Wednesday, February 07, 2007

BRRRRRR

Its -5 in Staffordshire tonight. Can't wait to be back in the warmth. I took my folks to see Blood Diamond this evening, not exactly a feelgood movie. Di Caprio just about pulls off a Zimbabwean accent. There are still 200,000 child soldiers in Africa.

Nigeria has its own precious stones trade, although I don't think diamonds are involved. I met someone once who knew about where they pull the rubies and emeralds out, and where the clandestine markets are. There's another film idea..

4 comments:

Talatu-Carmen 4:38 am  

ooohhh, sorry about the cold. It's the same here.

Actually, there is a film _Kasar Mu Ce_ (1991) in Hausa made by Sadiq/Saddik Balewa (grandson, I think, of Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa). The film involves the discovery of precious jewels on a plot of land that an alhaji then tries, along with a bad guy baturi, to wheel and deal and terrorize away from the people that live on it. It's one of the few Hausa films on celluloid and is quite worth the watch. Unfortunately, it's terribly hard to find. There's one used VHS copy on Amazon.com, and I can't quite get myself to pay $48 for a VHS video, when I don't have a working VCR and the university does own it. But Saddik Balewa is working in Jos these days, and I imagine there are a few copies floating around Nigeria--it would be lovely if someone would digitize it and start selling it in the market.

Talatu-Carmen 4:39 am  

Sorry to fill up your comments section.Forgot to leave the link:
http://www.amazon.com/Kasarmu-Ce-This-Land-Ours/dp/6302859530/sr=8-2/qid=1170819134/ref=sr_1_2/104-9497045-4062362?ie=UTF8&s=video

LM,  3:29 pm  

Actually Di Caprio's accent in the film is supposed to be South African, which makes sense given that the SA mining sector is one of the greatest money-spinners in the country.

My mum is Sierra-Leonian and I told her about the film which she now reluctantly says she will see. Warned her it may be too much, given that her folks had to be evacuated years ago during the worst period of the civil war (there in in their sevemties at least) and brought to Nigeria. My grandma, years afterwards, still has stories of the massacre, teh way they were evacuated (over teh fence) not to talk about the "amputation village" amongst other atrocities. The film will be no joke to watch.... I forsee Djmon Housou(?) being awarded an Oscar in the new future. He's a fab actor...

Anonymous,  2:26 pm  

@Jez -speaking of accents, could you pull off a naija one?

@Im - Djimon did play his character convincingly. His African background (his early years in cotonou i think) probably helped. someone like Jamie Foxx would nor do as well with the same character.

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