Time and again, we have been cautioned to live above reproach as a generally peace loving people. It is therefore most abhorrent when people amongst us by the actions and inactions do things that go a long way to threaten the very unity holding us together.

As is globally the case, the arts have for long been outlets through which most Ghanaians have entertained themselves and right fully so. That aside the arts have become arenas through which thousands of people have been gainfully employed.

Having said this though, we all must not also lose sight of the fact that what goes out for public consumption in any society must be measured by certain standards, key amongst these being respect to the sensibilities of consumers of whatever product put out.

We are all witnesses to the grave consequences of fanning even ethnic and tribal tensions to which there are countless examples both at home and across the world.

Time and again the incidence of playing the role of someone else has been touted by renowned actors and actresses as very tiring. A golden rule however is to understudy the kind of person you want to emulate even for as long as it takes especially if any producer and his actor put any premium on seriousness and do not take their audience for granted.

Having said that, I would like to put the spot light on a movie industry, not in the least putting myself up as a pundit in the area but my candid observations which I believe resonates across the general populace.

The rate at which films are churned out I admit cannot be used in anyway as a yard stick for what many see as a generally sloppy and shoddy industry as pertains especially to the local language speaking films, but for God sake, their quality even for someone as me who has hardly watched any of theses films is suspect.

The contents have either being about witchcraft, wizardry and sorcery either individually or all boxed into one, and have most of the time been staged in the spiritual realm where people vanish and reappear, where evil is eulogized and made to look powerful, all this in a technological age that we find ourselves.

When film producers dare to take a social angle, it is supposedly mixed with insults forgetting that audience may not necessarily be constituted of adults, more nauseating is the portrayal of scenes of immorality and lewdness that leaves much to be desired.

Yet I have had cause to believe that these films by some strange reason – I dare allude to illiteracy and misplaced ideals – have people buying them, but day in and out they are churned out with so much speed that you cannot miss their promos on the airwaves and TV with a familiar voice screaming, paaaaart twoooooo and threeeeeeee!

That aside many of those who watch these films which I would rather tag as improved drama, are gradually losing interest in these films that by and large lack any direction on the part of the producers and actors.

My personal conclusion, the movie industry needs to look at itself. Then again, for an avenue through which society is to be mirrored itself to be in need of a mirror, I laugh and sometimes wonder at all if our nation can climb up to the heights that other nations have attained.

The latest drab component to be served on the rather unappetizing local language movie industry and one that has stirred a storm of sorts rightfully so is an act by a man who has by far been seen as the face of an ailing and dwindling industry.

What Adu Kofi aka Agya Koo, who has played a myriad of roles in several movies set out to do in the movie titled “Mallam Issa,” was to arrogate unto himself a role he was obviously not in anyway prepared for and by current trend of events, it was, is and for a long time to come will be an act that has gone horribly wrong.

Having said that, I will cite the instance of an actor who readied himself for a role and played it as if he was the person whose role he played – which is in essence the reason for acting, emphasis on the point that the person the actor was aiming to portray was dead.

I watched and could not but admire the way and manner in which Forest Whitaker, an American born actor, producer and director, in the role he played in the critically – acclaimed movie, “the last King of Scotland,” in which he played the role of Ugandan dictator Iddi Amin Dada.

Here was a Whitaker, who had to make a trip to the African country (Uganda), talk to people who lived with the character he wanted to play, read at length about him and spoke to journalist and other people who ever came into contact with Iddi Amin.

The simple reason as appeals to common sense points straight to the seriousness that Whitaker attaches to his job, perhaps one that actors, Agya Koo inclusive have attached little of in line of their acting. (No insults whatsoever intended)

Whiles a certain Whitaker was feverishly working at leaving a lasting impression on his audience as he did on me, the likes of Agya Koo and his class of performers resort rather to doing a shoddy job of acting and quickly hide behind humour, joke of our time if you ask me.

He, (Agya Koo) in the film portrayed anything but a “Mallam” as he sought horribly to do.

The Ghanaian society is one that can boast of being spiritual, in which case religious tolerance has been well orchestrated leading to the largely peaceful co-existence that has characterized Muslims in this case and adherents of other religious faiths.

There have been a number of films in which Muslims have been ridiculed but not to the extent that Agya Koo sought to portray in the mould of a certain Mallam Issa, who was playing the role of a watchman in the movie in question.

If Agya Koo and the producer in question wanted to know how sensitive playing the religious card was they might want to look at how politicians have played on all facets of our lives but almost always, accorded religion its due and stayed off as it were.

The argument about men of God/ pastors being ridiculed in films with no qualms is neither here nor there, simple reason is; that has never been justification that some other group cannot express their heartfelt reservation about a blunder as perpetrated in the movie, “Mallam Issa.”

If Agya Koo went the Forest Whitaker way, rehearsed well enough and played the role to the satisfaction of Muslims, there obviously would have been NO issues, all Muslims are putting across is the way and manner he (Agya Koo) sought to portray Muslims and the Religion as a whole.

Having said this, I decry in no uncertain terms, calls by people I suspect are only masquerading as Muslims who are prescribing outrageous sanctions for Agya Koo. For a religion largely misrepresented by western media, and with a negative perception etched in the minds of many unfortunately, the least we can do is to channel our grievances through the proper channels and allow systems address them.

Relative to the issue on hand, the Ashanti Regional Security Council did a good job of brokering some compromise, whiles by their apology and withdrawal of the movie from the market, the producers (Paul Gee Films) and marketers in my opinion have done a better job and a great service to mother Ghana.

Ghana as a nation is better off with films/ entertainment that foster national cohesion, tolerance and peaceful coexistence irrespective of age, tribe, sex, race, religion and social or financial standing, all these, basic ingredients if we all are to enjoy the national banquet. PEACE, ONE LOVE!

© Alpha Barani Shaban

E-mail: alfarsenal@yahoo.com

Tel: (+233) 24 8965573