AT&T Productions present Antonio Bell (Eze), Chinaza Uche (Pius), Tina Mba (Grace), Bimbo Manuel (Smart), Toyin Oshinaika (Baba), Craig Scott (Wallace), Ebbe Bassey (Mercy), Crystabel Goddy (Bimbo), Omar Maskati (Raju). Screenplay by Faraday Okoro/Andrew Long; Executive Producers, Spike Lee/Sam Pollard; Co-Producer, Andrew Long; Director of Photography, Sheldon Chau. © 2018
Nigerian Prince is in the same territory as the Hollywood blockbusters, Catch Me if You Can (2002) and American Hustle (2013). The three movies present wunderkind con artists never seen on screen before. By the time Frank Abagnale (Leonardo DiCaprio), Catch Me if You Can, had turned eighteen, he had become a doctor. A lawyer and a co-pilot for a major airline. The best forger of checks and documents and the most successful bank robber in the history of the U.S. In real life.
Nigerian Prince is all about scams and scammers, like his predecessor, Catch Me if You Can. Pius (Chinaza Uche) of Nigerian Prince becomes a used car salesman, counterfeit dealer, 419ner, and an internet scammer. The main character, Pius, brushes off and up with the law so many times. He got beat up and bloodied so often you’ll think he’ll quit, but, no, he’s pulling another scamming stunt in some backyard alley. In the film, Pius’s character is a restless young man who is always on the go to get rich by hook or crook, to pay a ransom to the police chief, Smart (Bimbo Manuel). He covers his ass every time he got caught scamming or stealing:
Pius is a used car salesman:
Pius, “What do you think? Nice, right?
Buyer, “It’s…okay,” passing him the car key.
“No, hold it. It will soon be yours. Four million Naira!”
“Three-four.”
“Ah! My, friend that is too low.”
“Three-five.”
“Okay, Three-six”
“No, three-nine, because I like you.”
“Three-six. That’s my final offer.”
“Three-seven.”
Pius sells the sedan car to the Indian for three million seven hundred Naira, puts the money in his ghana-must-go bag. By the time the buyer gets outside the office to claim his car, it has disappeared. Scam number one. Shortly after this first scam upon cotton up, he is rounded up by the police and brought in front of Smart, the police detachment captain. The Indian fellow Pius had made the fake car deal to pointed him out in the lineup. Smart wants part or all of the money Pius received. Pius promises to pay Smart four thousand Naira in four days.
More or less, Smart abets the criminal behavior of Pius as long as he gets a percentage of the deal, unlike Catch Me…when the FBI is on the tail of Abagnale across the globe. Meanwhile, Eze (Antonio Bell) arrives at the airport from America. An airline worker scams him off $10. He soon recovers with the help of a perfect stranger called Wallace by walking up to the worker and impersonating a United Nations worker. This demonstrates that Eze, sent to Nigeria by his Igbo mother and father to learn about his root, has a whole lot to learn.
Eze is received from the airport by his Aunt, Grace (Tina Mba), who is also the mother of the wayward son, Pius. Soon, Eze and Pius had a rude introductory meet but soon made it up. Pius pulls another scam with Baba (Toyin Oshinaika). This time it’s a 419 counterfeit scam, and both he and his partner are arrested and brought before Smart. As usual, Smart only asks for his ransom, which he gives them a day or two for payment.
Eze is an American born of separated Nigerian parents. Eze seemingly was growing out of hand, and as with all Nigerians, sending their offsprings home to the motherland for bonding with their roots was a sure thing to do. And that’s what Eze’s mother did. However, she didn’t say the truth to Eze about the length of his stay. Once Eze learns he won’t be going back until he finishes high school and that his mother canceled his return ticket, he rebelled and teams up with his cousin, Pius. Who introduces Eze to crime.
All other avenues have been exhausted; Pius turned to Eze to help find someone in the States they could scam. The young man could not come up with any name in America to steal money from. However, Eze produces the business card Wallace had given him at the airport in case he needed help. Bingo! Pius had preyed on the need of Eze to go back to the United States even as his mother couldn’t let him. The reward from scamming Wallace shall provide an air ticket for Eze, Pius will pay off Smart.
It works alright. Pius traps Wallace in a chemical (counterfeit) deal, and he is caught red-handed with a carton full of chemicals. To get off this hook, Wallace has to pay $5000 to the police for his release, avoiding scandal. Smart gets his cut, and Pius buys a ticket for Eze to go back to the United States. However, at the airport, and ready to depart, Aunt Grace thwarts Eze from leaving. Pius goes to the men’s room, pulls out the ticket, looks at it, comes back to the ticket counter, and gives Eze’s passport and an envelope full of Nairas to the agent, who in turn stamps the passport for departure. I guess Pius made it to the United States on Eze’s visa.
If you love movies the way I do, you’ll want to watch Nigerian Prince. It is funny and entertaining. There’s, however, less than meet the critical eye here. Granted, the piece is titled Nigerian Prince; the principal player is named Eze, which in Igbo culture refers to a king in Eastern Nigeria. My question as to the legitimacy of the title is not addressed. I’m disappointed for not seeing Eze in royal regalia and a movement towards assuming his kingly throne as we experienced in The Mirror Boy (2011).
The entire script leans so much weight on Pius’s plotline and his criminal transgressions as if Eze is a minor player. Definitely, he turns out to be a minor player as the story on folds. And why name the script Nigerian Prince in his favor when there’s no royal regalia and enthronement? Even when he has been able to initiate Eze to scamming, both only pull one stunt and the movie ends. When such a project was underwritten by AT&T and Spike Lee, one would think that it could be structurally excellent. Please, don’t get it wrong; the movie is funny and shot in Cinema Verite’s style. But I can’t get past the appropriateness of its title and the essence of the two main characters: Pius and Eze.
Let me take a more in-depth look at the relationship between Aunt Grace and Eze. The plotline here is assumingly the main. We would have admired Aunt Grace breaking Eze to fit in his parents’ homeland. She started it alright: teaching Eze how to light a lantern; how to take a bath from a bucket; get used to mosquito bites; eats with his hands; bows down to greet elders. And we expected her to follow up with the cross-cultural training Eze is mainly sent for. But everything fizzled with the entrance of the ignoble Pius. Seemingly Aunt Grace quickly gives up on Eze.
A long time ago, I wrote to the editor of Essence magazine on Black America, looking into including the African continent in movie productions. Hollywood proper survive, I said in my letter, by acquiring European film talents and allowing them to take part in Hollywood productions. We do not have to go into the why and how, even as we note that entire Europe was a war theater. They did come in droves from France, Italy, Britain, Germany, and Russia. My thesis statement in the letter was why Black Hollywood must not import African talent? I’m impressed by Spike Lee investing in Nigerian Prince. If HBO, Amazon, and Netflix start carrying all African made films, it is indicative that Africa has a virgin talent pool Black America should tap into. Thank you, Spike Lee.