period. Two disillusioned young men (both can be described as being a ne'er-do-well, and one of them does something very heinous & gross to a young woman) steal the phone of a sleazy guy and they attempt to blackmail him. That's the main plot; we follow other people and see that in the final act they are all connected to each other; it includes a guy who deals with the stresses of his corrupt job, a corrupt police force, a subplot straight out of Moonlight (except that homosexuality is still looked down unfavorably there, as I've heard for years now. Thankfully the movie itself doesn't look down upon homosexuality), people cheating on each other, and more. Thankfully there are a few characters around who at least have some morals.

The movie is definitely uneven and I wish there wouldn't have been that gross subplot, even if it was important for the third act; they should have done something else instead. That said, I can still rate this movie as fine. The general plot could have been done in any country but for me it was interesting to see life in Nigeria, whether it was what people wore, seeing what a decent-sized city there looks like, the music, the beliefs, etc. English is the main language in the country so the dialogue you hear here, it's mainly English with a movie of the local dialect known as Igbo. I only know that the “Nollywood” scene exists but I haven't even really seen clips of too many films from Nigeria so apperance-wise I can't do any comparisons but I can say it looks professional.

In addition, there is some rather amusing (if some rather vulgar) dialogue which made me laugh and there was more talk of The Lion King than I expected; the highlight there was a rather interesting theory of what that film was really all about. If you enjoy dark comedies and/or films where you follow disparate characters over a short amount of time that meet up with each other, this is worth a shot.