The Sunday News
I WAS never a fan of Nigerian movies. I never liked them. I hate the acting — especially the crying women and the long pointless scenes whose main purpose seem to be basically to waste time than develop the plot of the movie. I shall not talk about the technical aspects of some of the movies. However, there were times when my family spent whole weekends watching African movies. They would watch one African movie after the other — from morning till sunset. And they enjoyed the movies. It was obvious they related to the stories, more so to the issues of African witchcraft and magic versus Christianity.
By the way why are Nigerian movies called African movies? When people in this country say I am watching an African movie they mean a Nigerian one. Does this mean Nigerian movies have come to symbolise the epitome of African movie making or is it because they are found everywhere and by default have become the easiest and most accessible example of African movies around? Hate them or not Nigerian filmmakers have transformed their sector to a billion-dollar industry that has, in the process, become a model of how to monetise the arts industry in Africa.
My family has moved on though. They are no longer crazy about Nigerian movies. They hardly scroll to the Africa Magic channels on our TV anymore. Now they watch Zworld, an Indian channel on DStv. Without doubt they have fallen in love with Indian stories. I have watched the Indian films on this channel too. The stories are told with little or no special effects. Their strength and beauty is in the power of their stories, simple stories deeply rooted in Indian culture. The acting in most of the films is not great. However, there is no arguing that the films are watchable. Their winning formula lies is their ability to locate the stories within the realm of their own culture — the Indian culture.
One thing lacking in most Zimbabwean films is a clearly defined Zimbabwean culture. Once we learn how to tell our stories within the context of Zimbabwean culture(s) instead of aping Hollywood we might win some good audiences. I have said this again and again. There are times when DStv feels really foreign and one really wants to watch a film or a programme that one identifies with. For most Zimbabweans the ZTV channel on DStv is quite embarrassing. There is rarely anything interesting there. There must be a deliberate policy — driven by political will — to support the creation of identifiable Zimbabwean content. We really need Zimbabwean stories — simple stories deeply rooted in Zimbabwean culture. Stories our Zimbabwean audiences can easily, and with pride, identify with.
Another example where stories rooted in culture have had great success are the South African soapies Muvhango and Isibaya. I know one of the reasons why Muvhango is very popular is because the story is set in rich Venda culture. The same can be said with Isibaya. It is a rich Zulu story that has taken millions of audiences by storm — evidence that one can never go wrong with one’s own culture.
Yes. The world has become a global village. Yes. Storytellers need to reach more people than just the communities they come from. But it is critical that in pursuing universality our stories do not lose their identity. It is fine for a Zimbabwean film or story to appeal to everyone, but it must remain deeply rooted in Zimbabwean culture. Its identity must never be mistaken. It is only in the arts that our culture can live, be preserved and be shared.
