Set in Enugu, 1947, Foreigner’s God is Ifan Michael Ifeanyi’s remarkable take on a Nollywood colonial fantasy/drama.
The star-studded cast tells the story of Pepper, an English Documentary photographer. It starred Ini-Dima Okojie (Anya) and Henry Brinton Coke (Pepper Claude). The latter alongside Ikenga “Ayke” (Paul Sambo), his research assistant, journey into the heart of the Igboland. They are in search of “The Mask of Anyanwu”, a cultural artifact of the Umuchu people.
Pepper finds a culture that tags certain women as witches and punishes them without a fair hearing. Provoked by the injustice, Pepper, despite Ayke’s warning not to, decides to fight for these women. Anya, a young woman, and native of the community was one of them. The Englishman meets her and quickly falls in love.
The plot is a novel concept for Nollywood and that is an exciting prospect for audiences across the nation. It was well-paced as well. There were a few areas where it did lag a bit but not so much as to ruin the entire movie.
Interestingly, the movie barely had Igbo actors. Nonetheless, the language was spoken to perfection with a particularly outstanding performance by Ini-Dima Okojie. One of the roles embodied nearly to perfection arguably was “Dim Odigbo” played by Sam Dede.
The pre-colonial era in the movie was virtually perfectly recreated. Though the plot may feel scattered in the beginning, with the captivating storyline, it all eventually merges together surprisingly well.
The cinematography in the movie is top-notch. The messages may seem to choke. However, it did great in covering sensitive issues such as racism, rape, gender-based crimes, and colonial-era slavery. Not only these but all issues that Nigeria faced in her colonial era and still faces.
Also, it showcases the average Nigerian’s tendency to want to flee the country in search of greener pastures.
However, I am yet to see a perfect movie, and so it turns out to be in Foreigner’s God. A few scenes were below par. One of such is the unexplainable African-American accent of the natives of an Igbo-speaking community. And, additionally how the supposed natives somehow all managed to speak nearly spotless English.
Added to that, Pepper Claude’s character is generally not interesting to watch. He didn’t have much of an on-screen presence. The actor didn’t embody the character satisfactorily.
Although the cinematography is great, the effect is lost somewhere in between. This is because the visual effects fall short, in the nowhere land between mediocrity and bad. The movie adopts Hollywood’s typical narrative of a problematic representation of Africa.
The story is centered on Pepper, a white “saviour” that the natives did not necessarily need. This is because the protagonist could have easily been any native of the Umuchu community.
Foreigner’s God isn’t flawless but its strengths make it worth the watch. The actors brought their A-game and executed the storyline quite well.
Looking for an intriguing barely explored genre in Nollywood? This fantasy drama is a great entrée.
Didi Dan-Asisah is an art enthusiast and critic. She lives in Lagos.
Ayodelé is a Lagos-based journalist and the Content and Editorial Coordinator at Meiza. All around the megacity, I am steering diverse lifestyle magazine audiences with ingenious hacks and insights that spur fast, informed decisions in their busy lives.
