Ladi Ladebo: Footprints of a film legend

Ladi Ladebo was a consummate filmmaker (features and documentaries) and television director who has bequeathed lasting legacies through his films and tv productions. Uncle Ladi  (my dear uncle, egbon, friend and professional colleague) odigbere, odoju ala, odi arinako.Rest in perfect peace with the Lord, amen.

By Afolabi Adesanya

PUDGY. Assertive. Confident. Cerebral. Fast-talking. Hard-driving. Passionate. Staid. Unpretentious. All the elements carefully blended like vintage wine. He could have been a banker. An investment analyst/broker. A management consultant. Or an insurance broker. He holds a B.Sc. in Business Administration and an MBA. But for the Muses, he is a filmmaker. One of the trailblazers of the 70s. 

Riding on the crest of his successful outings in the United States of America (Final Comedown, Garden War and Today is Ours), Ladi Ladebo coasted home to make his debut with Bisi, Daughter of the River (1977), in collaboration with Jab Adu and Kola Ogunnaike. The picture, a toast of the late 70s is still recalled with nostalgia. It marked the beginning of his romance with ‘An African Legend,’ a label that has become his trademark and is proudly emblazoned on his feature films such as Bisi, Eewo – Taboo (1989), and will undoubtedly be stamped in his next picture inspired by the legendary Kwaghir puppetry of the Benue/Plateau area. 

Ladebo’s resort to African legends, particularly his native Yoruba folklores, is to enable him use familiar indigenous leitmotif, stories, deities, beliefs and nuances, albeit in English language, to enlighten and entertain, and give his works authentic African origin – a rub-off of the ‘I’m Black and Proud’ era, during which he schooled and worked in the States. 

BISI (Patti Boulaye) is the story of Yemoja’s stubborn daughter who refuses to dedicate her life to her spiritual mother and serve as her priestess. She incurs the wrath of the river goddess. And she dies a victim of her own obduracy. Its overt ‘clash of cultures’ theme captures the zeitgeist of the post-independence African literature. 

Employing the ancient Ifa art of divination to make a social comment in Eewo, Ladebo cast his cowries on the cocaine tin-foil of contemporary Nigeria. The divination: An ominous warning that spells grave disaster, “I am using this African belief to teach our youths,” said Ladebo (Daily Times, January 13, 1990) “that once you touch drugs you are actually having dinner with devil.” 

In an earlier film, Vendor (1988), the film auteur’s social realism focus was on the bitter, dirty politics of the Second Republic. “The main objective of the film,” he stated, (Newswatch, March 28, 1990), “is to give a red signal to all Nigerians to be vigilant and not to applaud or sell our conscience to all those who engage in various vices against the economic survival of the nation.” 

Both Eewo and Vendor are, in conception and realisation, expressionist films. This style suits Ladebo, who, justifiably, cannot come to terms with the awkward dual role of being a filmmaker and a hawker. His films are made with institutional buyers in mind; consequently they are not seen on the local cinema circuit. This explains why he is hardly known outside the professional circle of Nigeria filmmakers. 

Between 1975 and 1976, he co-wrote and produced Countdown at Kusini, which, though a feature film, was hardly seen in the country. It had a brief run in the US against the popular Blaxploitation (Black exploitation) films of the 70s (e.g. the Shaft series, Superfly, Superfly TNT, Cotton Comes to Harlem, Three the Hard Way etc.) but lost out because it could not be easily placed or packaged for the uptown market. 

He explains, “We wanted to bridge the gap between Africans and Black Americans in terms of the creative work. What we didn’t realise was that the perspective of the film couldn’t easily be identified as either African or Black American. So we got back to America with this type of film that the rhythm, the pacing was different from Shaft, Superfly and all the other Black American films… It was all thrown out there with all the other sleek, fast-paced movies… after eight weeks they withdrew it , and it ended up being played on cable television” (Daily Times of January 13, 1990). Countdown at Kusini, a production of Kusini Company was financed by the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority (USA). 

In 1985, he completed two documentary films: (A) Children of God I & II, a film on the rise and popularity of the Aladura Pentecostal Churches; and (B) I Too Sing Nigeria based on a collection of poems by late Major General Mamman J. Vatsa, whose pre-empted coup and subsequent execution forced the film into the cooler. Ladebo describes the film as, “A special documentary motion picture which utilises very rich and humorous poetry to tell about Nigeria, its people, problems and historical experiences since independence from Britain in 1960.”  Fifteen years earlier in 1975, he produced FESTAC ’77, a promo film on behalf of the Federal Government. 

Ladebo is not only passionate about making movies; he is equally zealous about becoming a director, the man whose concept determines the look of the film. Guess this is natural progression for a man who all along writes and produces his pictures. He donned the director’s cap on I Too Sing Nigeria, Children of God I & II, Vendor and Eewo, all made between 1985 and 1989. Prior to 1985, his films were directed by African-American Ossie Davis (Today is Ours, FESTAC ’77 promo and Countdown at Kusini) and Jab Adu (Bisi). Ossie Davis it will be recalled also directed Francis Oladele’s Kongi’s Harvest (1971). 

THE truth about Ladebo, however, is that he is not only a filmmaker; he is also a businessman (for real). Filmmaking for him is business, and business is a source of funds for film production.

(Originally titled Ladi Ladebo: To be a legend, it was first published in The Guardian, Sunday September 2, 1990)