’76

Someone once told me that every story is a love story, and in no place has that point been made as clearly as in Izu Ojukwu’s ‘76 (formerly “Lions of 76”). Izu takes a military story and exposes it through the lens of two lovers in the persons of Joseph Dewa (Ramsey Nouah) and his wife Suzy Dewa (Rita Dominic) when Joseph is made complicit in the abortive coup of 1976. ’76 is a military story, it’s a political story but it’s mostly a love story.

Even for a movie watched 4 years late, and released 4 years after its initial mention, the effect of the movie ’76 is pretty timeless because the star of this film is neither the picture nor the cast, but the story itself. It’s not so much in the historical relevance of the story, or in the genius of the writer to pass along said history lesson without making the history the highlight of the story, the star is in the little details. It’s in the collaboration between the motifs that are written in and the motifs that are expressed. It’s in the manner in which the writer is able to tell the backstory in less than three minutes quite succinctly without being overtly obvious. It’s in the switch that happens midway through the story when you feel like you are watching a story where Joseph is the hero, and suddenly find yourself in a story where Suzy is the hero. It’s in the sermon that is being preached pretty loudly about women having to pick themselves up and fight their own battles if they want things done, yet this sermon is preached without anyone ever picking up the mic. You notice it in the juxtaposition between Suzy and her neighbor’s wife, and the ability of said neighbor’s wife to stand up for Suzy in her moment of weakness yet still be the woman who goes back to her old way of life.

The subtleties in the storyline really is the highlight of much of this movie and the reason why it manages to transcend time. However, this would be impossible to accomplish without actors that are able to express things outside of lines. The protagonist of this movie eventually becomes Suzy (played by Rita Dominic), but in all honesty, from the start of this movie the main star was Rita. Not to diminish the performance of Nouah, who does well as the altruistic military man, but there’s something about the range of emotions displayed on Dominic’s face from start to finish and the way you can almost touch the emotions that wash over her in several parts. In the moment when she is being interrogated about her husband’s whereabouts you can tangibly feel her dilemma, and as the questions rush through her mind like “do I tell them the truth? Is my father right? Do I actually know this man?”, you sense it loud and clear without it needing to be said.

Then there is the general production. If there’s one word that can be used to describe this it’s consistency. From start to finish, the little details in the sets and costume are true to the time, the sounds in the scenes pull you into the time, the cars and the buildings make the surroundings feel like home and draw you in. Then there’s the music. It’s so well crafted and suited to each scene and able to change from moment to moment without any of those switches ever feeling too jarring.

By the time the end credits roll along, you never loose track of the important thing in this film which is the story. It manages to keep you focused on what’s important without you missing all the other little details that are still done well. 76 is an experience but still one that’s a few notches short of perfections. Even in our immaculate storyline there are plot holes and happenstance moments that are just too convenient. Granted, they may be necessary to move the story along but these holes made it hard for the movie to retain a title of a true suspense. There are also performances, like that of Fiberisima, that leaves much to be desired, and the translations in the subtitles could have been done a bit more thoroughly.