Kasala

If Lionheart was an ode to the eastern parts of Nigeria, Up North an ode to the North and King of Boys an ode to the west, then KASALA is an ode to the slums that make up the heart of Lagos.

Kasala – a pidgin word which loosely translates to “Trouble” – is built around the events surrounding a day in the life of a group of four young friends. TJ (Emeka Nwagbaraocha) – the aspiring rapper of the group – “borrows” his uncle’s car to flex at a day party that he and his friends are headed to. At the party, one of the friends – Abraham (Chimezie Imo) – wrecks the car and the boys – TJ, Abraham, Effiong (Tomiwa Tegbe) and Chikodi (Mike Afolarin) – set out on a mission to gather money to help fix it.

If there was one specific type of storytelling I hate the most, it’s this: the series-of-unfortunate-events (SOUE) type of stories. At its core, Kasala is a SOUE type of storyline but it is much more than that and that’s why it wins for almost all of its audience types. For the most basic of Nigerian viewers, it is a reflection of a life we all know too well without holding anything back. It’s not staged, it feels familiar and it feels like home. Watching the four boys walk around in leather jackets and jean jackets on top of marvel and Jurassic park shirts – that we all know they probably pre-selected at a bend-down select not long before – in the sweltering heat of Lagos for a day party, is all too familiar to the average viewer. Kasala captures those moments beautifully.

For others, you might notice how Kasala does a cursory glance of many potent social issues without beating it over our heads. It preaches without being preachy. In its short 84 minute run-time, it highlights social issues like rape and homosexuality with the case of Abraham; cultural over-dependence on prayer, the excess of liberties afforded males in the society, child labor and the “hustle” mentality in the case of Effiong; family planning and its scarcity in the lower class, poor access to education, and the fluidity of the family structure in the case of Chikodi; as well as the “I-go-hammer” escapist mentality, and the Nigerian habit where parents in the village trust and send off of their children to family members they barely know in the city as in the case of TJ. There’s a lot more beneath the surface of Kasala, and those are just the few we happened to notice. Somehow, Edosio manages to highlight all these subtly and still maintain the humor while holding on to the attention of the audience the whole time.

The satisfaction of Kasala is not solely in watching the main conflict and its resolution. The joy of the film is in the little things. It’s in watching a reflection of the “naija spirit” that is embodied in these four young boys. At a point towards the end, TJ sums it up well by acknowledging their victory in being able to hustle a whole 10,000 Naira in 6 hours. That’s the embodiment of the Nigerian hustle spirit – that when pushed against a wall anything is possible.

Speaking of anything being possible, the four boys that portray Effiong, TJ, Chikodi and Abraham are the embodiment of these. Many would have been quick to write off the younger generation of nollywood but seeing the effortless performances by these four young men, needless to say that the future is astonishingly bright – wear your shades. Watching these four prance around the screen felt less like watching a movie and more like watching clips from a hidden camera that followed the boys around all day. Edosio does a great job of capturing the small nuances, the swag in TJ’s step, the movement’s that Effiong uses to show his street awareness, the fixer-spirit that’s alive and well in Chikodi and the distress in Abraham.

And then there was the music. If the strongest character in this movie was the setting and the second lead was the casting, then the third lead (if such a thing exists) was the music. It had character, it packed a punch and nothing else would have been better suited for this film than the sound that it ended up with. My favorite scene in this film was the final moment as the boys let go of all fears, and literally and figuratively go into an attack for their future. The moment when Illbliss’ “Bank Alert” started playing in the background was the icing on a cake I didn’t even know existed. No sound could have done that scene better justice as it not only summarized the feeling of the film but also served as a release of some sort.

The film is not without its flaws like the continuity gaps that abound toward the end, but none of that takes away from the joy of the film itself.