The Figurine: Araromire dir. by Kunle Afolayan (review)

The Figurine, directed by Kunle Afolayan, is one of the few Nollywood films that deserves acclaim and global attention. The storyline is captivating; the acting, professional; the soundtrack, appropriate; and the production quality captivates the audience. A lot of work went into the film: nine months to come up with the script; five years to develop it; and three months to shoot the film in two states. Substantial financing came from various sources, mainly companies. Indeed, it is to its credit that the film won five awards at the Sixth Africa Movie Academy Awards in 2014.

The Figurine combines folklore, superstition, and reality into an impressive storyline that creates suspense from the beginning to an unpredictable dramatic ending. The core of the plot is located in Yoruba mythology: there is a statue of the goddess of the village of Araromire (Nigeria) located at an abandoned shrine, where it must not be removed or touched. To touch or carry off the sculpture brings seven years of prosperity and abundance, followed by seven years of poverty and total ruination. This mythology works precisely because there remains a strong set of beliefs and folktales that many still hold to, in spite of modernizing and globalizing forces. The mythology itself becomes an opportunity to create cultural codes and attitudes that define characters and their behaviors. The customs and stories of the past are carried forward to the practices of the present.

Then follows a slow process of introducing the three principal characters whose lives were affected by the statue: two lifelong male friends, named Femi and Sola, and one close female friend, Mona. The three are thrown together at Araromire by the mandatory National Youth Service after completing their first degree. Mona, gentle and easygoing, is desired by both men. Sola is carefree, uncaring. Femi is more sober, but calculating. Both Sola and Femi find the statue by accident, but Sola not only touches it but also carries it away. True to the statue’s mystical power, Sola’s fortunes change as he becomes a prosperous businessman and marries Mona. Femi also prospers, but he continues to have an unquenching desire for Mona.

Seven years later, Sola’s wave of misfortunes follow, and the calamities are attributed to the figurine curse. Mona does everything she can to throw away the statue, which keeps coming back. As it turns out, the source of the troubles is not the figurine but Femi’s plot. The film ends in tragedy. Femi and Sola go back to Araromire to return the statue, where Femi unveils his final plan to kill Sola so as to have Mona, but Femi himself dies from his incurable asthma. In hiding Femi’s mischief, the plot creates remarkable suspense and makes for a successful thriller.

The film rests on established mythology combined creatively with waves of modernity and globalization. The power placed on objects provides the dynamism: the object of mythology, as in the statue; and the object of modernization, as in the cars and nice houses that the good luck brings. Supernatural mythology is awakened, and the film provides evidence of its power at work: loss of life, sickness, fortune and misfortune. At the same time, a modernist view is also presented: Femi claims to have knowledge of some of the events that he carefully blames on the supernatural.

As the film closes, it fails to resolve the tension between the two belief systems; rather it transfers the interpretation to the audience by posing the question: “What do you believe?” An up-in-the-air ending complicates the understanding of the storyline itself, but it is a deliberate device by the filmmaker to challenge the audience. Some may find the ending confusing, and others endearing.

The acting in The Figurine is convincing despite all the contradictions in the characters’ motives. Femi is able to bottle up his emotional pain in spite of his love for Mona. Sola, despite his reckless character, maintains emotional stability. Mona is able to retain her easy-going nature...