The Supreme Price, 2014.
Directed by Joanna Lipper
SYNOPSIS:
Documentary about the struggle for democracy and women’s rights in Nigeria.
It’s easy to reduce a country into the one thing you have heard about it on the news. Ethiopia – famine. Somalia – pirates. Liberia – Ebola. Nigeria – kidnapped school girls. Joanna Lipper’s documentary The Supreme Price successfully sheds light on a decades long struggle for democracy in Nigeria by focusing on one notable Nigerian family.
From its independence from the United Kingdom in 1960 to present day, the citizens of Nigeria have been denied democracy by its military and the rich elite who have profited from Nigeria’s oil-rich land. The Supreme Price focuses on the Abiola family, M.K.O., a wealthy businessman who won an election promising to free Nigeria from military rule, and one of M.K.O.’s four wives, Kudirat, who took over the pro-Democracy movement after her husband was imprisoned.
Lipper interviews several of M.K.O.’s children throughout the film, most notably Hafsat Abiola, who chose to continue her parents activism despite both of her parents losing their lives due to their beliefs and actions.
Where The Supreme Price excels the most are the sections that draw a correlation between the pro-Democracy movement and the women’s rights movement in Nigeria. While Nigeria is divided into two main religions (Islam and Christianity) and dozens of languages and ethnic groups, the one common denominator in Nigeria has been a woman’s subservient place in society. One woman in the film describes all Nigerian women as having a case of PHD, Pull Her Down Syndrome. A woman in Nigeria is expected to grin and bear any adversity or abuse she may encounter. She may also pray for assistance, but preferably as far away from public view as possible.
It’s hard to stay positive while watching The Supreme Price as every step forward for those fighting for democracy is quickly followed by a shove down the stairs. Political assassinations are rampant and most of Kudirat and M.K.O.’s children and peers were forced to leave the country for their own safety. You could assume that the citizens of Nigeria would be too beaten down by decades of corruption and violence to keep fighting. But you would be wrong. Even as Hafsat Abiola describes the 50 years since Nigeria’s independence as 50 years of failure, she somehow manages to inspire.
The Supreme Price only briefly mentions the Islamic extremist groups that the world heard about last year after the abduction of hundreds of girls from Nigerian villages. What the film focuses on is the women’s movement that is working to stave off all of the ills that befall countries with extreme poverty. For Nigeria’s failure is a failure of male dictators, and Hafsat and her peers see a future with strong women in leadership roles. And it’s hard to not believe in Hasfat after hearing her family’s story and witnessing her own personal sacrifices to help the people of Nigeria.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Amy Richau is a freelance entertainment and sports writer. Follow her on Twitter.
https://youtu.be/8HTiU_hrLms?list=PL18yMRIfoszFLSgML6ddazw180SXMvMz5
Originally published May 20, 2015. Updated April 14, 2018.
