I Have Watched Afamefuna.
And this is my take, it is by no means exhaustive, because I am not very knowledgeable in these things. Mine is just a lay man’s appreciation (and my own understanding, which could be different from yours) so there is no room for unnecessary arguments on Easter Sunday.
Upvotes.
It is a beautifully rendered work. The cast, top notch and beautifully delivered. Especially the Ọsọ ahịa scenes. The boys finished work, even on the apiriko aspect.
Storyline was great , multilayering of themes excellent, bringing in many social ills plaguing young people into one plate was awesome, then spicing it up with the culture and traditions aspect gave it a thumbs up.
Drug menace, Area Boys challenges, corruption and how people who serve diligently in public service without tainting their names end up with nothing (Mr. Okoli, Afamefuna’s father).
Another aspect I love was sticking to the narrative that an apprentice that served with diligence gets beautifully rewarded while that who serves crookedly also receives his rewards.
This tends to tackle the growing narrative that masters are becoming devious by using Nwa Boi and leaving them with nothing.
Then the ezi aha ka ego link which highlighted the title I’ve read few people linking the Afamefuna title to the battle by Afamefuna to reclaim his son from the blackmails of Paulo. But I disagree.
I think that title came from efforts by Mr Okoli to pass his noble character on to his son Afamefuna whom he took time to admonish on importance of good name relative to money. Something that’s becoming scare in our society today.
In my thinking, that is the primary theme, moreso, that name was deployed to maximal use when the boy used it at Apapa Wharf that helped him secure release his master’s goods from the Customs.
I remember my father telling us that the greatest asset he’s leaving for us is his name
That’s the first Afamefuna.
Second Afamefuna is efforts at speaking Igbo language. And how each scene highlighted that aspect. Even the criminally minded Paulo used the inability of Afamefuna’s son to speak Igbo as a point scorer.
The language is primary career of the culture, thus the name. Losing the language means losing the name.
Scripting multiple themes into a single story is to the credit of the script writer. She’s good.
The role Kanayo played was excellent. It highlights that an elder sees almost everything and understands nuances of the challenges young people face. Even when they do not talk about all they see. Moreso, how he defused the tension and took Afamefuna on a crash course on apiriko was excellent.
That he picked Afamefuna ahead of Paulo tells the story about how elders keep their cards to their hearts till last minute
I could go on and on.
Very beautiful rendition.
Downvotes.
No perfection with works of art.
Immanuel James Ibe-Anyanwu raised an issue with the captioning above which equally triggered my attention. The use of “An” instead of “A”.
Second, is the appreciation of time and periodicity of the storyline which expects objects in a particular scene to resemble what obtains during the period being portrayed.
For example, as at the time Afamefuna and Paulo were still young apprentices under Chief Odogwu, which should be about 10 years back, the new N1000 notes displayed shouldn’t have any place in that scene. Rather it should have been the older one. This may be minor but speaks to detailing quality.
Second, Afamefuna came to Chief Odogwu as a teemager, my ordinary mind puts that period to be in the late 2000 or early 2010s, so I didn’t expect to see the new electric powered BRT bus in the scene at all at all. There should be vraisemblance in the story line for plausibility sake. This might be minor but also a minus to eyes on the ground.
Last I expected Afamefuna to have told Paulo that a child belongs to the man who paid the bride price, that the only recompense for the sperm donor is the body heat from sexual excitement.
Overall, it is a beautiful job
I give it 8/10.
