July 9, 2022

 “…a rape victim and a victim of a fatal accident were both gone forever. The difference was that the rape victim still had to go through the motions of being alive” – The Tenth Circle, Jodie Picoult. Cruel, inhumane and traumatizing are a few synonyms that attempt to capture the soul-destroying evils of sexual assault. Conversations touching the subject are as sensitive as it is harrowing for the survivors who still bear the burden of grief. Sadly, while incidences of female sexual assault plague societies of the world, male sexual assault is that poisonous undergrowth creeping unnoticed. “I’ve always seen filmmaking as a mode of advocacy for certain issues in the society. The idea behind the film as at when I started writing two years ago was me looking to talk about the ills in the massage profession but as time went on, the project took me through a walk and I arrived at male rape as a key subject matter”, Godwin Harrison, writer and director of Happy Ending tells Filmrats.  Happy Ending narrates the ordeal of two rape survivors (a man and a lady) who venture into the massage profession only to encounter their perpetrators. The film paints a grim portrait of the unspoken trauma male rape survivors suffer as a consequence of society’s numbness towards the matter in question. Research affirms this growing negligence to be fueled by a state of unawareness that attributes no real danger to the sheer possibility of sexual assault on a male by a female or another male, and the reluctance of said survivors to report cases for fear of shame and infantilization of their status as men in the society. “Happy Ending was inspired by many true events. The idea came about from my desire to talk about male rape and how the society turns a blind eye to survivors of male rape. Being a rape survivor myself, molested at the age of 7 and 13, I know what it means to feel that painful restrain to reveal the truth to parents and friends and not seem like an alien. This experience inspired the project” says Harrison. On reasons why male rape incidences suffer a lack of due consideration, Harrison cites toxic masculinity as one that thumps the others. “In the society especially in the patriachial system, men are seen as super beings. Men are often seen as the perpetrators of evil and not victims. In the incidence of male rape perpetrated by women, people joke with the fact that the victim, at least, had an erection and must have enjoyed the act. And in cases where the perpetrator is a male, same people quickly discard the possibility of a man raping another man. This sweeping misconception is why we need more awareness, because for rape survivors, irrespective of gender, the moment the assault happens, you have no control over your being till the molester is  finished and then you’re left to live a life of regret, isolation, bitterness and pain. It’s tougher for the men as it constrains many of them to die in silence from depression and suicide. A broken male soul does not speak. All they need is love and care until they are willing to speak” Starring Nollywood starlets Prince Barnabas and Alice Ishaya as leads, Happy Ending scored its first note of success at the 20th edition of the Accord Script Fest, winning the best script award. The project is helmed in production by HUG Media concept, Turning Point Movie Academy and Patsfield Production, and with an expected release in major streaming platforms after a proposed private screening with the ministry of Health and Youths, Kenya, Harrison hopes his film does justice at sensitizing the society on the existence and ills of male sexual assault. David Osaireme

First, a brief story from when I went to see Ilé Owó. There was some difference between the time on the website and the actual time it was showing. Fortunately, even with the change, I got there early. When I entered the screening room, the lights were down, the music was up, and for a minute, I thought I had stepped through a portal, everything felt surreal. Imagine being in a completely dark room with music playing at full volume. Am I being tortured, pranked? I thought. Is this a social experiment? I was a bit lost. After my eyes got used to the absence of light, I was able to make out a face– a woman’s– in the aisle behind. I asked her if this was the screening room for Ilé Owó and she replied in the affirmative. She said she had seen it before but had missed the beginning that time, and was back now to catch it. Interesting. We traded a couple more sentences back and forth before I settled down to the movie. And then suddenly, while the room was still without light, and the music was still on full blast, I heard a scream coming from directly behind me. The voice belonged to a child. A toddler. My fight-or-flight response kicked in immediately as my body tried to decide which of the above options was necessary in this situation. Heart rate increased. Breathing spiked. In those three seconds before I realized what was going on, I was the definition of “on edge.”  Turns out the woman I had been talking with had had a child with her the whole time. I just had not noticed this because of the noise and eerie darkness. At that point, the screen came on and some light shone on the room. And I was able to observe everything in detail. The woman glanced at me, wondering if I was alright. I glanced at the child to make sure it was actually a child and not a paid actor hired to crawl through the aisles and scream at certain intervals, keeping the audience spooked– I hear distributors are getting creative with their releases these days. The paranoia was real. I’m recounting that story because it’s important that you understand the state of mind I was in when I saw Ilé Owó. I’m sure if the director could bottle this particular experience and sell it to viewers he would. It’s one thing to watch a horror movie at the cinema, with surround sound and a wide screen coupled with the inability to press pause during intense scenes. It’s different when you have just been scared to death by the screams of a child.  Ilé Owó is the latest outing from writer-director, Dare Olaitan. Described as more a psychological thriller than horror (I’m not sure I agree), the story begins with a narration about Akanni Owo, a dangerous and powerful man who desires eternal life. He goes to a witch, Fijabi Olojuina, to see about having his desires granted but she informs him that it’s already too late. His life has been claimed by the powers that be. However, there is still hope for his sons; they can be given the means to live forever, never tasting death. The deity known as Sagbadewe only wants one thing in return: a ritual sacrifice of an innocent young woman which must be offered every 25 years without fail. The movie opens with a scene showing one of these sacrifices. Sophie Alakija’s Tomisin is standing in a clearing in the forest, in a trance of some sorts. All of a sudden, horned figures approach her, moving as ones possessed. This scene sets the tone of the film: bleak and over-the-top. Olaitan is determined to rub our noses in the darkness and not let go, or so it initially appears. The sacrifice is carried out. Evil wins this time. There is no Deus ex machina. This is the groundwork the film lays.   The horned figures crowd round a bowl, looking for their next victim. It turns out to be a young Christian woman, Busola, (Immaculata Oko-Kasum) with a prayer warrior for a mother (Tina MBA) and a cultist for a father (Akin Lewis). On her way out one morning, she notices a figurine in front of their house and alerts her mother who begins to pray and douse the spot in anointing oil. While they’re praying, the camera reveals that the figurine has moved to the roof, as an ominous score rings out, the combination of which is meant to rattle the audience. Ilé Owó is full of cool moments like this. Cool shots, cool music, even the concept seems highbrow and cool. The problem is that this coolness is built on a weak foundation: one-note characters and a plot riddled with holes.  One of the themes of the movie is that all that glitters is not gold. Some would consider such a message overused, a tired cliché. I say otherwise. What matters is the execution. Every scene has already been done. What matters is its unique context. It is on this note that Ile Owó fails to deliver. Stephen King once said of horror stories, “If we don’t care, we don’t scare,” and in this film, we don’t care enough, because very little is revealed to us about anything.  Busola meets Tunji (Efa Iwara) who courts her and eventually the pair get married. There is some suspense here because the audience understands that the reason he is being so good to her is because she is the victim of their next sacrifice. Here, the movie is stuck between letting us in on the goings-on of the story world but at the same time, it wants us to be invested in the entire thing. The experience ends up being very middle-of-the-road. It is obvious Busola will attempt to be sacrificed. Obvious that unlike Tomisin’s, it will not be successful. And yet the movie takes its