Mirroring Nigeria’s Past Through Films: A Focus On Imperialism, Military Rule, Ethnicity And Religion In The Movies ‘October 1’ and ‘76’

ABSTRACT

Film can communicate, educate, inform and entertain. These are the major functions of mass media. But more than any form of the mass media, film possess the strength both in audio-visual and duration, to be adopted for societal change and crusade of any cause. Adopting film in Nigeria for political change amidst the country’s historic crises evident in imperialism, military rule, ethnicity
and religion, the researcher set out to mirror the country’s past through a Critical Discourse Analysis of two historic Nigerian films, October 1 and 76 and a Key Informant Interview of nine persons chosen based on their relevance to the issues under discourse. The researcher discovered that these issues are what have held the country down for so many years and that the informants still remembered each event vividly. The findings showed that ethno-religious crises in the country were offshoots of manipulations by leaders of those groups of their followers. Also, the military rule to an extent was because of bad governance, ethnic underpinnings and hunger for power. However, a high percentage of the informants preferred the military rule to civilian rule. The findings also showed that the coming of whites to the country was a blessing and a curse for the country. Their coming created a country and a system of government that become unfavourable for the country and favourably to them but they offered a standard living while in the country more than Nigerian leaders. As such, the researcher recommended that government should brace up and correct these activities from the past, create policies that could make the law supreme and free from influence from ethno-religious leaders. They could as well partner filmmakers to make good historical movies that would inform the citizens but would be distributed through proper channels for easy access.