‘My Father’s Shadow’ Resonates With Immersive Imagery and Outstanding Performances

The new Nigerian film “My Father’s Shadow” boasts a fairly modest, plainly heartwarming premise: two young boys from the countryside spend a day with their often-absent father in the capital city of Lagos in June 1993. The day in question, though, was when the country’s military leader announced the annulment of the recent national election, which center-left candidate M. K. O. Abiola had won. As the film attests, it was a tumultuous time in the young republic’s history, and the plot’s melding of the personal and the historical makes for an intelligent, sensitive meditation on fatherhood and Nigerian nationhood. Opening with movie projection-like flickers (the film was shot on 16MM) and eerie, almost Lynchian static images, the first complete scenes show the boys playing and passing time just outside their home. Younger brother Akin is eight years old and elder Remi eleven, and both occasionally bicker as brothers are apt to do. Glimpses of the house’s interior reveal a well-kept home, yet it’s also clear that poverty is present, as indicated by their rudimentary meals and paper action figures.At times, Remi seems to be waiting for someone to arrive, whispering, “I will see you in dreams,” to himself, hinting at how the movie is partly a memory piece. Director Akinola Davies Jr., who wrote the screenplay with his older brother Wale, has acknowledged how the film is loosely based on their childhood. Eventually, as if brought home by a strange wind, their father Folarin, or Fola for short, appears. The boys are cautious around him but content that he’s back, and also clearly let down when he tells them that he needs to go back into the city to collect his factory wages. Seeing their disappointment, he decides to take them with him, leaving a note for their mother/his wife, who’s at the local village.As the three embark on their journey into Lagos from a rural area, so begins the film’s exploration of the country’s socio-political and religious landscape in the early nineties. On a shuttle ride, an argument among the riders breaks out over the still-undecided election. One passenger questions whether an incident in which protestors were killed outside a military camp actually occurred, while another declares that the stratocracy headed by General Ibrahim Babangida, who only last year expressed regret over his handling of the election, won’t relinquish power. All the while the boys watch and listen, with their father stating his belief that Abiola would be declared the winner. Soon, everyone is ordered off due to the shuttle running out of gas, despite the radio reporting the government’s claim of a fuel shortage hoax. Once in the city, Fola and his sons visit a bustling street market, and the father points out landmarks, like the capital’s national theatre. But the mood is tense with the profuse presence of armed military personnel, with Fola’s unease growing stronger after being told by a coworker that he must return in the evening to get paid.Told primarily from the boys’ perspective as they notice everything around them, including their father’s apprehension, the film required finding two youngsters who could recreate the often off-hand way children observe and react to their surroundings and each other. Mr. Davies could not have done better than hiring real-life brothers Chibuike and Godwin Egbo as, respectively, Remi and Akin. Their performances represent some of the most unselfconscious acting by kids this reviewer has seen in a long time, providing the story with a genuine feeling of intimacy and brotherly contrast. As their father, British actor Sope Dirisu brings a paternal authenticity and emotional honesty to the role, particularly when the characters spend some time at the beach. With moments of Fola and his sons in the water recalling the Oscar-winning film “Moonlight,” the segment includes a heart-to-heart scene between the father and Remi in which the bond between brothers is stressed. This discussion and the entire memorably-shot seaside sequence make for an affecting centerpiece, though it concludes shockingly and ominously with a dead whale.Other ominous imagery haunts the film, such as frequent shots of big birds circling the sky. Sometimes, these portentous vignettes and arty interstitial cinematography drag the pace, and a sequence at a deserted amusement park could have been cut, despite the striking visage of its groundskeeper. Still, during the third act, the jittery auguries, unexplained moments, and occasional imagistic stillness begin to line up in one’s mind and transmit perspective as the situation grows dramatic: Fola is shown to be less principled than previously depicted just before everyone hears of the voided election.While Mr. Davies sidesteps portraying outright violence, tragedy enters the picture just as it ends, leaving one to wonder if the factual-but-fictional narrative jumped to wishful fantasy and back again. This ambiguity projects a sad, sharp shadow over the film, strengthening its themes of family and absence while simultaneously mirroring how the events of 1993 deepened the pall cast on the young, struggling republic.

‘My Father’s Shadow’ Resonates With Immersive Imagery and Outstanding Performances

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