by Remilekun Jordan
Filmmaking requires a substantial amount of tenacity and grit. It’s one of the most risky art mediums that teaches you on the job, as there are no experts from heaven. As one goes about forging stories from page to screen, one must develop the ability to retain balance and enthusiasm, keep one’s head on the proverbial swivel and create something worthwhile regardless of outcome and reception in the long run. Tunde Kelani is a tenacious film-maker, and he has been around so long we sometimes forget that in our part of the world; he is arguably incomparable.
At the risk of over-philosophising, Kelani is an auteur, objectively speaking, and he holds a specific sense and view of the world around him. Blending the use of native language, the mysticism of it and well-known tropes, he does not shy away from the complexity of the human condition. His contribution to African cinema transcends the benign, and yet it is grounded in an innate yearning reflexive of the average person.
Cascading through numerous cinematic languages and an astute understanding of literary works he’s famous for adapting, there is a consistency in themes and a rich understanding of the importance of cosmology and metaphysics; he does not seek to merely entertain but to be emphatic about the woes of the immediate world and how we can learn from respective differences.
His filmography – or should we say oeuvre is lacking in blockbusters but bustling with grand ideas and a somewhat devoid of preachiness analysis of political power or power in whatever form. In Ti oluwa nile, he explores the motivations that ignite avarice and greed. The deliberate interpolation of showing Yoruba heritage as a form of mise en scene makes the plot digestible yet, at its depths – uneasy because of the scheming beneath the beauty on screen. He adds the presence of an omnipotent being, an oracle; perhaps as an indicator of the consequences to come.
The premise of the film (we shall delicately avoid spoilers) follows two men vying dubiously for the ownership of a piece of oil land. That’s a simple premise, but at the hands of anyone else it could be just another story about two evil men but Kelani handles the script with a lack of embellishment and goes into the psychoanalysis of aching and want for power. The release of Ti oluwa ni le shifted the zeitgeist at the time, almost becoming a reference for films with the similar premise where evil isn’t just depicted as some ailment from the sky but as an intrinsic part of humanity.
In Saworoide, Kelani shows us that he’s a literati. He adapts the Akinwunmi Isola text with a clarity in his vision. Saworeide, without giving out the plot for readers that might not be familiar, is a political drama about corruption and monarchical decay. Kelani is particular about showing both his heritage and the corruption within side by side. A perfect balance of style and substance, a perfect balance of style within substance and vice versa. Even in campus Queen (another collaboration with Akinwunmi), he explores the intricacies of tertiary politics, activism and the corruptible entity that is in power.
As a filmmaker, he wants to teach. It’s indicative in the use of complex adages and cosmological presence in his work. He wants to make work that is transcendental in nature with a substantial amount of culture. Culture is an integral factor for Kelani, when one watches his films it can be compared to going through a motion-like picture book of sculptures, fashion and tales.
To simply put his films transcend his existence as a filmmaker when one wants to analyse his longevity in the industry, we need to look no further and the quality of work that has been laid down. We don’t have to over philosophize or try to pick his brain. All we need to do is engage with his style of cinematic language. Nothing is gratuitous, nothing is out of place. He cares about text and visual language. To an extent that is what upholds the longevity of the auteur /filmmaker – the ability to flesh out ideas bothoriginal and adapted to a point that really shows that one isn’t tackling it on a cursory level.
\Kelani doesn’t bore the audience, he respects the audience enough to know that our time is precious; so he gives us something worthy of our time because at the end of the day that’s what defines a great filmmaker. The making of art that demands a few good hours. A lot of filmmakers do not make it this far without compromising for commercial appeal but he has managed to and that should be praised. That more than anything should solidify him as one of our greatest filmmakers.
