Pascal's Wager would argue that, just in case, we should
probably believe in Mami Wata too
dir: C.J. ‘Fiery’ Obasi
2023
I was not sure what this flick was going to be like, or what it was about, knowing nothing about it. But now I’ve watched it, and presumably that means I know something about it and have a relevant, informed opinion.
Well. I’m not sure how much I have to say about a flick set contemporarily, shot in black and white, that’s really about matrilineal matriarchal monarchies. I mean, I guess they’re better than the alternatives, but they’re still not a decent form of government.
I have to say “in general”, because I would be taking the piss if I implied that the point of the film is that we should all be living in matrilineal, matriarchal monarchies.
This film is just saying that, for these people, of the Iyi village, they need to keep being ruled by a matriarch, because of their connection to Mami Wata, who is a benevolent water spirit / deity who looks after them, thanks to their connection through their Intermediary.
Their Intermediary, sort of like a cross between a priestess and a conduit for Mami Wata’s will, is Mama Efe (Rita Edochie).
While the people believe in Mami Wata, and her earthly ambassador, they give of their bounty to her, out of respect, out of fear, to earn favour. Lots of reasons. And she in turn does…
She does stuff. She is regal, her belief is unwavering, and she does all the rituals they all love. She plays the hits, so to speak.
And yet, sometimes, a child from the village might still die.
Efe has two adopted daughters, girls she found in the waters, presumably brought to her by Mami Wata Herself. They are Zinwe (Uzoamaka Aniunoh) and Prisca (Evelyne Ily Juhen).
Zinwe has anger towards her mother for, oh, a number of reasons. They at first have conflict because Zinwe can’t understand why Efe can’t use the power she has to save village children, or bring them back from death, or shield them from death in the first place.
Mama Efe tells her child, well, first off, you’re not actually my biological child, and secondly, you’ll have to get your head on straight before you take over from me, because you will be the next Intermediary.
Zinwe is like “fuck that”, steals her mother’s totem, which is a bracelet covered in shells, and storms off somewhere, to drink booze and, I’m not sure, dance sexy and maybe get laid?
Prisca has a very different personality to Zinwe, and a bigger picture view, and while she has no pretensions to power, she is loyal to both mother and sister, and Mami Wata.
But she also has an eye towards the future (what I really mean is the present). Disturbed by another child from the village dying, with the Intermediary’s rituals doing absolutely nothing to protect the kid from illness, Prisca invites some doctors to the village to vaccinate the children.
Mama Efe is adamant that they have no need for such white man’s foolishness, because they are protected by Mami Wata, who apparently as well as being a water goddess, is also an accomplished virologist and epidemiologist (just like how we all became experts during the covid era). After Mama Efe yells at the doctors to leave, Prisca follows after them and is like “no, seriously, please vaccinate the kids”.
This is one way that we have of seeing the “real” world intrude upon their idyllic village. The other way is this: Prisca finds a man floating in the water during an argument with her mother.
They save his life, help him recuperate, and this man Jasper (Emeka Amakeze), tells them that he is a product of wars, elsewhere, where such things happen.
After cutting off his metre long dreads and cleaning himself up a bit, he seems to be considering starting a new life in Iyi, perhaps even with Prisca. She tells him that even if this isn’t his native soil, it’s not hers either, and they are all accepted by the wide, watery embrace of Mami Wata.
Jasper is something of an enigma, but he eventually becomes less of one, because of some terrible things that are done.
You see, there are men of the village who are unhappy with the matriarchy. Their spokesman Jabi (Kelechi Udegbe) is the loudest, and therefore the leader of those unhappy with female rule. He questions whether anyone has actually ever seen Mami Wata. Who knows if She even exists? And if She does exist, why isn’t She, or the Intermediary, protecting the people of Iyi from everything that can go wrong? Including from him?
Why should the people of Iyi continue giving tribute to Mama Efe, when they could be giving their riches and their produce to, um, him instead? Why not indeed? And then if they do that, well, Jabi and his thugs could build roads, schools and hospitals, and stadiums, presumably, for the good people of Iyi.
Jabi’s rabble-rousing rouses the rabble, and spears are raised in anger, and end up bloodied. It’s a male-led uprising against the forces of matriarchy.
About bloody time. Even though he seems like he’s advising the red-pilled manosphere rebels to cool their bullshit, because the biggest talkers are the worst leaders, Jasper ends up the leader of the forces against female rule, with one well-placed headbutt.
He convinces the people of Iyi that their beliefs aren’t worth shit, that they have to get with the times, and give him money and cowrie shells, and then prosperity will follow.
Of course he takes their money and buys guns. Goddamn guns. The one white person we see in the entire flick is, of course, an Afrikaner-sounding gun dealer, who brings them the weapon that has killed more people on the continent than Ebola, being the AK-47.
These are dark days for the people of the Iyi. But there is hope in the form of Prisca, who will do everything she can (to keep the matriarchy in power).
It’s hard to say whether other people will enjoy this flick. It’s a slow flick and most of it is just people talking. A lot of the camerawork is static, as in, the camera will be set up, people will talk for a while, then it will cut away to a new scene. It makes for a very, very leisurely-paced flick.
For my money I was fascinated the whole while, because the story is a fairly interesting one, and certainly not the kind of story you see every day, whether from Nigeria or anywhere else. On the most part, the question of how much credence we’re meant to give the idea of these deities and the power they might still hold in the modern day is (for me) a figurative one, not a literal one. A story set in a tribal setting, with people cognizant of the modern world, but holding on to their rituals and customs, in this instance becomes less about a tension or conflict between the past and the present, or the future, but more a question of what false promises certain people give in order to rule over them, in order to justify the boot heel pressed upon their necks. The Iyi are given a false choice of believing in something else (the benefits of technology and modernity) to replace their religious beliefs / mythology, but there’s nothing put in its place. The men screeching that men should be in charge offer nothing beyond threats of violence.
Jasper is a strange character, as in strangely characterised. Having suffered much loss through war, he knows first-hand how pointless the conflict between rebel forces and government forces can be, seeing as the rebels can often commit worse atrocities than the official jerks. He himself has suffered horrifically at their hands (in a very late reveal, though it is implied earlier on), and yet despite his brief respite in paradise, he elects to visit more carnage on innocent people. I didn’t really understand where he was coming from, but that’s okay too. He’s not really the outsider brought in to a place to help us understand their ways: he’s a guy from elsewhere who brings the awfulness of elsewhere to paradise, for no good reason, unless the intention is to show how trauma begets trauma.
The performances vary significantly across the running time. I think out of all of them the actors playing Prisca and Jasper, and Mama Efe / the Intermediary are probably the strongest. Even if one could be a total smartarse and point out that this story isn’t that dissimilar to something inspired by King Lear, it’s very much its own story in its own place.
It’s kind of reductive to talk about “African cinema”, because culturally and thematically, aesthetically and even language-wise there’s substantial differences across nations, and filmmakers. The only commonality tends to be the legacy of colonialism, which especially impacts on those countries whose language still incorporates a lot of the coloniser’s vernacular. I can’t really say where this fits into Nigerian cinema, because this is significantly different from a lot of the stuff I’ve seen on streaming services that are made for more of a mass audience originating from the same place which seem to be bigger budget crime dramas where bling is king.
If you’ll allow me one generalisation, costuming and make-up specifically play a very important role in the flick, not least of which because it’s shot in black and white. The stark relief that the use of (white) tribal make-up plays in outlining and emphasising the features of key characters, couple with its cultural and ethnic significance (none of which I’m pretending to know or understand) means there’s always something visually interesting happening on screen, until colour appears right at the end.
As for the political or ethical arguments about matriarchies versus any other form of government, well, I wasn’t being entirely serious at the beginning. Although I’m definitely not a fan of any form of divine right / feudalism as a form of rule, it’s not lost on me that in many times and locations in human history we’ve had plenty of examples where early societies were matriarchal, represented not only in systems of leadership but in religious practice as well, and got along pretty well without having to wage war constantly with each other, as well as with nature, only for all the female-led pantheons having to be subjugated and flattened, and replaced with invisible Man in the sky monotheism that dictated that women ain’t shit, and Men, Manly Men, being where it’s at.
And we all know what that’s led to: unending wars and a despoiled planet. And yet the likes of Margaret Thatcher, Angela Merkel, Jacinda Adern or Julia Gillard have done nothing to stem the relentless march of capitalism squeezing every last dollar out of the planet before the billionaires presumably decamp for somewhere else. If anything, as handmaidens to the even more powerful, they made things worse, lulling us into a false belief that If Only Women Were in Charge then everything…
Well. On a global level, who knows, but at least for the people of the Iyi, a strong case is made that the Intermediaries of Mami Wata should stay in control, because they have their people’s best interests at heart, and a benevolent goddess on their side as well.
And if Mami Wata is on our side, who could stand against us?
8 times I am reinforced in my beliefs in maltheism – that God exists but hates us – out of 10
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“You should be afraid of the Woman” – of course you should - Mami Wata
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