Nigerian Movie Review - Jungle Act - 2010
Set in the jungle that is Lagos, Akin, a petroleum engineering graduate has been looking for work for years
. One night a chance encounter in a parking lot with Honourable Jembe a friend of his late father brings about a new opportunity. Honourable Jembe recommends him for a job. He gives him his business card and writes a note on the back for the MD of the company. Luck is not on his side because he loses his wallet containing the card before he has the chance to interview at the company.
On the other side of Lagos we see Emeka who like Akin is an unemployed graduate. He is behind on his house rent and due to be evicted when he sees a man drop his wallet on the street. Instead of warning the man or returning it, her waits until the man is out of eyeshot and grabs it. The opportunity that was Akin's now becomes his.
Irene is Akin's girlfriend. She works in finance management but hates her job, however she has to stay put as she needs the money to support both herself and Akin. She models part time, and is just waiting for the time that Akin gains employment so that she can quit her job and pursue her dream full time.
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Pursuing Dreams
Irene's father is totally against her leaving a "responsible" job in finance management to pursue her life's dream of becoming a model. He tells her,
"Look at me I always wanted to be an artist but my humble beginnings wouldn't allow me such a luxury, so what did I do? I got practical Now I dabble in the arts because medicine puts a roof over our heads and food on the table."
Irene replies,
"Papa did it ever occur to you that you could ever paint bodies far better than you could ever hope to cure them? Perhaps even win a Nobel Prize?"
This dialogue gives us food for thought. Is it better to follow a dream to pursue a practical path which is more likely to give you a better life in the sense of material things, but then leaves you unfulfilled? This is the dilemma Irene is battling with. Is there a right or wrong answer? We find out that Irene has been pursuing modelling for 5 years. Is there a point at which you should be realistic and give up or should one always fight until the end?
Omoni Oboli is beautiful but I wouldn't put her as a model, so the casting for this one was a bit off I thought. I think that she is too old and not skinny enough. Models these days are teenage sticks unless you were lucky enough to be a teenage stick that built up a fanbase and kept on getting work a la Naomi Campbell. It aint gonna happen.
Perhaps the movie was meant to show that despite her not fitting the ideal of what a model is suppose to be she was still able to "make it." Whatever it was I think the movie would have been better had they made her "dream" different. She could have dreamed to be a stuntwoman, a pilot, I don't know something different. We saw this model thing in Guilty Pleasures and that movie had the same problem as this one with regards to believable casting for the model role.
Tribalism
This movie has a largely mixed cast, with a lot of Yoruba touches which is not the norm in EMG movies. In the movie Tola asks the secretary in the office about Emeka. The secretary refers to him as,"a stupid Ibo." She also wonders how he got the job in the company. I thought that was rather strange as there was no mention of any capability issues regarding Emeka and his job before this scene. He is also favoured by the MD, so what is her issue? Does she perhaps resent the fact that her Yoruba boss has shown favour to an Ibo?
Emotional ConflictIrene has got close to Emeka as a friend and he is her friend's potential boyfriend. She and Akin are having problems at the time she finds the minister's note in Emeka's possession. Nevertheless it is inevitable that she will be emotionally torn. How is it that this charming, gentle, kind young man is in fact a fraud and a liar. Of course this is not in his nature but we see what desperation can drive a person to. I likes that Emeka had multiple sides to his character. Because someone is generally a good person does not mean that they have never done anything bad.
The End Of The Movie
It was beautiful that the guys could put their differences aside and come together. It was nice that Akin didn't hold any grudges. I guess when he sat down and thought about it he might have wondered if perhaps he may have done the same thing had he been in the same position. There is an understanding between them when Emeka says to Akin, "It's a jungle out there. I know you know this.
We also find out that the MD of the company knew early on that Emeka was a fraud but saw his younger self in him and so gave him a chance. I thought that all these things came together and gave the film a beautiful and satisfying ending.
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The situation can be seen in two ways. Irene says,
"All the guy did was find your wallet."
Akin replies
"The asshole schemed and impersonated his way into my job."
I guess the truth lies somewhere in-between those two statements
Conclusion:
I love this movie and would recommend it highly. The characters were in depth and well developed. The story made sense in its entirety. It is a human story that highlights the struggle of ordinary folk. It's a movie which everyone can relate to. It could be you or I or anyone that we know that finds themselves in the position of being unemployed driven by desperation to doing something that they wouldn't ordinarily do. We see how opportunity by virtue of connection and family background has the ability to transform someone's life and how unjust such opportunities are.
The movie was let down tremendously by the sound quality. The sound varies from scene to scene. Added to that very often there was a lot of background noise. In fact you will have your finger on the volume button the entire time. That is how bad the sound was, putting that aside the two stories were came together excellently. It was a simple story, low on the dramatics that often characterise Nollywood movies, well told and well acted. Great job by cast and crew. If you can get past the sound this is definitely one to watch!
Nigerian Movie Review - Jungle Act - 2010
By: Nollywood Forever
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