Is C.J. ‘Fiery’ Obasi’s Mami Wata a Modern-Day Classic?

Their films—Rehearsal, The Lost Okoroshi, O-Town, Ojuju, Green White Green—more like the filmmakers, attracted a cult-like followership. Despite the critical acclaim Juju Stories received, including a mention in the New York Times list of Five Horror Movies to Stream Now, word-of-mouth praise for its uniqueness from other Nollywood films, an attestation to the S16 collective brilliance, the film attracted minimal mainstream attention in Nigeria. Yet, the filmmakers weren’t fazed. By telling personal stories hinged on experimentation, and exploration of divergent genres, they constantly distinguished themselves from a large crop of Nollywood filmmakers. It is this uniqueness, which marked their films, that keeps coming to mind whenever I reflect upon Obasi-directed Mami Wata which had its world premiere at Sundance International Film Festival in 2023.

Mami Wata tells the tale of the river goddess using the story of one of its intermediaries, Mama Efe (Rita Edochie). In Iyi community, Mama Efe, is the custodian of spiritual authority as well as political authority. The order of things is offset when the community witnesses the avoidable death of a child. This death occasions a disruption in Mama Efe’s family: Zinwe (Uzoamaka Aniunoh), headstrong as her mother, begins to outwardly doubt the potency of the river deity’s vaunted power. Priscilla (Evelyne IIy), Zinwe’s adopted sibling, chooses a more diplomatic approach; rather than be expressive about her subtle dismissal of the deity’s power, she chooses to silently observe. As the river deity’s power is gradually being scrutinized, Jabi (Kelechi Udegbue), one of the villagers, leads a populist group calling for a political change in the outdated ways of Iyi.

Villages surrounding Iyi have embraced modernity—schools and hospitals—but Iyi is still in n its outdated ways. The reckless Jabi wants the village to yield the clarion call of modernity. A call that Mama Efe constantly rejects. As the film progresses, the flaunted gender-based dynamics between the headstrong Mama Efe and the bashful Jabi become glaring. Regardless, the film doesn’t focus on the gender disparities between Mama Efe and Jabi, the director (Obasi) who doubles as the screenwriter has other intentions. As Iyi gradually gets divided, Jasper (Emeka Amakeze), an ex-pirate battling internal crises, decides to live in the village. Paying attention to the political and spiritual conflict prevalent in Iyi, the innocently looking Jasper tactically installs himself as the new leader of the rebellious group headed by Jabi.

Mami Wata, which will be remembered historically as the debut home-grown Nigerian film to premiere at Sundance, has screened and won awards in multiple continental and international festivals (PRIX DE LA CRITIQUE Pauline S. Vieyra (African Critics Award) at FESPACO and Special Jury Award for Cinematography). As important as this is, what keeps haunting my thoughts months after watching Mami Wata is how the filmmaker manages the religious tension inherent in the film. Mama Efe, the intermediary of the water deity, represents the gradually dying but powerful African spirituality while Jabi and Jasper represent the more alluring and vibrant modernity—Christianity, if I may. Although the film doesn’t present Jasper as a practicing Christian, the dangling crucifix on his neck casually teases his affiliation with the religion. In Obasi’s handling of this subject matter, he metaphorically writes Jabi, Jasper, and Mama Efe’s characters as emblems of this cultural and religious conflict.

Two points are worth reiterating: Christianity is a Western religion and African traditional religion, which is a totem and repository of our identity and history, is often given a footnote treatment. However, despite how external it is to our spirituality as Africans, Christianity and by extension Islam—has become one of the fabric of our existence. By writing the opposing Mama Efe and Jabi into the film, Obasi gives breath to the age-long colonial conversation about the place of Western religion and African religion in Africa. While Mama Efe and Jabi are unable to accept each other’s ideologies, the film presents Prisca. Prisca’s conflicted embrace of modernity and strong alliance with the female water deity teases the film’s treatment of tolerance and acceptance of distinct religions. On a larger scale, this instills the societal need to be accepting of others whose religious beliefs are different from ours.