Things are definitely looking up for Nigerian Literature in Film with the recent news about the adaptation of Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Adichie into a movie. It is heartening that the financing is majorly from Nigeria (private equity), though the British Film Institute is also providing some funding.
Film Bloggers are reporting that the movie will be a directorial debut for another Nigerian talent, Biyi Bandele, playwright, stage director and author of Burma Boys. (If you have not read Burma Boys, you should look for it, I also hope that would be made into a movie someday.) While these roles have not been confirmed, Thandie Newton is billed as Olanna, with Chiwetel Ejiofor and Dominic Cooper for the roles of Odimegwu and Richard respectively. I wonder who will act Ugwu, he was one of my favorites in the story, and of course Kainene, Olanna's twin.
Now, the producers of the movie are the same as those behind The Last King of Scotland (Forrest Whitaker won an Oscar for his role as Idi Amin of Uganda), and The Constant Gardener (Rachel Weisz won an Oscar for her role as an activist working in Kenya against Big Pharma). Actually, the main storyline of the Constant Gardener was based on true events in Kano - Pfizer was testing Trovan, an experimental meningitis drug, on children from poor homes without proper approvals from government.
Back to Half of a Yellow Sun, some commenters on the Shadow and Act Blog are not happy with the casting of Thandie Newton as Olanna. If you had asked me before now, I would have said that it should be an All-Nigerian cast. But that could've only been possible if it were Nollywood produced. Since it's not, I can understand the thought behind choosing the named actors. Thandie Newton is half-African, and more than that, she's a great actress and highly recognizable by both UK and the US movie goers. She has also been nominated for several awards, maybe this will be her first Oscar nod, and win?
Anyway, I'm too excited to worry about the politics of race at this stage. I wish them the best, and look forward to the movie. If you haven't read the book, now is the time to do so. I loved it, I laughed, I cried, I learnt a lot, and I highly recommend it.
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. When the Igbo people of eastern Nigeria seceded in 1967 to form the independent nation of Biafra, a bloody, crippling three-year civil war followed. That period in African history is captured with haunting intimacy in this artful page-turner from Nigerian novelist Adichie (Purple Hibiscus). Adichie tells her profoundly gripping story primarily through the eyes and lives of Ugwu, a 13-year-old peasant houseboy who survives conscription into the raggedy Biafran army, and twin sisters Olanna and Kainene, who are from a wealthy and well-connected family. Tumultuous politics power the plot, and several sections are harrowing, particularly passages depicting the savage butchering of Olanna and Kainene's relatives. But this dramatic, intelligent epic has its lush and sultry side as well: rebellious Olanna is the mistress of Odenigbo, a university professor brimming with anticolonial zeal; business-minded Kainene takes as her lover fair-haired, blue-eyed Richard, a British expatriate come to Nigeria to write a book about Igbo-Ukwu art—and whose relationship with Kainene nearly ruptures when he spends one drunken night with Olanna. This is a transcendent novel of many descriptive triumphs, most notably its depiction of the impact of war's brutalities on peasants and intellectuals alike. It's a searing history lesson in fictional form, intensely evocative and immensely absorbing. (Sept. 15)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
I'm proud of our Nigerian writers though,they're doing a great job in promoting us.That includes you Myne.
ReplyDeleteThank you 9ja-Great, we're doing our best.
DeleteThis book is simply fantastic, I cant wait for the film, I constantly check to see if Chimamanda has any new work out.
ReplyDeleteTo echo what A-9Ja said, Nigerian writers, including you Myne are a credit to us as a Nation
Thanks PL, I did not really like her last short story collection, so I'm also waiting for another novel :)
DeleteSadly i have never read the book, i guess i need to get a copy
ReplyDeleteYou won't regret reading it. It's worth every dime and minute.
DeleteI'm also excited about the film adaptation, but unlike you, I'm definitely not thrilled with the cast. I would have preferred to see a bigger Nollywood presence. I can see Genevieve playing a better Olanna than Thandie Newton
ReplyDeleteWhile I am a fan of Genevieve, I do not think she's a better actress than Thandie, and I do not think race should affect an artist's work if they're as hardworking as Thandie has proved to be. And you'll agree with me that she will outsell Genny in the international market which is where the movie will be marketed. I'm just hoping they shoot in Nigeria and use more local actors for the other roles so the Nollywood practitioners get some international work experience.
DeleteThen Nollywood have taken the initiative to produce it and then cast Genevieve!
Deletelessings
ReplyDeleteI read this book about 2/3 years ago, it was an interesting read. I just loaned it out to my Cameroon friend and she is enjoying it. She told me she has been laughing out loud on the bus while commuting to work because many of the things she reads are familiar to her and its like a taste of home.
I would like you (if i may suggest) a couple of books for you to read if you haven't already, in between your busy schedule.
1: Bite Of the Mango by Mariatu Kamara
2: Book of Negroes by Lawrance Hill
Too very good read my personal favorite is Book of Negroes, because despite its tough subject matter it was eloquently written with a magnificent flow that keeps your riveted page to page
Thanks for the recommendations Rhapsody. I'll check them out.
DeleteI'm seriously excited for the movie too however, i read Kola Boof's tweet last night that said a Nigerian Igbo women's group contacted her, OUTRAGED that Thandie Newton will star in "Half Yellow Sun". They planning Boycott cos she doesn't look African. She says she admires Thandie Newton's talent as an actress but COMPLETELY agree with those Igbo women outraged at her being cast. Like Prism said, i would have preferred Genevieve too. Anywhichway, i hope it comes out fantastic too
ReplyDeleteThere's no need being PC so I'll say we should slow down on the double standards. Sophie Okenedo, a Nigerian acted a Rwandan part in Hotel Rwanda, and she and others like Caroline Chikezie keep acting roles of British and American women, but we don't want others to act our roles? Their outrage would have made more sense if a white woman was cast.
DeleteMuch as I would have been happy to have a Nigerian, and even an Igbo actress take the role, the final decision rests with the funders and producers and I think their choices make sense.
Ooohhh...I'd love to see it as a movie and I'd love to see Chiwetel in it. He's one of my favourite actors. I'm a huge fan!
ReplyDeleteI am too, and I don't think he gets enough roles :)
Deletewoooooo-hoooo!!i cant way to see it
ReplyDeleteMe too, but they say 2013 :(
DeleteThis is awesome! I loved the book, and like you I also loved Ugwu's character. If you ask me, I think the producers made a wise decision with not having an all Nigerian cast. No offense to Nigerian actors, but they leave a lot to be desired when it comes to acting (Ghanaians are no better:-)). I wince when I watch those movies. Maybe I've lived outside for too long and now know what good acting looks like. For a movie like this to make it big, actresses like Thandie are the way to go. I can't wait to see the movie.
ReplyDeleteIt is obvious from their choices that the movie will be heavily promoted in Hollywood and the UK and so I support their decision.
DeleteBut hey, our naija actors are trying o, some of them anyway :)
The book was awesome... I borrowed it from a friend years ago and I'm looking to add a copy to my library very soon.. :-)
ReplyDeleteI think I will read it again, or just before the movie comes out.
DeleteI am impatiently waiting to see this film when it materializes. The book is one of the best I have ever read. Also looking forward to read Chinua Achebe's version of the Biafra story in his new book to be released this year.
ReplyDeleteMyne, I was proud to see you among the 50 most influential Nigerians of 2011. Keep up the good work!
Thanks Chris, and happy new Year. I didn't know Achebe was writing a book set in Biafra too. That should be interesting.
Deletehttp://nigeriantimes.blogspot.com/2011/11/there-was-country-personal-history-of.html
DeleteThere was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra by Chinua Achebe
Great, a really positive development
ReplyDeleteI totally agree.
Deletei didnt know chinua achebe is writing a book on the war too... It seems you cant be a complete Nigerian writer if you haven't written about that war. On the movie i think using a lot of Hollywood actors would do it a lot of good. Nollywood actors can be distasteful sometimes (no offence meant). Kudos to Adichie.
ReplyDeleteI think Nollywood actors are doing their best, but I don't think they can sell the big Hollywood production this is shaping up to be.
DeleteThanks for the info, Myne. I've had that book for more than a year and I've been scared to read it because Chimamanda said she almost went into a bout of depression and was so emotionally drained from writing it. But I'd planned on reading it next so I might as well get to it. :)
ReplyDeleteYou'll certainly run a gamut of emotions but I didn't find it that depressing, more like thought provoking.
DeleteI love this book so much. I cried. It was amazing. Chimamanda is truly talented. I'm excited for the movie. I hope Bandele does justice to it!
ReplyDeleteI hope so too. It was my best book the year I read it.
DeleteKudos to Chimamanda for the novel... I am surprised and happy that this will turn into a Hollywood movie for the world to see... Well, of course we want our stories to cast nollywood actors but we have to put that aside and project sophistication and standard to make it worth watching... Olanna's character was interesting and I hope Thandie will project her very well!!! goodluck to the producer!
ReplyDeleteIndeed. As much as Nollywood is doing OK, I still think Hollywood has a better standard. I also hope they come out with something we can all be proud of.
DeleteI loved this book and did not realize they were going to make it into a movie. I am so excited!!!! Thanks for sharing :)
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome. And how you dey?
DeleteI'm excited about this news!!! Right now I'm reading the book and its amazing.
ReplyDeleteI wonder who is going to act as Odenigbo tho.
I think Chiwetel Ejiofor will be Odenigbo :)
DeleteThis is Exciting! "A Love Rekindled" is next.
ReplyDeleteYes o, LOL....
Deleteoh my goodness, this is supa exciting....when does it come out?
ReplyDeleteI hear it's for a date in 2013. Too far away eh?
DeleteThere is more to this issue than skin color and race. This is also about white hegemony and phenotype genocide. Igbo women come in a range of colors, yes. But Igbo women also have a certain subset of features, aside from skin color, specific to their ethnic group.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate this protest because, the way things are socially engineered, the wide phenotype range of blacks, or blacks of European admixture/descent (non-sub-Saharan lineages), has evolved a people indifference to the fact that genocide traits specific to our sub-Saharan African ancestors continues via the social perpetuation of what/who is to be desired aesthetically - i.e, how they align/measure along the rule of white-ness or European-ness.
When certain physical traits specific to our indigenous unmixed sub-Saharan ancestors start being breed out of a population of SSA descent, people don't make an issue of it. This has happened several times among African descended populations, based on the influences that deemed sub-Saharan African features undesirable and unacceptable. This was applied in Puerto Rico where most of the population bred lighter, and were happy to see a mass exodus of afro-Puerto Ricans during the mid-1900s. This is currently happening in the Dominican Republic in regards to hair texture - any hair texture close in proximity to the hair textures of indigenous un-mixed sub-Saharan peoples is shunned, regarded as 'dirty'. This happens through the black world when people express that they wish to date non-Sub-Saharan descend people, or mixed people, because they desire a posterity with features that are less SSA - lighter skin color, 'softer' features, features more averaged between SSA and Nordic Caucasian bloodlines, silkier hair with looser curls, etc...
There's also the ideal, which spans across the entire aesthetic spectrum of the black race, that having European/Caucasian ancestry is more acceptable (desirable) than not having this ancestry. This can be seen in the minority, but prominent elite, European descended and identified mixed race population of Angola. While many individuals from this small ethnic group have physical traits close in proximity to the non-mixed sub-Saharan descended counterparts (brown/dark skin color, wide noses, curly and tightly coiled hair, etc...) it's the fact that they have European ancestry/identity that makes them elite over the rest of the indigenous population.
The same ideal was applied historically when African-American slaves repatriated to African, namely Liberia and Sierra Leone - the Americo-Liberians and Krio. The white Europeans used the close proximity of physical traits between the Africans of Westernized lineage/admixture and the indigenous un-mixed Africans as a way to penetrate the indigenous people, as they were not able to successfully do prior, by putting the new breed blacks in positions of authority over the non-colonized/non-penetrated blacks. The close proximity in phenotypes allowed for more social influence between the two groups, and the white colonialists used this to their advantage.
ReplyDeleteWe've, collectively, become passive in this continued genocide - the driving factors being commerce, industry and the all mighty dollar. Thus, people become blind to it in the name of social acceptance and mobility. The media is a major tool applied in conveying the social messages that influence the masses into these practices.
Sure, a non-Igbo woman could play the role. But why does she have to be half white?
Why is it that anytime Hollywood makes a movie about Africans they can't be more authentic in their casting?
What is wrong with the way non-mixed indigenous sub-Saharan African look that they can't cast them to portray these parts?
There are plenty of well trained, seasoned and talented un-mixed sub-Saharan Africans to choose from both in Black Hollywood, Nollywood, Gollywood, the Black Hollywood of South Africa...even in the Haitian movie industry. So, even among blacks WITH admixture, with European ancestry, and/or with Westernized lineages, why can't someone with broader features that are closer in proximity to what actually Igbo people look like play this role? Hell, Austria's movie and film industry has several season, trained and talent Aboriginal actors as well.
This genocide of SSA people has not ended. We need to start speaking out. People need to wake-up.
Wow, CCN, that's a long epistle. But to be honest, I couldn't relate much of it to be topic at hand.
DeleteI need to go read my borrowed copy of the book asap o. so I can relate better to what/who would be my ideal Odenigbo/Olanna. Looking at Thandie though, i think if she adds some pounds to her frame, she'll do just fine.
ReplyDeleteThis argument reminds me of 'the help'. Does it matter who tells the story so long as it is told? The Biafran genocide is one story that younger generations of Nigerians don't know much about, yet it's a very important part of our history.
Me, i trust Hollywood to do a good movie!