The movie of the moment across the world is Black Panther which has crossed 709 million dollars mark in only its first week! The movie isproduced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is the 18th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film is directed by Ryan Coogler, who co-wrote the screenplay with Joe Robert Cole, and stars Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa/Black Panther, alongside Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman, Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker, and Andy Serkis. In Black Panther, T’Challa returns home as king of Wakanda but finds his sovereignty challenged by a long-time adversary, in a conflict with global consequences.
Wesley Snipes had expressed interest in working on a Black Panther film in 1992, but the project did not come to fruition. In January 2011, Mark Bailey was hired to write a script as Black Panther was announced in October 2014, and Boseman made his first appearance as the character in Captain America: Civil War (2016).
By 2016, Cole and Coogler had joined; additional cast joined in May, making Black Panther the first Marvel film with a predominantly black cast. Principal photography took place from January to April 2017, at EUE/Screen Gems Studios in the Atlanta metropolitan area, and Busan, South Korea.
It is no news that the movie has become the biggest debut by an African American director, while Black Panther grossed over $709 million worldwide
Plot
The movie saw a level of betrayal portrayed by a dissatisfied fellow citizen and member of the ruling house. This, of course, led to rancour. The movie also shows that from time immemorial there had been war against corruption in Africa.
The Sambisa forest rescue
Even though the producer told the Nigerian story in a good light as the chibok girls were rescued by Nakia (Lupito Nyong’o), the T’Challa (Black panther) and Okoye (Head of the Doro Milaje warrior), I still felt a tingling that we, as Nigerians should have been the ones telling our stories the way the Nigerian movie producer, Rogers Ofime of the award winning movie ‘Oloibiri’ tried to accomplish.
I also wondered why, in the first place we should have such a narrative in our history, if our security system and government was top notch. I was also a little jealous of the fact that some Hollywood producer is the one shedding light on the Nigerian story and using it as content, while our own people are more concerned about showcasing the international world such as was done with the movie ‘A trip to Jamaica’ and the ‘Wedding party 2’.
Training for the movie
The cast received months of intense fight and weapons training which included multiple different fighting skills from Judo, jiujitsu, capoeira. Chalwick Boseman was already trained in martial art, Micheal B. Jordan was already used to intense physical fighting from “Creed” but he had to learn a whole new set of skills for Black Panther. Lupita was training for about four months, while, boot camp was six weeks as they trained four hours a day initially and reduced to two hours a day.
FUNNY MOMENTS- There were several funny moments in this movie such as the time the Doro Milaje Ultimate warrior the General stepped in from of the dangerous warring animal the rhinos used by W’kabi (Daniel Kaluuya) to protect her king Black Panther from being attacked . It was huge laugher at the cinemas when the rhino stopped in its tracks and licked Okoye (the general’s) face instead of attacking her.
Also, the scene involving the chase on the streets of Busan in South Korea when Lupito Nyong’os car was fried into pieces and this saw Nakia still on the wheels without the carcass of the car itself.
Electrifying moments
An electrifying moment can be referred to as a ‘wow’ moment and this we see in the movie when war broke between killmonger and the Doro Milaje warriors attacked the prodigal cousin of the Black Panthers in defence of Wakanda. Killmonger was wearing an ordinary city robe and that moment when he stepped back drew his sword and his outfit automatically changed revealing his technological based war suit that was a wow moment.
Portrayal of women
The movie had a high number of women and they were all well represented in a strong perspective that a woman can be beautiful, strong, fierce, a leader who is visible in governance and has ability to love in such an healthy many other than what Hollywood is always telling us that a woman is all about sex and nudity plus the fact that it is believed that an African woman is subservient and subdued.
The character of Black Panther was surrounded by many incredibly powerful women from the king’s mother, Ramonda (Angela Bassett), to the sister, friend Nakia (Lupito nyogo), even the commanding officer the general Okoye (Dania) and most of the other leaders of the other tribes.
Women were allowed to assume their perspective, to be fully feminine and fiercest. Their accomplishments within the context of this movie were well celebrated.
Portrayal of Africa
The movie is drawn from the ancient culture of the African continent. The narrative changed how Africa was usually portrayed in movies generally as an exploited, poor and strifing continent.
Away from the savage, under developed, poor continent as usually portrayed, in the movie, we see unity in the diversity of the continent well promoted as different tribes came together during the part where a tribe was supposed to challenge Black Panther to a duel to take his claim to the throne.
Music sound track
The movie had compositions that for every African, when one listens to any of the sound tracks you actually feel alive and feel the root of your ancestral foundation with every beat of the heavy African drum sound.
As a Nigerian, I could not pin down one sound to be ours but in many ways I heard various drum lines that sounded like the talking drum and ‘bata’ which I could relate to the Nigerians, Kenyans, and Senegalese.
Conclusion
This movie ‘Black Panther’ gives Hollywood a new meaning that it is not only a place where white actors can thrive; that it is not a place where the colour of your skin defines you. The movie tells us all that a new revolution in Hollywood has begun where women are not define by the colour of their skin, texture of their hair, makeup and so on. It is a movie that further broke the glass ceiling for many and that glorified the efforts of such men and women of colour who had gone before us like Whoopi Goldberg, Will smith, Bill Cosby and so many others.
Review was written by Gwendolyn Oshoniyi, manager R2FM, Ibadan
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