What happens when a pretty good storyteller is armed with a camera? This right here.
Akwaeke Azemezi is a testament to brilliant storytelling.
The synopsis tells us;
In a city with unbreathable air, a young woman pays a farewell visit to her older lover, a widower who became agoraphobic after his wife’s death.
Both immigrants, they argue over her impending return to Nigeria from their place in diaspora, charting an emotional path together through fear, loss, and a thirst for freedom, all marked by an underlying secret. It’s a story of exile, homecoming, what gets left behind, and the truths that change everything.
We are all familiar with stories of the sacrifice Nigerian parents make so their children can get a better life in the West. (African Booty Scratcher looks like its going to tell that story well, with a lot of laughs of course.)
Sometimes, the children of these immigrants feel a strong need to reconnect with their roots.
This film’s strongest point is surely in the richness of the dialogue.
Despite coming in at only nine minutes of speech, we get a clear enough glimpse into the life of the two characters in this story, complete with their fears and passions, as well as the society they find themselves.
Even though the film was shot in English and dubbed over in Igbo, the fire in their speech still survives. (Yay).
The chemistry between the characters would still have carried the story if it wasn’t so good. But it is good.
Break Fruit reeks of a Western, polluted future, and a homeland holding on stubbornly to traditions of times long gone. Every frame we see is there because it is important. No unnecessary drama, or hayyyyy and haaaaa that Nollywood feels they cannot do without.
Based on the kind of society this story is set in, it is weird, first of all, that the man is wearing tattered clothes but still manages to have a pinging kitchen. Or that the woman says she was mugged and had her gas mask taken, yet the muggers manage to not show brute force in such desperate times when breathable air is as expensive as Steve Jobs’ iPads.
In all, this is an interesting story that has got us longing for more, especially with what the plot twist sets in motion.
Every megabyte spent watching is data well spent.
Yep. We said it.
Comments
