Money
That’s the theme of the movie and what we see from the first scene. Even though a man is murdering his daughter on her count of ten, the motivation cuts through the scene, “I love you my love, but not as much as I love money”. Scene two and we are clubbing in Cubana. Nnamdi is with his friend pre-celebrating a new contract. He bumps into an old attractive acquaintance on her way into V.I.P. and stands outside the velvet ropes looking at all the money being spent. “I must make this money”, he says out loud to himself. That’s the Nigerian anthem, this money must be made. We all see ourselves in V.I.P and benzes - if not today, then next year or the year after that.
Nnamdi is the exact picture of how most Nigerians see themselves. Smart, humble, hard working, likeable, loyal and willing to take risks. He needed to be all these things so that his desire for money stayed within ambition and never strayed into greed. Interesting that when Ramsey Nouah, leader of the 6 finally asked him what he was willing to do for money, he had already signed deals, was already in a different level in life, was already flying private, but that doggedness, that desire for more and more money, pushed him to say yes.
You too dey do yourself
Here’s the thing- everyone in Lagos wants to make money, but no-one really wants you to be out there with that desire. Nnamdi gets a job in an advertising agency five years after graduating (the job hunt is a humbling experience), and then takes the opportunity to steal a client from his agency less than one year into his job. It doesn’t work out, so his ex colleagues, friends and family see it as an opportunity to tell him he’s doing too much. If his risk had paid off, it would have been a very different story.
I hate to wonder if the fact that Nnamdi was adopted had anything to do with his casting as the “problem child.” It didn’t seem like it from the movie, but I’m projecting the Nigerian factor on that family dynamic.
You know what’s doing too much? Signing a contract with your blood, waking up with a branded tattoo like an occultic slave and still having the good mind to carry on living your life. Still have time to meet a babe and have witty banter and send doughnuts to the office and even have darkened room sex. Still have time to sit down and say “ask me anything”, that’s entirely too much.
Let everything that bites at night be termed mosquito
Aka don’t ask too many questions. It doesn’t matter that Nnamdi was asking about his actual father, you would think he was asking some philosophical religious question. That’s the problem- no one wants to have conversations with you, until you go and make a mistake you could have been prevented from making and then suddenly, everyone is full of stories.
It’s interesting that Kelly and Tobi took the information that Nnamdi was in a devilish cult quite calmly. If someone I loved was being controlled by demons that asked them to kill me, it’s like I love(d) you but bye. At least, I love you but let me think about what this means for a minute, or you know, months or years. I am not going to be by your bedside when you wake up in the hospital, to be quite honest. I might text you from a burner phone or something. I don’t get, so Andy and Nnamdi are going to start sharing stories about cult days? (oh hey, isn’t that heavy black thing itchy? in my day, it was actually made from lighter fabric) Also, what happens to the money? Does it disappear? Or do you get to keep what you’ve already made, because if you’d made like a bajillion Naira, you would be fine you know? Not a bad deal for selling your soul. Sell soul, make a little money, exit cult, stay rich. Definitely a better deal than being hunted and killing two wives and a little girl.
Fake it till you make it
When Nnamdi said he faked wine and food knowledge to fit in after being in Lagos for less than a year, I’m like chill. This same Lagos? But then I thought about it again, Lagos is actually full of people “faking it”. If you were to believe the image, it would seem like Lagos is full of possibilities, that’s why so many of us “moved back”. When we see documentaries like the BBC Welcome to Lagos, we are riled up because “this is not my Lagos”,m but even the best parts of Lagos are faking it. Banana island if faking it, Bourdillon is faking it and the Ferrari was faking it in the movie.
Women Are As Usual, the Weakest Link
The first slaughter we see is, a little girl. The sacrifice in the ritual— a woman. All the sacrifices we were told about? women. The closest we came to equality of sacrifice was Nnamdi briefly considering slaughtering his brother. What struck me about this chain of events was that the sacrifice was apparently supposed to be of “the person you love the most”, please please and please- this was obviously not the case in these sacrifices. These men loved each other more.
Rituals aside, I liked how this showed how men push men ahead in life. A man can like another man’s tie and give him a contract based on that. Women are as usual, props- supporting characters. In a business meeting, Ramsey gets up and asks his “skimpy” dressed “associate” to “entertain” his guests (listen, I know it’s a lot of quotation marks, but you get my gist.)
This confident stunning girl reverts to the role of supporting character in her man’s life. The way she speaks to him is exactly how “good” women are taught to speak to men - “I don’t want to push it, but I don’t know enough about you”. When he’s a little violent, she understands that he’s not being himself. When she finds out that he’s part of a powerful cult responsible for the murder of a bunch of people, she’s right by his side, ushering people away from his precious body.
How can you tell if the money you’re getting paid is blood money?
And does it matter? because I’m Nigerian so obvs I still want to make money and that. I’d much prefer it if the money didn’t come from someone slaughtering their daughter in the middle of the night when she thinks they are going on an adventure to see a waterfall.
If you guys know about that life, comment anonymously and explain how I can get rich but also avoid the money from the cults and stuff.
Also, if you’ve watched, comment and let me know your thoughts (wait, is it obvious that i’m fishing for comments? somebody save me).