Nigerian feature Gangs of Lagos premiered on Amazon Prime Video in April, the first-ever African Original title on the platform. In this honour, it does not disappoint. This could very well be one of the finest African crime sagas ever committed to film. Shot in exquisite digital photography, the film tells the tale of a Nigerian gang in two and a half generations, more or less, and a young man’s journey from footsoldier to king.
It’s a bit of a party trick for director and producer Jade Osiberu at this point. Her previous film, Brotherhood (directed by Uganda’s Loukman Ali), also available on Prime Video, is another crime saga of two brothers on opposite sides of the law. That one was the highest grossing Nollywood film of 2022 at ₦328 million, and if cinema is indeed a formula as it has in recent times proved to be, Gangs of Lagos could have been a financial success, had it not made its way direct-to-streaming (and has definitely pushed some subscriber growth for Prime Video, especially in Nigeria). It’s very good, though next I’d like to see Osiberu work on another genre.
Gangs of Lagos begins in the past, with a voiceover. A small boy, young Obalola, (played by Maleek Sanni of Ikorodu Bois fame) leads the first twenty minutes or so, with outstanding charisma and gusto, growing up to be the orator cushioned nicely below the film’s soundtrack, and instantly I knew this is an aesthetic movie. Nice. There’s a wonderful shot of the young king looking over a large water body that evokes Barry Jenkins Moonlight; pre-pubescent frail body, very dark skin, terrible life conditions—and just like in Moonlight, the boy grows up to be a burly, bearded, angry black man. But he’s not gay.
Obalola is a born traitor, and our narrator throughout the film. He’s a natural turncoat in a world of turncoats; the street life. He turns his back on his mother and is taken in by the local king-pin, who later dies, and is then succeeded by his ruthless brother Kazeem (Olarotimi Fankule). Kazeem winds up being the primary antagonist in the film, but only very clearly in the third act. Mafia movies generally don’t need a bad guy. We get a new bad guy every single corner the main character turns. Casting was on point with the mean-mugged faces they put in here that exude terrible characters, even a character quite literally referred to as ‘Terrible.’
In terms of plot, it doesn’t have a choice but to be textbook with it. I didn’t mind this at all due to the virtuoso visual expression of those tried and tested formulas. The locations in this film are set-designed to be bright and vibrant, recalling to mind Technicolor. The slums the film is shot in still confound me, but in the most positive way; because while they are, yes, slums, the scenes in which they feature exhibit a panache and exuberance that elevate it above pity porn. Something our own filmmakers have not been able to do. Is it the story, or is it the choices of photography?
Tobi Bakre leads Gangs of Lagos as Obalola. A few reviews ago regarding some local crime films, I mentioned us having a leading man problem in this genre. There I was talking about Kenya, but in Nigeria this problem doesn’t seem to exist, at least not in Gangs of Lagos. My argument was that a crime film mustn’t centre around, essentially, a loser. This character must have a certain alluring arrogance for their ascension to be compelling. They must believe they knows more than anyone else, including the viewer, which is why we watch to find out – will it end differently for this one? Bakre is strong in this film, both literally and figuratively. He’s given action scenes like Keanu Reeves’. Bakre’s Obalola is discontent with the way the choices he and the people around him make affect his country at large, and generally with his lot in life. He’s also a hypocrite because by the end he doesn’t change or dismantle the regime, he only installs himself at the head. Yes yes, if he didn’t, someone else would.
The Nigerian elections are repeatedly hinted as overlapping with the underworld events depicted on screen. It’s a good parallel to the problem of corruption. Do we really care about the billions of anonymous dollars stolen, or are we just mad and salty that we’re not the ones with the power to pillage?
Speaking of corruption, this is a mafia movie strongly rooted in the Nigerian climate. It does not invent fanciful channels and intricate traditions like every gangster flick post-The Godfather. Gangsters are not elegant, they are not respectful, and they definitely do not know what the word honour means. That is exactly how they are portrayed in Gangs of Lagos; cutthroat and deceitful. The rest of the cast really give stellar performances, especially Chike-Ezekpeazu Osebuka as Ify, the badass homegirl from the block; Adesua Etomi as Gift, an aspiring rapper; and Olarotimi Fakunle as the duplicitious big-bad Kazeem.
It’s a very solid movie indeed. In fact, it’s one of the best African films I’ve seen in a few years. Here’s to Amazon, joining the ranks of Shell and Exxon in really getting at the oil in Nigeria.
Gangs of Lagos is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
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