Nigeria's government is asking cinemas to stop showing a science fiction film, District Nine, that it says denigrates the country's image.
Information Minister Dora Akunyili told the BBC's Network Africa programme that she had asked the makers of the film, Sony, for an apology. She says the film portrays Nigerians as cannibals, criminals and prostitutes.
An actor from the film said that it was not just Nigerians who were portrayed as villains.
The Malawian actor, Eugene Khumbanyiwa, plays a gang leader with the nickname of Obasanjo, also the surname of former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo.
The film is about alien refugees who set up home in a South African shanty town called District Nine.
"We feel very bad about this because the film clearly denigrated Nigeria's image by portraying us as if we are cannibals, we are criminals," she said.
"The name our former president was clearly spelt out as the head of the criminal gang and our ladies shown like prostitutes sleeping with extra-terrestrial beings."
"I have also formally written to Sony Pictures Entertainment, the company that produced this film, demanding an unconditional apology for this unwarranted attack on Nigeria's image," she added.
She also said she had asked them to review the film with a view to remove "all offending portions that injured our image as a nation".
Ms Akunyili said said Nigeria was now hitting back with a policy of "rebranding", after allowing the international community to define the country based on the behaviour of "[a] few criminals". BBC
1 comments:
considering the fact that Nigeria, like the congo, angola, chad....hell let's just say Africa in general, continue to deal with a new "warlord" every other month, I think they could do more to repair their own image. That being said, I dont think a movie(Sci-Fi no less) is going to do much to tarnish their rep. anymore than it already is.
Been there, seen it and think that they just continue to show the ignorance that continues to put idiots in power.Nigerian Gov. needs to spend more time thinking about how to fix their socio-economic woes before they waste any time "bitching" about a fictional movie that portrays reality in more ways than they would like to admit.
how do I know this? Because I spent time there watching many of these situations unfold.the present government should actually be trying to sue for royalties in order to prop up the general fund and to help maintain order. Just a thought.
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