The notion, often attributed to Lenin, that there are weeks where decades happen dovetails perfectly with Akinola Davies jnr’s My Father’s Shadow. The first Nigerian feature to be selected for Cannes film festival is a powerful debut that truncates the destiny of a nation and the fortunes of a beleaguered family into one fateful day trip.
Set on June 24th, 1993, the day Nigeria’s first democratic election in years was annulled, the film follows two young brothers, Akin and Remi (Chimerie Egbo and Marvellous Egbo), whose paper-doll restagings of WWF matches initially eclipse their native country’s political upheaval.
Their father, Folarin (Sope Dirisu), is a mysterious and impossibly dashing character who has been away from home for long stretches. When he unexpectedly whisks the boys away for a bus ride to Lagos, the outing becomes a mix of adventure, unease and brief encounters.
Dad is desperately hoping to collect the six months of wages he is owed, but – echoing the first-person focus of RaMell Ross’s Nickel Boys – his quest is mediated through a child’s gaze.
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The city is accordingly revealed in fragments: crowded buses, buzzing gossip and half-understood political discourse, amusement parks and empty streets, all set against the escalating tension of a country waiting for election results.
Davies’s storytelling is impressionistic, often meandering, letting sounds, textures and fleeting interactions carry as much weight as plot. The boys overhear tales from the Bonny Camp massacre and political unrest, and through these glimpses the anxieties of the adult world begin to intrude on their own lives.
Dirisu’s performance balances authority and vulnerability, portraying a man trying to be present for his children while navigating other interests, sometimes financial, sometimes romantic, sometimes political.
As news of the annulled election spreads, the day takes on darker hues. Soldiers patrol the streets, curfews are imposed and the family’s journey home becomes tense and uncertain. Yet the film’s focus remains intimate: it is a study of absence, of what it means to grow up with a father who is a hero on the very few occasions when he turns up.
My Father’s Shadow, which was coproduced by Element Pictures, is not a conventional political drama. Instead it quietly marries personal and national histories, offering a deceptively sprawling portrait of Lagos, a family and the fragile, frantic ways people try to hold on against tyranny.
In cinemas from Friday, February 6th
