Tomiwa Awoyera: 10 Incorrect Notions Nollywood Sells To Us

Nollywood films satisfy their fans through entertainment, education and motivation; but most of their scenes seem to be fake i.e. no reality. Most of what they present to us in some of the scenes are mostly unrealistic and sometimes too predictable. For example, will a Yoruba movie be completed without the visit to any Baba? All we watch is all about money rituals, witches, and wizards. Some of the films don’t portray the truth people want and that is why some people lost their interest of watching Nollywood movies and switch to foreign movies.
The education aspects in film are not featured nowadays. Anybody can just sit down and form a story line then put it in acting without proper editing. In fact, some of the popular songs by musicians are used as story line, which has no message for the viewers. The story line of the past seems better than this present one. The video quality is another problem the Nollywood films are facing. Some of these movies are not clear enough to watch due to the picture quality and recording.

Here are some of the things which we watch on Nollywood film that are not true.

1. Recently, I watched a film where the armed robbers attacked a chief’s house. The armed robbers just appeared in the room. Nobody knows how they entered through the gate. If we have to relate that with what is happening in real life, the armed robbers will have to ask the victim to open the door and if he refuses then they will break in. Another thing that surprises me is that they will have to cock the modern gun two to three times before shooting and after the shot which is always at the chest, there is no sign of blood stain on the victim.

2. The accident scene is also a part which is very funny to me. Imagine, a man was just driving then a spirit appeared on the road and the man was unable to control the steering then park at the side of the road. The next thing we are going to see is blood all over his body.

3. Witches run mad or die when confessing. Why is it that any time the witches in Nollywood films are confessing they either run mad or die? This is very common in the Nollywood film, when you see a witch confessing and after the confession they either die or run mad. We have heard about so many wicked ones who confess their wicked act and nothing happened to them in our society. Even after the confession some of them work for God. So, what message are they passing across to us? After confession is death? These are some of the untrue scenes in Nollywood films.

4. If the police in Nollywood film want to arrest a suspect, why are they so aggressive and more efficient? There is a common saying “police are your friend”. But that is not the case in Nollywood. When they want to arrest, they take it as if they want to arrest a criminal by pointing the gun to the suspect and treat him badly before getting to the station.

5. I will also mention the aspect of flash back in Nollywood movies. Flashbacks are always in black and white. It is only in Nollywood movies that will show Yinka Quadri ten years ago making phone call at the side of the road and a bill board close to him inscribe “Vote Buhari 2015”. And their future scenes are always between 2 to 15 years after.

6. Also, the hospital scene aspect in Nollywood film looks unprofessional. They will just find a small room and a small bed nothing more. Then, the only thing the doctors in Nollywood movies will use to treat a patient with heart failure, typhoid, malaria etc is placing the stethoscope on their chest and that’s all. It is also common in a police station scene whereby just one room and a desk is used as office.

7. Grandmothers are wicked.
Nollywood movies also make us believe in most of their films that grandmothers are wicked, in particularly the husband’s mother. In Nollywood movies, the grandmothers are always the ones that do evil to their son’s wife if he refuses to marry the wife of choice. So, they have made it known to the female youth that are yet to marry, that their husbands’ mothers are wicked. This is not true.

8. Traditional idol worshippers are evil.
80% of the Nollywood movies that I have watched, the traditional idol worshippers are the only ones who carry out evil act. They condemn this particular religion in most of their films. In Nigeria, we have three major types of religion, the Christian, Muslim, and the traditional worshippers. So, they should not condemn any of them, because they all have their way of worship.

9. Illness are caused by curses.
Barrenness, mental, malaria etc illnesses are caused by curses in Nollywood films. So, they advise people not to seek medical attention but rather visit the native doctors for help. This has polluted so many minds that they don’t believe in going to the hospital for medical if they have any type of these illness because they watch it on their home video.

10. The only way to get rich is through rituals.
In most of the Nollywood films, the only way to get rich in life is through rituals. 99% of people who are poor in their movies later end up doing rituals in order to get rich.

In conclusion, Nollywood industry in Nigeria should work on their storylines. Script writers should improve on their research and they should provide enough funding for their movies. Also, genuine talented actors should be made use of in their films in order to provide better production for their fans. They should also give more suspense to their movies so as to hold the interest of the viewers.