Concord Times (Freetown)
Gbanabom Hallowell
21 November 2008
opinion
A few months ago I watched a Sierra Leonean movie called Aminata. I attempted to write a critique of it but soon forgot about doing so. What I wanted to write about Aminata has some relationship with what I am now writing about Sierra Leone's newest movie, Crack. I use the term 'newest' not in the creative sense of the word, but rather in the chronological sense, speaking to the emergence of Sierra Leonean movies. Before Aminata and Crack, there have been a few other movies in the past. The majority of these local movies hardly retain the memory. Much of Sierra Leone's creative arts are pervaded by didactics oftentimes undermining the entertainment value in them.
The same is true of our poetry as it is true of our music and of course our movies. A major reason for this constraint in the local film industry is that the production of Sierra Leonean movies is few and far between thus slowing the learning process. However, it is gratifying to know that the Sierra Leone music industry is now attempting beyond the didactic domain as hundreds of artists have emerged singing with unbridled and creative freedom. Very soon, I hope, the same will be seen in the movie industry.
Crack portrays a communal narrative. It is the story of the material desires of a school girl and her aggressive attempt at pursuing her egoistic interest, roping around her various categories of people in the landscape of pollinating relationships. Private and public spaces interweave to create a societal melodrama of the good, the bad, and the ugly. Betty, the lead character is otherwise the several cracks peeling off the various bonds in the relationships.
She is the crack in her family, resulting to the acrimony and eventual separation of her parents; she is the crack in the relationship between Tony and Jebbeh resulting to the separation of the two lovers; she is the crack in Jebbeh's family, resulting to a split between the parents and the subsequent death of Jebbeh's brother; and above all, she is the crack in society representing moral collapse.
As well, the other characters are themselves little cracks. Amadu's lackadaisical behavior makes him a crack in family values as he fails to set a bright example for his family; the uncle's immoral relationship with Betty makes him a crack in his own family. But ironically, even though Jebbeh's brother is shown addicted to the crack substance, he himself cannot be said to be a crack. His murder of Tony and his own subsequent death are the results of the cracks in the community.
Cinematographically speaking, Crack is one Sierra Leonean movie that could reduce the influx of Nigerian movies into Sierra Leone if Premier Media and other film agencies continue to give us the Crack quality and beyond. The proliferation of Nigerian movies into Sierra Leone explains the cinematographic hunger in Sierra Leoneans for good quality Sierra Leonean movies. Although the Nigerian movie industry is not excellent in cinematographic regard, yet they are far ahead of their Sierra Leonean counterpart. Crack marks a turning point in Sierra Leonean movies. Apart from minor faults in sound and picture, generally, the sound effects and pictures in Crack are commendable. For the first time in the history of Sierra Leonean film industry, you could tell that you are watching a movie and not a theatre drama.
A primary difficulty in looking at Crack is to map out a story line that can embrace the ambitions of the producers. Crack is a movie that has at least three authentic storylines to start tracing the narrative: one can follow from the collective household of Amadu, or from the angle of the 'uncle', or from the tirade of the lead character, Betty. There are obvious problems though in trying to niche the complex whole either from Amadu, who comes to us more like a robot, or from the uncle who acts more as a costume than as a character. Regardless of the inebriate nature of his character, Amadu is supposed to represent the virtue-conscience of morality from whom his wife and daughter are to draw inspiration. At the same time he is to bring to the fore an irony of purpose.
Amadu falls below character. He is both intermittent and predictable and eventually loses his essence after his daughter gains her independence and moves out of his house. Irritatingly, the producers keep dragging him through subsequent episodes. There is a rather disturbing drawl of dialogues between father and daughter, father and mother, and mother and daughter that I feel sends the entire movie off focus. Much worse is the disorganized attempt by Amadu to put his family in order again after his wife had moved over to their daughter's new apartment.
The movie would have had a better story to tell were there no Amadu in it. Amadu's wife who is equally inconspicuous should have been made a rounded character of a single-mother with a strong bond of relationship with her daughter, and not made to raise hell over the expensive gift of a DVD player one moment (especially given the falsity of it all in light of her exaggerated poverty she eventually cries betrayed her) and then another moment becoming an opportunist. Amadu and his wife remain underdeveloped characters to the end of the story. They are lacking in blood and flesh and in essence. Betty had better acted the movie all on her own. And that is exactly what she does, metaphorically speaking and does well.
The problem with Crack is that its ingenuity collapses under colonial didactics. There is no doubt that the original intention of the movie was to use the substance of crack alongside the metaphorical cracks in family values, ethical principles and the general moral bankruptcy in the Sierra Leone society to send out a compelling message to Sierra Leoneans. But several conspicuous flaws emerge: the delayed insurgency caused by the crack substance, the fatal flaw of having the movie's anti-climax around the death of the crack boy rather than around Betty the crack girl, the stage-managed characterization of too many flat personas, and the forced intertwining of the melodramatics leave the viewer with a rather skewed conclusion: that much is not expected from a character cast of crack-heads. Comedy is overdone to a point that satire is lost.
Commercial movies must first be made for entertainment purposes and not necessarily to want to aim at promoting a deontological 'lesson' (unless otherwise such movies are commissioned for specific purposes). Premier Media which picks up from Spence Production is arguably a conservative organization. The two playwrights, Sheriff and Spencer are as well conservative artists. The two have collaborated in a few theatre and film projects before that I have seen. In Crack they seem to only slightly venture into 'wild drama' but held back in places where they could have pumped in some 'movie' actions to fire up the imagination the movie was intended to ignite.
As far as characterization is concerned, (and I had begun talking about that) there is only one real character in the movie. That is Betty. In fact the verve, creativity and prowess she brings to the movie is unmatched by any of the other characters. Betty is not the typical character that Sheriff and Spencer have been creating. She eludes their hands and acts her way through the story as she wants it to go. By her singular actions, it could be said that once the authors had created her, she took control of the scripts.
As I had stated earlier, the other characters, apart from Tony who, literarily speaking, managed to pursue Betty around, are outright flat and un-engaging. Several others like Amadu and his wife, the uncle and his family do nothing. You will notice that I am talking about the character and not the cast. In fact the cast in the roles of the characters I have condemned are even more culpable for the trouble with Crack than are the characters.
In spite of the shortcomings of the movie, crack like Aminata has again sent hope to all Sierra Leoneans that all is not lost in the local film industry. Sierra Leone is a country where the art is traditionally not attracting funding, so Premier Media should be commended for putting in their best in the movie.
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