Hot Picks
|
|
|
Blood & Oil
Nigeria 2019
produced by Rogers Ofime, Ike Neliaku (executive), Dudafa Waripamo-Owei (executive)
directed by Curtis Graham
starring Olu Jacobs, Richard Mofe-Damijo, William R. Moses, Taiwo Ajai Lycett, Ifeanyi Williams, Ivie Okujaye, Dayton Sinkia, Bradley Gordon, Michael Walker, Willie Ebiegberi, Chuks Chyke, TK Bello, Tanya Petukhova, Carly Cowalski, Al Kellici, Michael Douglas Cake, Lord Frank, Apel Orduen, Chris Odey, Daniel K. Daniel, Wale Adebayo, Emmanuel Amangala, Consider Numo
written by Samantha Iwowo, music by Ernie Sample
review by Mike Haberfelner
|
|
Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!
|
|
|
|
|
40 or so years ago, a small village in the Niger Delta sold its oil
drilling rights to a global oil corporation due to promise it would thrive
from the deal - only the wealth never manifested, the money made from oil
went to the company and the locals were hired only for menial jobs if at
all. And an oil spill eventually contaminates the drinking water, slowly
killing the population. Of course, many locals are dissatisfied, none more
so than Gunpowder (Richard Mofe-Damijo) and his gang of militants who are
determined to do something about it - but doing something about it in
their case means kidnapping one of the higher ups of the corporation,
Powell (William R. Moses), to force the gouvernment to revoke drilling
rights. But the operation goes wrong, and with the help of the local town
elder Timipre (Olu Jacobs) manages to escape. Now Timipre isn't 100% on
Powell's side though, he just knows what is right, and kidnapping and
hostage taking is simply not right. And of course, Powell isn't really the
bad guy here, either, he has been sent by the company to find out where
they have gone wrong and make amends with the locals - and even if that
should be only for public relations, it would still be a win-win
situation. But in the current conflict, subtleties like this are bound to
fall on deaf ears. Thing is, when helping Powell escape, Timipre
accidently hands him over to extremists (and gets captured himself in the
process), and suddenly being taken hostage by Gunpowder and gang doesn't
sound like the worst-case scenario anymore ...
Blood & Oil is a political thriller that really shows how
things ought to be done, even on a budget: While portraying its problem in
broad strokes, it makes clear that there are no easy answers, that there
are multiple sides to the issue at hand, and it stays close to the people
affected, but as a heterogenous group who each have their own points of
view that might be conflicting but not exclusive to one another. But that
all doesn't make Blood & Oil a preachy film at all, as there's
plenty of tension and suspense throughout, of violence and excitement,
carried by a solid cast, a tight directorial effort and beautiful
camerawork. And frankly, this is a testament of how far Nigerian film
has come in recent years, leaving many a first world low budget effort in
its shadow.
|
|
|