Recently I found myself in an argument with my roommate as to whether Nollywood was really worth the attention. According him, Nollywood was going down the drain in value and worth. He compared early Nollywood blockbusters and how movies "sucked". I dared to ask why. He told me that movies made by Nigerians were become less believable and real, more predictable and stereotyped. I quickly opened my browser sourced for information on Nollywood. I found Wikipedia still acknowledged that it was the second biggest movie industry in the world in terms of number of movies produced a year. Being Africa's largest motion picture industry and having a with a 3.5 billion dollar net worth, I had a rethink.
Really, more than once have you heard people criticise Nigerian movies. But when I reviewed the tremendous source made by this giant movie industry, I tend to wonder if it was befitting to really see Nollywood as far behind. Nollywood was rated above Chinese, Japanese and Pakistani film industries. I was poised to wonder why. If Nollywood movies really "sucked" as my concerned roommate harmlessly said, why was Nollywood receiving global attention? Why were movies by revolutionary movie makers like Kunle Afoloyan and others making it into global cinemas? Since movies where an indirect or direct revelation of a people's style, I told my self that my room mate was really actually comparing Nigeria to America!
I strongly believe that movies are strong ways of showing the technical power and technological strength of any country. Nollywood is a seedling in growth. Even for the masters, it was not easy getting where they are. Since we are technological advancement has improved the world interest in movie making, Nigeria is not left out. Remember that bigwigs in the Nigerian movie industries like Omotola and others are getting international too.
Let us also give credence to the fact that Nollywood is lucrative for the successful or superstar acts. The truth is that people watch these movies. They learn from it. And the actors earn from it. The good ones become stars. What is the primary motive of entertainment industry if not these things?
Therefore, if Nollywood has this kind of global recognition and is the only African country to be rivalling other industries of entertainment, why don't we support it to become better? What if we gave Nollywood chance and time like Hollywood? What if our government encouraged good moviemakers into full time movie entrepreneurs by supporting them financially? Would Nollywood not be a point of global interest and the world's leading movie industry in the near future? Think about it.
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