Nigerian Prince: Shallow and Condescending – A Review

Nigerian Prince… What can I say except that my expectations were disappointed in every possible way? I started this movie thinking, “Oh, it’s going to be one of those heartwarming coming-of-age stories that emphasize culture and familial bonds”. How wrong I was. The plot is not even remotely about what it appears to be in the first scene. In fact, it was entirely unclear what the movie was even about.

The synopsis of this 2018 movie reads, “After being sent to Nigeria against his will, a stubborn Nigerian-American teenager joins forces with an internet scammer to return to the United States”, possibly the worst turn a story like that could take.

Produced by Faraday Okoro, Biyi Bandele, and Oscar Hernandez, this film is a West-pandering project that villainizes Nigeria and everything Nigerian. I mean, it is no big secret that corruption pervades this country from the highest levels of government to the masses.

However, the light in which Nigerianness is framed in the movie borders on Nigeriophobia.

The problem starts with the casting. There is absolutely no reason why a Nigerian actor who grew up here could not play the role of Pius. But in their Western-style attempt to insert themselves into narratives in which they do not belong, British-born Nigerian actor Chinaza Uche brings a wide-eyed cluelessness and terribly fake accent to this role, murdering it completely.

Nigerianness is written in such a shallow and condescending way by someone from the outside looking in; so much so that someone else from the outside looking in would see Nigerianness as defined solely by lack and adversity.

This is what happens when a stranger writes your story; their references are outdated, stereotypical, and inauthentic. Furthermore, the lack of consultation from someone who actually knows or remembers what it is like to be Nigerian leaves the whole movie lacking depth, culture, nuance, and flavour.

It is obvious that neither Faraday Okoro, Biyi Bandele (whose Half of a Yellow Sun was more for white Western audiences than it was for the people whom the war actually affected); or Chinaza Uche fall into that category. This leaves the movie irredeemably unrepresentative of what it actually means to be us.

The filmmakers did not even have the work ethic to research the slangs and colloquialisms. Nobody calls email scammers email scammers. Every Nigerian calls email scammers Yahoo Boys, and the Yahoo Boys themselves refer to their illegal enterprises as running businesses, matters, and paroles, not “scams”.

To add to that, Eze’s mother sending him to Nigeria as a punishment is a heavy insult from Nigerians in the diaspora.

We understand quite well the struggles of being Nigerian in Nigeria but you don’t foster a love for your culture by offering it as a punishment.

I thought the movie was going to turn around to him accepting who he was and where he comes from. But alas, till the very end, he tries to escape the country until he finally resigns to his unfortunate fate. Insulting.

Aunty Grace

His aunty, Grace, does not help matters either. Portraying her as a cold bitch from the get-go was just cruel. There was no reason why she should have been that mean. The character was so poorly written.

Her class status wasn’t defined at all. Considering that she is a professor, she should be living in either the staff quarters or a house with a working generator at least. And very few people use kerosene lamps anymore, Kerosene is expensive. They would know this if they just asked somebody.

Nigerian Prince took no time to at least showcase culture; not even something as simple as food. Instead, they present shitty burgers and plain scrambled eggs; giving the impression that there is absolutely nothing to love or even like about the country. Their bias and sentiments are made very clear.

What professor in Nigeria does not at least have mobile data? Aunty Grace could have been a “WhatsApp aunty” as she has family abroad and makes a shocking amount of international calls.

Speaking of family, how much does she hate her sister that she is unable to show even an ounce of kindness to Eze? She makes no attempt to connect with her nephew at all. She does this so much that their laughing together in the business centre is abrupt and cringeworthy.

We understand that her own son broke her heart. But as a mother, she could have seen Eze as a second chance. But instead, hateful Grace treats him like a nuisance; an inconvenience thrust upon her. The boy senses this too, thereby solidifying his resolve to get the hell out of Nigeria.

Eze

Eze himself is not an actual person, but a set of Western eyes being exposed to these horrible experiences. With only one goal in mind, he serves as a vessel for the terrible plot of Nigerian Prince. He is the untainted American coming to this corrupt place. Then he becomes corrupt himself, selling out the man who helped him.

Law enforcement

In what realm is the Nigerian Police superior to the EFCC in collaboration with the American Secret Service? In what world do they require further evidence to convict Pius and his partner when they already caught them running a scam on camera?

As the run time goes by, Nigerian Prince reveals itself to be a botched mess; requiring the audience to suspend their disbelief without offering anything sensational in return.

Needless to say, I did not like this movie one bit. I think Nigerian stories should be told by Nigerians in Nigeria. And Nigerians in diaspora should look for a combination of both worlds they belong to; without using 104 minutes to signal Nigerian inferiority.