Silent Scandal

What do you need if you are an accomplished and successful, female entrepreneur aspiring for a senatorial seat and a stake in politics? Well, according to Nigeria's yet to be published political etiquette manifesto, a husband if you are unmarried. It's not about whether or not you are experienced and capable to lead and execute the duties of your position; it's about the prefix to your name. That is just one of the many issues complicating Jessica Obi's life.

Her daughter is on a path to self destruction, she cannot seem to hold down a relationship, her coworkers and employees fear her rather than respect her and her driver has the guts to berate her on her personal life choices? What's a girl to do?

Well, this one makes a rash decision that plunges everyone around her into a complicated hot bed of scandal and is producer Vivian Ejike's latest offering from the editing suites of Purple Pine Productions. A nice upgrade from some of the watery fare, I have had to stomach in recent months, I am giving this movie my Catwalq nod of approval and recommending you go see it and tell me if you concur or not.

Yes, it has some technical hitches and some of the performances are quite unpolished, plus I found it hard to believe Genevieve as a mother of a nineteen year old (which I think I heard somewhere is not that far removed from the truth); however, it was very well done.

What did you think?

Happy Holidays

Prepare to greet a wonderful new year

SKIN

How do you define race? Is it by the colour of your skin, lineage or choice? Is it the shape of your nose or the colour of your gums? or is it by whether if stuck in your hair, and you shake your head, a pencil drops? Or if your backside potrudes a certain way? The answers to some of these were the deciding factors for whether, distinctively darker skinned Sandie Laing (played by Sophie Okonedo) would be classified the same as her white parents in heavily segregated Southern Africa of the fifties and sixties in the currently playing select theatre release SKIN

The stellar cast including Sam Neil, Alice Krige, Tony Kgoroge and the young Ella Ramangwane help present a true story that is both heartbreaking and enlightening. The movie presents a simple story of the complexities of human identities and how much discrimination and labelling damages souls.

In one painful scene, little Sandie in an attempt to be more white and thus, solve the racial problems reaping her family apart, applies undiluted industrial bleach to her skin. My heart broke in so many ways and it was like my own skin was on fire.

Go see it. It will afford you if anything, a chance to discuss identities. The issue the movie presents can be translated into every culture, for there is nowhere where the issue of skin colour, ethnicity/tribalism does not occur. The wars being fought now have this as their basis.

Go see it and come tell me, what is the colour of your skin? and what does that make you?

The mop