By Abimbola Adelakun
Published: Friday, 4 Jul 2008

All Ken Alumona (CBA) wanted to spend in Nigeria, his homeland, was a mere thirty days but those days were turned into hell for him. Nigeria is embroiled in a crisis that was threatening to tear apart her democracy which she just won after many years of military rule. Principal officers of the new government are dying off one by one and their deaths are not all that mysterious – someone is shooting them off. There is panic and an uneasy tension in the land.

Both the press and the police are digging into the killings to unravel the truth – but with different purposes. The task of finding out the face behind the killings is given to Dupe Ajayi (Joke Silva), the president’s closest and most trusted aide and the Inspector General of Police, Shobowale (Segun Arinze). Ken, meanwhile, walks into something he didn’t plan and his thirty-day vacation turned into something he did not envisage at the beginning of his trip to Nigeria. Not only because he gets involved with Chinora Onu (Genevieve Nnaji), an ‘untypical’ Naija girl but because his association with her led him into her world; the world of Female Revolutionaries of Africa. The thirty days were thus more than a holiday; it was an adventure.

At the première of the film recently in Lagos, the audience was highly expectant for two reasons. The assortment of faces that starred in the film was one factor while the other was the faces behind the film. The scriptwriter, Ego Boyo, herself an actress, looked beyond the “know the end from the beginning” films that characterise Nollywood and brought out something quite different. The director, Mildred Okwo, gave a good account of herself in this her debut. Quite a good work she did and give it to them, the film’s technical work is impressive.

Judging from audience’s reaction, it is entertaining as well. It’s got the thrills and frills – wild parties, sex, violence and crime which make it read somehow like a Sidney Sheldon book. The plot is extensive and at some point, the story gets touching enough to make one feel bad. There are some surprises and the turnout of the whole course of events is one big surprise and that viewers used to having sins punished will probably be surprised.

Watching the film is like swallowing a pill that rather than settle in the intestines, goes to the windpipe. Yes, it produces a feeling of discomfort and it does not quite settle down. You wonder where to place the whole story within the social reality of the Nigerian environment. Take the whole story and transplant it in another society, say America, the pill might settle quite well. Critics have argued that a work of art must contain within it, argument for which it will be read. Put differently, a work of art should not look out of the social context in which it is domiciled to be meaningful. In an American film like Set it Off for instance, four young ladies might take up arms against an unjust society but in Nigeria, it just doesn’t add up, at least not yet.

The social reality of the story is not the only issue here. There is that of the moral of the story. At the end of the day, what value does it add to the viewer? The blurb of the film says it is a story of love but picking a girl in a night club for a one night stand and both parties part the next day without as much as knowing each other’s name can hardly be called love. Even though you hook up later, it still should not be called love as this loose concept of love can confuse an impressionable mind. Then, on the issue of revenge by Chinora, how justifiable is taking a life for a life?

It is doubtful if shooting off corrupt public officials can solve the problem of corruption in Nigeria as this treatment of the symptoms of the problem will only trigger off more than what Nigeria will be able to contain. The film gives the impression that it would and even the manner in which the killings were carried out was too simple. When the killing spree was going on, it was too unrealistic that an event that was hosting such calibre of people will have an almost inexistent security to the extent that the girls will penetrate so cheaply.

The humorist, Mark Twain, said that the difference between reality and fiction is that the latter must be logical. If this statement must be taken seriously, then there is something fundamental missing here. The reality is that Nigerian politicians do not take their security so lightly especially when their colleagues are being killed. While the whole operation lasted, they were not as much as challenged by anybody. Even Ken’s escape from the police was too cheap and an insult to any Police. Well, as the viewers at the première said to excuse the shortcomings, But it’s just a story!

The Punch: Getting it too right in 30 days

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SOMETIMES IT IS HARD TO SEE THE PLACE,GOD HAS CALLED YOU AS A PLACE OF BLESSING, BUT THATS WHEN YOU'VE GOT TO HOLD ON AND TRUST THE PROCESS
PEOPLE TEND TO DRAW OTHERS BACK FROM THINGS THEY SECRETLY WOULD HAVE LOVED TO DO BUT ARE NOT CAPABLE OR DARING ENOUGH TO DO
THEY WILL ALWAYS TALK BUT YOUR CHOICE IN WHO YOU LISTEN TO IS WHAT MATTERS......

Good intentioned as the critic above might be,what did the PDP and the Nigerian police do to expose the killers of a Justice minister?Did the killing of a politician minister increase security on politicians to the extent that it did not happen again?Last time i checked,Bola Ige was assasinated before Dokibo and Dokibo before Funsho Williams plus many other politicians who died one after the other.Truth is that even with increased security,politicians still die mysteriously in Nigeria and neither the ruling PDP nor the inefficient police force has stopped it.
"I love you" is something i have heard from a Nigerian girl on our first night out,why is it strange to happen to Alumona on his first night with the Onu girl? Critic Adelakun,it was strange to me hearing that "I love you" on a first night show and i believe that the script-writer might be showing that warped kind of Love that is obtainable in Nigeria.
I am not saying that the storyline is a perfect portrayal of the Nigerian society but that Nigerians would quickly identify with this story as likely to happen to any returnee Ken that meets any "untypical" but resident Chinora where,politics is as scandalous as you can get and where the police is not as efficient as a returnee Ken would expect.
It is well

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IT IS BETTER TO DIE FOR A CAUSE THAT WOULD LIVE THAN TO LIVE FOR ONE THAT WOULD DIE

Btw,me been hear say na Mildred write d script...This piece says that Ego Boyo did!

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..To the one who spoke and the galaxies leapt into existence....who can't be explained on a chalkboard but can be accessed through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ.....whose word never returns to him void but accomplishes the purpose for which it is sent.....the one in whom I am complete.....the great I am...who was,who is and who is to come....
www.ifreke.blogspot.com

The reporter made a mistake, Mildred wrote the script,Ego Boyo is the producer.

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I am richer than you all! I have got a bank full of pride!

Habeeb's world

mr i-too-know isnt it time u take a back sit?

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AIDS is real,stop DECEIVING urself.check ya status!

Should you find yourself the victim of other people's bitterness, ignorance, smallness or insecurities; remember,things could be worse.You could be one of them!


“If you dream you can beat me, wake up and apologize.”

I for talk!

__________________
..To the one who spoke and the galaxies leapt into existence....who can't be explained on a chalkboard but can be accessed through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ.....whose word never returns to him void but accomplishes the purpose for which it is sent.....the one in whom I am complete.....the great I am...who was,who is and who is to come....
www.ifreke.blogspot.com

Wetin dey bite u for bodi ehn? becos u don c person wey do the i-too-know pass u,u become bad belle? U don make breakfast for ur children n hubby this mornin at all b4 u resume this ur online olofofo-ing?

Interesting criticism. Should movies always be of high moral content? If they were, would they be reflective of our societies? Does this mean that there should be no movies made about killers (phonebooth for instance), rapists etc. Is this a valid criticism? Should this be a matter for censors rather than critics?

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There are many things that will catch my eye, but there are only a few that catch my heart. It is those I consider to pursue.

A Beautiful Child of God

.....chai everybody for nr don sabi yab sha


no we never eat,we dey wait for u

__________________
AIDS is real,stop DECEIVING urself.check ya status!

Should you find yourself the victim of other people's bitterness, ignorance, smallness or insecurities; remember,things could be worse.You could be one of them!


“If you dream you can beat me, wake up and apologize.”

lol @ petite and olofofogal! una no go kill person o!

__________________
..To the one who spoke and the galaxies leapt into existence....who can't be explained on a chalkboard but can be accessed through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ.....whose word never returns to him void but accomplishes the purpose for which it is sent.....the one in whom I am complete.....the great I am...who was,who is and who is to come....
www.ifreke.blogspot.com

I like the criticism, at least it shows there is something in the movie to talk about, rather than the usual talk of poor lighting, crappy sound or the movie is a waste of money that we have been hearing most of the time.
I say congrats to you Mildred Okwo (pompom) I wish you better success in your next movie.

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Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. -Proverbs 4:7

"When beggars die there are no comets seen;
The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes." -William Shakespeare

umm which kin voltron be this one .....just kidding ......i've heard so much about the movie and would love to see it

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SOMETIMES IT IS HARD TO SEE THE PLACE,GOD HAS CALLED YOU AS A PLACE OF BLESSING, BUT THATS WHEN YOU'VE GOT TO HOLD ON AND TRUST THE PROCESS
PEOPLE TEND TO DRAW OTHERS BACK FROM THINGS THEY SECRETLY WOULD HAVE LOVED TO DO BUT ARE NOT CAPABLE OR DARING ENOUGH TO DO
THEY WILL ALWAYS TALK BUT YOUR CHOICE IN WHO YOU LISTEN TO IS WHAT MATTERS......

GBAM! U don talk am finish. Ka chineke mezie okwu1

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Response is in blue. 30 DAYS THE MOVIE WEBSITE

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30 Days Voltron has spoken!

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