December 12, (THEWILL) – A few weeks ago, seasoned Nollywood producer, Okey Ogunjiofor’s historic movie Amina premiered on Netflix. The movie tells the story of lthe egendary Queen Amina, who reigned in Zaria in the 16th century. The cast of the movie include notable Nollywood actors, such as Ali Nuhu, Asabe Madaki, Clarion Chukwura, Lucy Ameh and a host of others.
The movie was heavily criticised for not truly representing Queen Amina and her culture. The critics accused Ogunjiofor of only focusing on how Amina ascended to the throne of Zazzau, instead of her exploits as a fierce warrior queen. They pointed out that although she ruled over men and led them to war, women were not subjugated at that time as portrayed in the producer’s opening statement.
The critics also argued that the movie is riddled with historical inaccuracies and mistakes. They described it as below standards in terms of cinematography, cultural relevance, poor screenplay, embarrassing costume design and blundering misrepresentation of ancient Zazzau history.
Stressing that the movie is just a typical Nollywood movie decorated with a Netflix cover, they said a northern movie producer would have done a better job. They also noted that the producers should have involved indigenes and experts like historians, who can serve as consultants at least for fact-checking. Although they acknowledged that Ogunjiofor might have done that, they were convinced that he did not go the extra mile as he was obviously in a hurry to produce the movie the Nigerian way, which explains why it is riddled with errors.
Despite the criticism trailing the movie, it has broken Netflix’s record and emerged the first Nigerian film to make to be named on a global top ten list. The movie is currently one of the top ten movies being watched globally. Ben Amadasun, Netflix’s Director of Content for Africa, announced this lately, stating that the record-breaking feat was made possible by the sacrifices of both the cast and the production crew who can never be thanked enough.
