London Premiere of Fatima Jabbe's Film Battered: A critical review of Battered by Babso

The much awaited film Battered premiered at the Odeon Cinema Greenwich on Saturday 28^th September 2013. The premiere started with the red carpet which had the producer, cast and crew, Nollywood Directors and Producers, Nollywood film promoters, those involved in the Nollywood industry in the UK and members of the public that came to support the movie.

The movie was produced by Fatima Jabbe and is about domestic violence in the home. Miss Jabbe who won the best female actress at the African Oscars in the US recently  wrote the story and played the lead role in it. The movie saw the introduction of Nigeria's finest footballer John Utaka in his debut in to Nollywood filming industry.  Other cast members and stars in the film included Atto Erick, Yvonne Hays, Theodora Ibekwe, Jay One, Marie Gomez, Olivia Eze, Collins Archie Pearce, Happiness, Tim Uche and many more. The movie was directed Lanre Balogun who also played the lead role and Alaba Festus. Official sound tract for the movie was by Cashino NDT, Libeks was the makeup artist and Nelson Spyks was the Associate Producer and responsible for the cinematography.

Ann (Fatima) was a victim of domestic violence. She shot her Fiancé Derek (Lanre Balogun) because her heart was full of pains from torture and other cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment and punishment she suffered in his hands.. She narrowly escaped court charges because of an alibi from a friend Tina who was with her on the day of the incident.

I must start by saying this is going to be a bit of a long review as many stakeholders are waiting to see my objectivity on the review. However, as usual, I would be as objective as possible and include in this review one major issue that arose from the question and answer session and the Producer’s response to it. I would also like to say that this review as usual is open to comments.

Firstly, I would like to commend Fatima for being bold to tell such a story. Maybe by coincidence, Theodora Ibekwe who recently produced a movie about another social ill in the black community that of child molestation was the one that came to the rescue of Ann in the movie. While Fatima concentrated her story on women being the subject of domestic violence (and I agree with her that in most cases, they are), even Lanre Balogun stated that men are also victims of domestic violence and I agree with him.

The picture quality was good in most cases, but I don’t know if it was deliberate in certain scenes where two actors appeared, one was clear and the other seemed to blur out in the face. With regards to the sound quality, it was generally of a high quality only that in certain scenes especially at the police station, there were buzzy sounds that kept interfering. At times the sound of the mobile phone in the movie itself was so loud and a bit distracting.

While I am not interested in looking at every little thing about the movie, I need to make mention of one or two things that glared me in the face. The whole reason why I started to review movies was to give a true feedback of the movie and push Nollywood Producers and Directors to a new level. I therefore believe that in any Nollywood Movie, the whole storyline including the props and locations used should be as close to reality as much as possible. While I cannot fault the arrest as it was presumed done properly, to me the police station scene was far from perfect. In the first place, that was not a proper custody suite that was used even though we saw the outside of Belgravia Police Station. Secondly, interviews are done on tape in the station and you never see a police officer recording a statement on a dicta phone for obvious reasons. You may call me petty, but these are the things that make Hollywood stand out. Things are done properly. Talking to one of the people in the Nollywood industry, she was not happy with both the way in which the lawyers were portrayed in the office with legs on the table and also made mention of the fact that the office of the Victim Support did not look professional and looked like a secretary’s office. To me that bit was cosmetic but since my reviews take into consideration what the audience especially those in the Nollywood industry say, I have to mention it.

Two issues came out in the Question and Answer session that I think are of importance and that I think if I do not mention in this review, I would be seen as bias. The first was the issue of what happened to the pregnancy. That was a question I asked Fatima myself. Fatima joked and asked the audience to wait for part two of the movie, but she also stated that with all the violence she lost the baby. Although I believe that one could have presumed that, a few lines with Ann crying about the loss of the baby would have been a good addition to the movie.

The second issue had to do with the issue of domestic violence and how it is dealt with. One of the viewers asked if the movie had been properly researched with regards to how this issue is dealt with and the message that was being sent out to those that watched the movie. Fatima in response to that said that the movie was in fact a true life story that happened in the UK, She would not give away if the story was her own story or that of another person. While I agree with the issue of research 100%, I also believe that if someone is telling a true story, it should be as close to what happened as much as possible. What should have happened and this can be corrected before the next viewing is that a kind of disclaimer be put at the end of the movie explaining that this case was a unique one and that cases of domestic violence are always treated individually and the results differ from case to case.

Still on this issue, personally I had an issue with how the detective handled the matter. I do understand as a lawyer that prosecutors use what is referred to as plea bargaining especially when they want to get a witness to give evidence for them. However, that being said, even the Met Police would not be happy about the picture that was painted of the police. He used words stating that a crime that was committed would not be mentioned and said the proposed witness should trust him as he is a detective. Again, this paints a picture that as long as the state needs you to give evidence, you would be able to get away with crime no matter how small it was and in this case it was not ordinary stealing but using a knife to threaten the victim.

I would be seen as bias if I do not mention lie I did in one of my previous reviews about my views about murdering someone because he has been violent towards you. In this case, Ann had a gun under her pillow which means the murder was pre-planned. Although the story told us she lied to the police about the gun and that always happens in our present day society, to me painting a picture that violence is the best way to defend one’s self in these days when the fight is against knife and gun crime is sending a wrong message. I think victim support was right, but since she was a victim of violence, a restraining order would have been an option and the whole story would have taken another dimension. Although Fatima stated that the person Derek represented was powerful and could not be touched, in my stay in the UK, I have observed that the police like to prosecute high profiled people irrespective of who they are, so as long as this happened in the UK justice would have taken its course.

In writing this review, I have taken into consideration the view of those in the Nollywood industry and those that attended the movie. In spite of all the comments which I believe would be seen by Fatima and her crew as positive criticisms to make the Nollywood industry greater, I still want to say well done to Fatima for her boldness in translating this issue into a movie. If one is going through domestic violence, male or female, they should not keep quiet but deal with it. With Lanre Balogun in any movie of such magnitude, there must always be comedy. I commend Fatima for her choice of multi cast from different nations.

The question then is what score out of 10 would I give the movie. I have thought hard about this and I think I would score between 7 and 8. I would therefore give a score of 7.5. My reasons for these have been clearly stated above. Would I recommend the movie? My answer is yes. it would be good for people to reach their own conclusions about the issue of domestic violence and how it was presented by Fatima and all said and done, we really need to create awareness about any social ill and domestic violence is one which must be crushed!!

Watch the trailer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7sT25LWNSs