TELLING IT TRUTHFULLY
Agrowing number of Nigerian movies deserve to be viewed over and over. Stigma, directed by Dagogo Diminas is certainly one of them. Usually, the monthly movie screening by Goethe Institute in Lagos features German and South African docu-movies. It was a rare privilege to have the stars of Nollywood such as Hilda Dokubo and Emeka Ike in the movie hub resident at the Nigerian Film Institute, Ikoyi at the recent Lagos premiere of the movie.
The drama, set in a community in Rivers State, tells the story of a mother and a daughter, Ibiso (Hilda Dokubo) and Vanessa (Jackie Appiah) who contract HIV through unprotected procedures of their practice as traditional birth attendants. They are ostracised by family members and the community at large. Ibiso, due to financial constraints and lack of educated about the disease, eventually dies of AIDS, leaving Vanessa to fight stigmatisation and rejection.
The plot is laced with sub-plots of romance. Ibiso, a pretty single mother, gets entangled romantically with a relentless womaniser and alcoholic, Smart (Soibifa Dokubo), who seems to be very fond of her. He impregnates her and she becomes devastated at the thought of living from hand to mouth. She saves Smart’s face by giving him loan to pay her dowry which he never paid back. Instead, upon marrying her, he strengthens his philandering routines. He steals Ibiso’s money to keep up with his demanding mistress, Telema (Ngozi Nwosu) who incidentally is related to Ibiso.
With Vanessa’s little education, she tries to warn her mother of the danger of unprotected medical procedure. Adamantly, Ibiso tells Vanessa that her job is handed to her by two generations of birth attendants who should know better. One day, Vanessa is asked by her mother to wash the blood-stained scissors and other sharp objects and all of a sudden, she cuts herself while cleaning them. She suckles at the bleeding finger, oblivious to the harm it could cause.
Vanessa’s step-father, Smart, is the first to reject her mother and her siblings. No one wants to buy her snacks in the village. In fact, a woman viciously poured water over her while hawking one day. The rumour in the neighborhood has it that the whole family is infected with HIV, including the dog. The way many villagers take to their heels, whenever Ibiso’s children pass by, evoked laughter and pity at the same time. It’s a tragi-comedy script considering the way it ends. Vanessa’s generous boyfriend, gets jealous when he starts noticing Dr. Jide (Emeka Ike)’s frequent visits to her house. If he wasn’t consumed by envy, he should have found out in a civil manner the reason for such fraternity.
Instead, he waylays the young doctor who was on his primary assignment in the village and threatens to beat him with a sturdy-looking stick. Dr. Jide has the upper hand and gets away, unruffled. Upon hearing about Vanessa’s HIV status, this boyfriend disowns her and abandons her in her time of need. With help from Dr. Jide, Vanessa is nursed back to health and sponsored to the University. She later writes an award-winning script that changes her life and socio-economic status. When word reaches her former boyfriend that she has recovered and is successful, he runs after her. Dr. Jide proposes to Vanessa who has come to admire him a great deal. On the wedding day, the former boyfriend shows up in wedding suit. Vanessa faints. When she is revived, Dr. Jide begs her to marry her ex-boyfriend. She marries the former boyfriend.
That end was hard to accept by many in the audience. A documentary film maker who commented at the end of the screening said it was not a good justice to the plot to let Vanessa marry the man she had already let go in a soliloquy. He said it was incongruent with the plot and the man who stood by her in difficult times deserves to marry her even in real life. Many heads were nodded at this truth. It is an offensive way to preach love and forgiveness when you make a woman forget the man who made her great to accept the man who neglected her in her troubled period. Vincent Eze, the script writer must have his reasons for ending it that way. The best scene for most viewers would likely be the counseling unit where persons who are HIV positive brought clothes, bags, shoes and other items for Vanessa who just joined them. The display of love for her contrasts the hatred that was meted to her by her community.
A couple of elements made the movie endearing. It was well-edited by Andrea Pugnor. The director of photography, Robert Beugelink and Dagogo Diminas ensured that the scenes were moderate in lengths and the shots conveyed the right emotions. All the locations were well-lit and the costumes were appropriate to each characterisation. The only argument, which is not peculiar to the movie, is that people in village settings don’t always speak impeccable English as portrayed in many Nigerian movies. There should be a reference to that character’s educational background or whatever accounts for his or her proficiency in English.
Hilda Dokubo, who was at the Lagos screening, chose the platform in condemning the xenophobic attacks in South Africa comparing it to a larger picture of stigmatisation which is the theme of the movie.
“What’s happening in South Africa has to stop. You don’t kill people because you are angry,’’ she said. The film was first screened on December 1, 2013 to mark the World Aids Day at the Silverbird Cinemas, Port Harcourt.