By John Owoo
(In Acra – Ghana)
An exhibition of stills and production photographs from a 1971 film based on two classic novels – “Things Fall Apart” and “No Longer at Ease” by Chinua Achebe – is currently underway at the Museum of Science and Technology (MST) in Accra.
Curated by Akinbode Akinbiyi and Gisela Kayser, images on display that were shot by South African photographer Stephen Goldblatt aptly leave viewers, who have read the books with reminiscence as they go through these large format stills, which are accompanied by highly descriptive captions.
Captions include “Enoch dares to unmask and Egwugwu during an annual Ceremony to honour the earth Deity”, “Obi and the Market Women”, “Okonkwo, the Tragic Hero”, “Okonkwo in a Wrestling Match”, “Village Scene”, “He is not Here”, we can take you to where he is” and “Okonkwo and his friend Obierika in the village” among others.
A highly successful novel, which became the staple in literature studies, “Things Fall Apart” is smartly written and is noted for its layered technique of story telling where subtle repetitions settle the narrative in the minds of readers as the story unfolds.
It equally shows photos of the film’s director Hans Jurgen Pohland alongside executive producers Wolf Schmidt, Francis Pladade and the late writer Chinua Achebe as well as images that reveal the collaboration between Germans, Nigerians and Americans in the production of the film.
The film, which is set in Igbo land (South-Eastern Nigeria) but filmed in Ibadan (South-Western Nigeria), presents the story of conflict between three generations of Nigerians coming to terms with colonialism. Indeed, it is an investigation into the causes and foundations of white-black conflicts or causes of racial strife and tensions.
Undeniably, the film “Things Fall Apart” is one of the earliest cinematic attempts of aesthetic post-colonial deconstruction of Nigerian and indeed African cinema – and the book “Things Fall Apart”, eventually won the Man Booker International Prize in Literature.
Furthermore, the film explores themes of community breakdowns owing to the polarization of villagers by white missionaries alongside issues relating to tradition and change while employing the use of persuasive speech to dispel popular misconceptions on tribal culture.
Goethe-Institut is supporting the exhibition, which was opened by Dr. Malik Saako of the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board. It ends on Wednesday June 5, 2024.
