What I have seen today is the height of it all. Ok agreed our greatest dream as filmmakers in Africa has always been to be internationally recognised but this recognition had to come based on our own cultural identity which we portray in our films. Not because we have shun our own cultural personae for a completely western mode of expression. Dressing, talking like white people is one thing but bringing this bluntly to television is another thing completely.
Personally I was happy when the Ghanaian film industry burst out showing their worth with their smooth English clean cut technique what I definitely did not bargain for was the horrid really horrid sense of naturalism which they aim to portray in their films. I just watched a Ghanaian film My Worst Experience by director Willie Ajenge where a girl small girl is asked to simulate in an explicit scene a ‘blowjob’ the very next scene is followed by another small girl being raped with an explicit display of their private parts. In another Ghanaian production the film Dirty War starring Jim Iyke and Yvonne Nelson opens with a gruesome sexual scene between two actors...the list goes on. Where are we heading to?
We are Africans and will never ever be western no matter how effective the concept of a global village has spread out amongst us. There are things that are said things that can be seen and other that are simply intolerable. How dare we! Nigerians...thank God for their religious background at least try to keep within the frameworks of decency. They remember that at all times the films they are making is for an audience which has a conservative cultural background. What are these Ghanaian filmmakers trying to prove? That they master the art more than Nigerians who spurred video filmmaking? Do they even have a censor’s board in that Ghanaian film industry? How can they let films like these be released, what is the aim of their filmmaking? What is their concept?
I think they are just being very callous and are derailing the future generation by overriding our cultural identity in favour of the voyeuristic western culture. What would an eighteen year old be thinking after watching a film like this? This is so wrong Africa lets wake up. We have very little that is left untainted about our cultural heritage. Let us stop trying to fit in the western world which is far from our reality. So is this the kind of art we want to display in our films? Is this African art? Use the filmmaking techniques but not to the detriment of what makes us African!
Tell our own stories from our perspective!
