Half of a Yellow Sun (FILM REVIEW)
Half of a Yellow Sun
Film Review
by Kam Williams
Post-Colonial Nigeria
Provides Backdrop for Sweeping Romance Saga
Twins Kainene (Anika
Noni Rose) and Olanna (Thandie Newton) hail from a well-to-do Nigerian family well-enough
connected to send them overseas to college where they majored in business and sociology, respectively.
Ironically, while the
sisters were acquiring a first-rate Western education in England, the independence movement back home was seeking to sever its ties with Great Britain.
After graduating in
the early Sixties, they returned to Lagos
to launch their careers, only to land in distracting love affairs. Attractive Olanna
became the mistress of Odenigbo (Chiwetel Ejiofor), an outspoken college
professor who’d caught the anti-colonial fever, whereas willful Kainene entertained the
advances of Richard (Joseph Mawle), a white expatriate writing a book about
African art.
Sibling
rivalry moves Kainene to tease her twin about the philanderer disdainfully referred
to as “The Revolutionary.” Nevertheless, Olanna relocates to the bush to be with
Odenigbo and his loyal manservant, Ugwu (John Boyega). However, upon
subsequently learning that Odenigbo has been unfaithful, she readily
rationalizes seducing her sister’s suitor for a one-night stand.
The resulting
strain on the siblings’ relationship leads to their drifting apart, a
development dwarfed by the bloody, three-year civil war which erupts all around
them when Biafra secedes from the union. All of the above elements add fuel to
the fires of Half of a Yellow Sun, the
highly-anticipated screen version of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie‘s
best-selling novel of the same name.
The film
marks the impressive directorial debut of Biyi Bandele, who also adapted the 543-page
opus into a 113-minute saga that walks a fine line between romance drama and
sprawling epic. That being said, the picture’s examination of the country’s explosive
Christian-Muslim tribal tensions proves to be both timely and compelling, given
how they’ve recently resurfaced during the radical group Boko Haram’s current reign
of terror.
A steamy soap opera unfolding
against the backdrop of a cautionary history lesson reminding us that in Nigeria, the
more things change, the more they stay insane.
Very Good
(3 stars)
Rated R
for violence and sexuality
Running time: 113 minutes
Distributor: Monterey Media
To see a trailer for Half of a Yellow Sun, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iq2dNtP-2hU&list=UUJT0RwcR7HRLljiEEvF4x9A
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