Half of a Yellow Sun

Being someone with familiarity of the Biafra war and having read Chimamanda Ngozi's novel Half of a Yellow Sun, I thought it impossible to be more confused at the end of this film, however, I was.  This film suffered from a variety of issues ranging from mismatched characters to disorienting directorial choices.  I should repeat choices, because a novel to film adaptation requires adept choices since you do not have the luxury of 448 pages of exposition.
I have a great respect for the talents of Anika Noni Rose (No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency), Chiwitel Ejofor (Dirty Little Pretty Things) and Thandi Newton (Beloved)  which is why it is so unfortunate that their performances were overshadowed by the quagmire of poorly written lengthy dialogue and slipshod editorial sequencing.

One convincing performance that did manage to shine was that of veteran Nigerian singer Onyeka Onwenu as the overbearing, traditional and meddling mama who was not keen on the idea of her son wedding a no cooking, no child bearing hipped woman like Olanna (Newton's character).

The choice of casting was a distraction.  I did not find Newton and Rose to be plausible as fraternal twins. There was a lot of time spent trying to explain things through a lot of jaw flapping rather than using the strength of the lens and careful shot selection to tell the story.



Time wasted that I won't get back...