True Citizens

You can choose to look at the movie true citizens as one of two things: either an opportunity to stare at beautiful faces for an hour and a half or an ideal representation of what the Nigerian youth should be.

Call me pessimistic though, even though I saw all of these were a minor backdrop to the ludicrousness of the entire situation. The movie is very high in ideals and 100% lacking in reality. Even Shakespeare was not this far removed from reality.

The scenarios were highly unrealistic and each scene seemed like an advertisement for one quote or the other. You know how people have Books of Motivational Quotes? Well this is a Movie of Motivational Quotes!

Maybe I understand why a person would refuse to take a bribe of 5 million even though they are living in poverty, from a moral perspective, but from which perspective does a person refuse an offer from an international football club because they are waiting to be accepted by their National club?

Call me unpatriotic if you will but it’s highly unrealistic and bordering on foolish. The world and ideals the movie portrays is an Utopia that we will never be able to achieve (yes, never – and that’s not pessimism, that’s realism).

The entire movie as a whole would be easier to digest if the characters had been painted as real humans. How does a poor person receive such a lucrative offer and decline it (with such a useless excuse) and then not struggle within himself at all? It’s not relatable, It’s not realistic, It’s not reality!

Alright, the message behind the movie is admirable, granted but it does not have impact in the manner it has been presented. It just seems unrealistic, and unfortunately unmoving.

However, let the truth be told, most people are not watching this movie for the story, they are watching it for the faces. This movie parades 4 of the most popular Nigerian male models (who have all co-incidentally turned actors). And naturally I don’t believe that any of the four are that great of actors but seeing them on the screen offered an opportunity to gauge them all together at once.

I believe out of all four, Kenneth Okolie is probably the better actor with Uti Nwachukwu as a close second. Those two seem to provide the nearest thing to ‘acting’, that was observable in this movie. Up next would have to be Alexx Ekubo and then Bryan Okwara, whom I still believe has no business in front of a camera unless he is strutting the runway or taking pictures.

Most of the extras couldn’t act either and I found myself repeatedly asking, “do you call this thing y’all are doing acting?” Honestly?

Alex Usifo was about the only actor in this movie but then again he only had one or two speaking scenes.

I have major qualms with the directing, editing and production of this movie especially as regards the continuity. It didn’t seem like a story but a sequence of ‘quotes’.

To state it simply, if I had paid money to see this movie I would demand a refund.

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