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Movie Review: The Matrix (Trilogy)

Reviewed October 2006

by Obi Akwani, MGV Editor

The Matrix
The Matrix Reloaded
The Matrix Revolutions
Directors: Joel Silver, Larry Wachowski and Andy Wachowski
Writers: Larry Wachowski and Andy Wachowski
Starring: Lawrence Fishburne as Morpheus
Keanu Reeves as Neo
Carrie Anne Moss as Trinity

There is no better place to discover what is most important to a people than through their creative activities - the art they produce. In this vein, watching Nigerian movies can be a study in social values.

Thanks to digital technology and the computer, thousands of Nigerian titles are produced each year in cd form to feed an ever growing movie-loving audience. It is estimated that more than 20 new titles are put on the retail shelves each month by distributors. The movies are so popular that the industry is producing new millionaires and has spurned a new celebrity culture. People like Genevieve, one of the actresses, are now household names in Nigeria. Their peccadilloes and life events have become great gist for newspapers and magazines. An actor like Nkem Owoh is reputed to command nothing less than a million Naira for every picture he makes.

A majority of Nigerian movies are comedic. This is possibly so because Nigerian audiences prefer and respond most positively to comedy. Audiences also respond to stories with morals, especially as they relate to contemporary conditions.

For example, the movie, "My In-laws," produced by Valentine Nwabulu is a light-hearted comedy which at the same time deals with a number of serious social and moral issues running the gamut from marriage, poverty and wealth to education and religion. What makes it funny is the way contemporary social behaviors, attitudes and perceptions regarding these issues are highlighted.

"My In-laws" tells the story of a family of five, a husband and wife, and their three children -- two girls and a boy. We meet the family of Echidime Onwudinjo (the father's name) just when the three children are coming of age - the girls, Tochi and Sandra, are at that age when they are looking for mates and the boy, Obiajulu, must strike out on his own.

The movie opens with Tochi, the older of the two girls sitting at a newspaper vendor's stall. She and the vendor, a young man by the name of Benson, are in love and plan to marry. Benson, who is a university graduate, laments his unemployment or under-employment and admonishes his girlfriend, Tochi, who wants to go to university to study journalism and be like Benson, not to dream to be like him, a graduate without a job.

Tochi (Chidi Ihezie -left) and Benson (Clem Ohameze) look surprised when Tochi's father, Echidime (Nkem Owoh -below) catches them together.

Echidime spies his daughter and Benson together at the newsstand

Their families are not yet aware of their plan to marry. And when Tochi's father, Echidime (played by highly regarded comedic actor, Nkem Owoh), finds out about their relationship, he totally disapproves of his daughter having anything to do with a newspaper vendor. When officially informed about the couple's marriage intentions Echidime refuses to acknowledge them. Tochi's mother and Echidime's wife, Rebecca is agreeable and supports her daughter's marriage plans. The marriage goes ahead even without Echidime's approval, but he seizes every opportunity to insult Benson and throw the fact of his poverty in his face.

Tochi's younger sister, Sandra is of similar outlook as her father. She too had tries to dissuade Tochi from marry the "poor church rat" Benson. The ensuing conflict between the two sisters highlights one of the central themes of the movie. Tochi believes that money is not everything; that her happiness and that of her husband is more important than wealth. Sandra on the other hand would rather stay home a spinster than marry somebody as poor as Benson. This is where her father disagrees with her. Echidime is as, or even more, opposed to stay-at-home spinsterhood as he is opposed to "unsuitable" marriages as contracted by his first daughter.

Sandra and her father are in total agreement in their unquestioning alignment with people of wealth. They do not want to know how the wealthy make their money. They simply want to enjoy the pleasures and comforts that wealth brings. Sandra ultimately marries a wealthy man of dubious means. All they know about him is that he is a business man who travels a lot. But the vagueness of his business background does not seem to bother either Sandra or her father.

Tochi and Rebecca, her mother, are of similar minds. They both believe that money is not everything. Rebecca at one point admonishes her husband about eating of, and enjoying money that he did not know how it was made (a reference to generous cash gifts from Sandra's husband).

Echidime has no respect for his son, Obiajulu, because the young man had not yet begun contributing to the family's wealth. Then when Obiajulu attempts to intervene on behalf of the maltreated Benson and Tochi, his father shuts him down by telling him that he was a 'failure,' unable to "standing on his own feet" and still being fed, clothed and sheltered in his father's house.

Eventually Obiajulu "stands on his own feet" after Sandra's husband, Abuchi, grants him enough money to start-up a trading business. With relative successful in business and personal independent, Obiajulu is able to defend Tochi and Benson with more authority before his father. Obiajulu also advices Tochi to persuades her husband to seek spiritual help concerning his lack of success in life.

Here the movie touches on another important issues in contemporary society. Christianity had sought to destroy traditional beliefs by calling them superstitions. Ironically, contemporary Christian practice, in seeking to completely eliminate traditional religious practices, is incorporating some elements of superstition. Secondly, almost everyone, Christians and non-Christians alike, tend to believe that their present difficulties stem from some 'sin' of antiquity. This is also partly a colonial guilt trip which many contemporary Christians have not only failed to rid themselves of, but have reinforced and made a fundamental part of their faith.

The idea that Benson's ill-fortune stems from a hex of some sort is superstitious, yet this is what propels Tochi and Benson to seek spiritual intervention from a Christian pastor. The pastor affirms their superstition by telling them (after much prayer) that the Holy Ghost had revealed to him that something in his family background, some evil, was blocking Benson's progress. The pastor's solution to this menace was a Christian ritual cleansing. The pastor leads his "prayer warriors" to Benson's family compound where they discover a neglected old family shrine previously maintained by Benson's deceased father. The pastor declared that the idol of the shrine was responsible for Benson's retarded progress. The idol was angry that Benson did not worship it same as his father had done. The pastor's solution was to destroy the shrine. He fearfully proceeds, with the support of his prayer warriors, to carry out the ritual.

The idea that money is not everything runs through the whole movie. Echidime is relatively well-to-do in the traditional sense - he is married, has lots of land, a barn full of yams and a house. What he doesn't have is a strong cashflow, and for Echidime money is everything and he doesn't seem to mind the occasional humiliation he must suffer to get it or be close to those who have it. He also has little sympathy for others who are poor.

For instance, when he needed to get some money from Sandra's husband, Echidime goes to visit and makes sure that Abuchi sees him washing the latter's cars. Abuchi is appalled that his father-in-law should be washing cars and berates the house-help. But it is not the house-hold's fault. The sly Echidime, however, gets his money, double his asking. In another instance, Echidime humiliates his poor son-in-law, Benson, by forcing him to serve wine and wash dishes during Sandra's wedding ceremony. He does not believe Benson has enough drive to succeed, hence he humiliates him at every turn.

The patient Benson endures and ultimately lands a job, befitting his graduate status, with an oil company in the big city. Suddenly the tables are turned. The source of Sandra's husband, Abuchi's wealth is discovered to be child trafficking. When the police nab Abuchi, he tries to bribe his way out, but (surprise, surprise) he has met honest cops. They will not take the usual bribes. He is put in jail, his properties are confiscated. Now Echidime curses Abuchi and fawns over the newly wealthy Benson. The story ends with Echidime (whose name literally means "the future is pregnant" or "nobody knows what the future may bring") waxing philosophical about the mysterious ways of the world.