Everybody knows that Hollywood is the cinema capital of America. Most movie buffs are aware of Bollywood in India. What may surprise many film-goers is Nollywood, the center of the Nigerian film industry, produces a share of the world's African comedy movies. Nollywood produces a significant contribution to the global film pool. Yoruba, a tribe in West Africa and South Africa also have active film enterprises.
One film that is perhaps ironically billed as a Nigerian comedy is "Four Forty" (2012). Most of the scenes are played out on wooden tables and chairs in the gardens of a dusty village. Even with English dubbing, it is hard to find the comedy in this tale about a dull middle aged fart who takes advantage of an innocent teenager who is confined to a wheelchair. Eight weeks later in the story, the girls' parents are frogmarching her to his pad, demanding he take her off their hands. It is not hard to work out what has transpired here. Maybe the funny comes out in the sequel.
"The Gods Must Be Crazy" (1980, South Africa) is a series of five films set in Botswana. The final three, all of which were unofficial sequels to the first, were produced in Hong Kong. The central character of the film is Xi, who lives in a tribe that is completely oblivious to the rest of the world. The film catapulted N!xau, a Namibian bush farmer, to fame as the most noteworthy actor to come out of Namibia. The farmer-cum-film star died of tuberculosis while out on a hunting trip.
Among other things, "The Mangler" (1995) serves to illustrate the broad spectrum and richness of the genre. Here, a folding machine based in a laundry turns out to be possessed by the devil. Directed by Tobe Hooper and based on a short story by Stephen King called "The Night Shift, " which was published in a Stephen King anthology. The critics weren't impressed but with that pedigree and story line, it's a hard one to pass up.
The Yorubans are a group from West Africa, specifically the southwestern regions of Nigeria and Benin. Over the years, they have emerged as a genre of their very own in African film circles. The most recent offering is "Eko Onibaje" (2014), a story about a man who joins a group of crooks that fraudulently obtain money by posing as disabled.
Burkina Faso's "Yaaba" (1989) does not meet the classical criteria of a comedy film but it is one of the most significant to come out of Africa. It illustrates a modern conundrum of having to choose between modernization, and hence westernization, and retaining its own cultural identity.
Another less than funny but not insignificant film was "The Nightingale's Prayer" (1959, Egypt). One of the most salient movies ever made by Egypt, the story is about gender inequality in Arabic culture. Directed by Henry Bakarat, the film represented Egypt in the "Best Foreign Language Film" category in the 32nd Academy Awards in 1960, although the film was not accepted as a nominee.
One of the best things about the intriguing genre of African comedy movies is their accessibility. Abundantly available for streaming over the Internet, hopefully someone will one day identify the comedy in Nollywood's "Four Forty." For a cinema buff looking for something out of the ordinary, this is a fantastic option and would make a great category for trivial pursuit-type questions.
One film that is perhaps ironically billed as a Nigerian comedy is "Four Forty" (2012). Most of the scenes are played out on wooden tables and chairs in the gardens of a dusty village. Even with English dubbing, it is hard to find the comedy in this tale about a dull middle aged fart who takes advantage of an innocent teenager who is confined to a wheelchair. Eight weeks later in the story, the girls' parents are frogmarching her to his pad, demanding he take her off their hands. It is not hard to work out what has transpired here. Maybe the funny comes out in the sequel.
"The Gods Must Be Crazy" (1980, South Africa) is a series of five films set in Botswana. The final three, all of which were unofficial sequels to the first, were produced in Hong Kong. The central character of the film is Xi, who lives in a tribe that is completely oblivious to the rest of the world. The film catapulted N!xau, a Namibian bush farmer, to fame as the most noteworthy actor to come out of Namibia. The farmer-cum-film star died of tuberculosis while out on a hunting trip.
Among other things, "The Mangler" (1995) serves to illustrate the broad spectrum and richness of the genre. Here, a folding machine based in a laundry turns out to be possessed by the devil. Directed by Tobe Hooper and based on a short story by Stephen King called "The Night Shift, " which was published in a Stephen King anthology. The critics weren't impressed but with that pedigree and story line, it's a hard one to pass up.
The Yorubans are a group from West Africa, specifically the southwestern regions of Nigeria and Benin. Over the years, they have emerged as a genre of their very own in African film circles. The most recent offering is "Eko Onibaje" (2014), a story about a man who joins a group of crooks that fraudulently obtain money by posing as disabled.
Burkina Faso's "Yaaba" (1989) does not meet the classical criteria of a comedy film but it is one of the most significant to come out of Africa. It illustrates a modern conundrum of having to choose between modernization, and hence westernization, and retaining its own cultural identity.
Another less than funny but not insignificant film was "The Nightingale's Prayer" (1959, Egypt). One of the most salient movies ever made by Egypt, the story is about gender inequality in Arabic culture. Directed by Henry Bakarat, the film represented Egypt in the "Best Foreign Language Film" category in the 32nd Academy Awards in 1960, although the film was not accepted as a nominee.
One of the best things about the intriguing genre of African comedy movies is their accessibility. Abundantly available for streaming over the Internet, hopefully someone will one day identify the comedy in Nollywood's "Four Forty." For a cinema buff looking for something out of the ordinary, this is a fantastic option and would make a great category for trivial pursuit-type questions.
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