The above question sums the argument of those against film critics in a renewed debate. I suppose they probably end their prayers with ‘world without film critics, amen’. What triggered this new round of critic-bashing? I’m not quite sure. Like most online ‘debates’, one just wakes up to them. Sometimes, you’ll need Sherlock Holmes-ish detective skills to trace the origin. Although as far as film critics are concerned, the debate has never really gone away. So, I feel I can jump in anytime.

The first comments I saw were from filmmaker, Mildred Okwo. She talked about directors who do not stay behind to take questions after their films have been screened. Now, Mildred Okwo has been pretty outspoken about film premieres that are heavy on fashion but iffy on the film, the reason for the premiere in the first place. So, one wasn’t shocked by her comments.

My interest was awakened when another filmmaker, Niyi Akinmolayan, took the conversation further on Instagram. He says, “Most times when we critique a film, we are just using our own preference filter to judge. But you see, when the audience loves a film and decides to make it theirs, it is the most amazing experience a filmmaker can ever have. If the audience loves it, the filmmaker has done a good job. Don’t ruin it for them with your big grammar.”

I’ll resist the temptation to do a ‘Come Again’ analysis on this post. Suffice it to point out that a critique is a whole lot of things, not just criticism. Speaking of which, “using our own preference filter to judge” as Mr. Akinmolayan says is what everyone does, including the audience/spectator, even the filmmaker. One wise person said all criticism is ‘I like versus I don’t like and anything in between is rationalisation’. I’m not sure anyone really likes being criticised. The fact is that critics are not loved, world over. Except that more established societies recognise and respect all kinds of jobs.

Back home in Nigeria, not only can we not stand to be criticised, we hypocritically change the rules as we deem fit. Even when people cannot fault what you are saying or even your motives, they’ll say, “But, are you the only one seeing it?”  Not to mention all the “You are just a hater”, or “You’re just envious” tags. This reminds me of a former fan who loved AIRTIME when I was “yabbing” other people until I touched him just a little. It’s the same reason our politics is basically, “My looter is better than yours.” The same thing we criticise in others, we feel we reserve the right to ignore when it has to do with us or our ‘parapo people’.

But back to critics, we cannot do without them. As a film critic training to become a film scholar, you can call my position self-serving. Critics have a critical role (pun unintended) to play in strengthening the film industry. We can debate the finer points about the quality of criticism or egunje motives, but we cannot stop at, “What do you know about film, sef?”. Or to paraphrase the late Efere Ozako, “Wetin critics dey do sef?”  While we are still on this point, not every criticism or review will be ‘good’. Not every critic will be worth the tag. But the same thing applies to filmmakers. I can even complicate it further by saying a critic’s damage is relatively small compared to the long-term harm a filmmaker can cause. I’m curious about how we pretend, when it suits us, that Nigeria is a functioning country. Before you kill that critic, have you checked the state of our schools? How many films have we seen about issues like that anyhow?

Meanwhile, I noticed that they are coming at critics differently now. When this column began 20 years ago, the question I used to get the most was, “Have you ever been in broadcasting?” When top broadcasters whom I may have criticised met me, you could tell they were just dying to ask this question. To their shock, I’d proudly answer ‘no’. Are you broadcasting only to professional broadcasters? I never claimed any technical expertise. I have always described myself as a viewer who just happened to have a platform. What they didn’t appreciate was that if I could critique this much with my limited knowledge, imagine what I’d have done with real expert knowledge. Now, we are told the critic is not as important as the audience. Who is the audience anyhow? I don’t know about other critics but I pay to watch films at the cinemas. What does that make me, a jobless graduate?

By the way, audiences are fickle. There will always be hailers. Hitler had millions. Have you seen Trump rallies? No, I don’t have any Nigerian example.

Source: The Punch