Some movies easily earn the audience’s sympathy (or empathy), while others force it. Funke Akindele’s Behind The Scenes does the latter.
After opening to box office success and ample controversy last December, the film is streaming on Netflix and Kava TV, and it keeps parading its sentimentality.
Built on the Yoruba proverb that says “Close your eyes and feign death to see who will mourn you”, the story follows Aderonke Fernandez (Scarlet Gomez), a successful, generous entrepreneur who is supportive of her family, friends, workers and acquaintances.
Playing the generous friend and family member takes a devastating toll on her well-being, and she completely breaks down when she is diagnosed with Lupus. Vulnerable and doubtful of her relatives and friends, she devises a means to know who truly loves her and who pretends to. What she discovers behind the scenes breaks her heart and trust.
The film is a bold criticism of society’s perception of the wealthy as mere cash machines devoid of trouble and human feeling. it interrogates how easily that they can be exploited and pushed to the wall when they are vulnerable, until they withdraw their support.
We watch how Aderonke goes out of her way to cater to the needs of everyone around her, even when it’s inconvenient. But when she falls sick and needs their support, many of them are more concerned about how they will lose her financial support rather than being troubled by her deteriorating health.
The writing is smooth, almost impeccable in the first act, carefully setting up the mood and twist. But the screenwriters (Funke Akindele, Uche Mordi, and Collins Okoh), lose the plot towards the end of the first act, the pivotal turning point that forces the protagonist out of her normal life. It further affects their ability to control the emotional stakes throughout, so they rely on mawkishness.
Aderonke must have suspected some foul play among her family, friends, and workers before going undercover to inspect their actions. One would expect that she would have braced up for whatever happens in her absence or what she discovers while flying under the radar. It’s, however, appalling that she becomes irrational; screams and crying over everyone’s actions, even the trivial ones.
Behind The Scenes is psychological realism and trauma-focused. Instead of planning the mise-en-scence, and regulating characters’ performances to make them convincingly impactful, the directors Funke Akindele and Tunde Olaoye rely on excessive emotions to arouse pity. Their failure in monitoring the incidents resulted in the calamity that befalls Aderonke’s lawyer, Victor (Uzor Arukwe).
Featuring an all-star cast, like many of Akindele’s movies, this movie relies heavily on star power rather than acting.
Scarlet Gomez as the generous but traumatised Aderonke is believable at first. But loses verisimilitude at the midpoint, when the feeling is high. The film becomes whimsical when Akindele’s Adetutu temporarily takes the lead. She isn’t effective as the villainous big sister. Her deception and cruelty are so forced, and it’s glaring that she is never cut out to be a villain. Tobi Bakre plays Adewale, a married father of two who lives off Aderonke and never even thinks of getting a job. His acting is fascinating but it later becomes excessively emotional; crying here and there like a Banshee makes it irritating. The rest of the characters put in decent efforts.
With this film, Funke Akindele continues breaking the Nigerian box office barriers, solidifying her status as the queen of commercial cinema in Africa. Behind The Scenes is entertaining but vaguely connected. It elaborates on the gap between a commercially successful and artistically fulfilling movie.
***Michael Kolawole is a screenwriter, playwright, poet and cultural journalist/critic. Catch him on X @mykflow
