Keswick Film Club - My Father's Shadow

Synopsis

"My Father's Shadow pulls off a miraculous, double-edged feat with a rather simple structure. The film, written by brothers Akinola and Wale Davies and directed by the former, spans one day in the life of two young boys traveling with their father from a small village in rural Nigeria to the bustling capital city Lagos. However, as the audience is taken in by this intimate and well observed drama, the rug gets pulled from beneath them by revealing the violence and strife that was simmering underneath. It's a trick so devastating that it completely upends the movie, elevating it into a deeply humanist narrative" - Murtada Elfadl, Variety.

The day they spend in Lagos happens to be election day, 1993; the country is about to elect its first president since the military coup in 1983. Will this be a new start, or a disaster? "On the streets, there is chatter of fuel shortages; the military ominously rolls through the streets; and people crowd around television sets, awaiting political news in a fast-moving situation. The 'streets are hot', one character warns — not referring to the sweltering weather" - John Nugent, Empire.

By picking this day, the director allows the country boys to see a big city, to revel in its wonder, but also to feel the unrest; was their father involved in the uprising? Many people on the street seem to know him. Londonborn Sope Dìrísù plays the father - "He's an object of idolatry, as any father is in the eyes of his children. Dìrísù, in a revelatory performance that should put him at the top of casting lists, grounds that fantasy with a realistically intense but quiet performance... The filmmakers' other master stroke is in casting brothers Chibuike Marvellous Egbo and Godwin Egbo to play the boys. There is a natural and effortless authenticity to their interactions. Is it because they are instinctively gifted actors or because they are actual brothers? Both" - Murtada Elfadl again.