Confusion everywhere…The man is in a critical condition. He is rushed to the hospital, yet the doctors cannot help his situation. They thought it was a fever. But it later became obvious that they were dealing with what they knew nothing about and were unprepared for.
The sick man is also stubborn. He constantly engages and insults the medical personnel for not letting him out of the sickroom despite his appalling condition. He has an important meeting and nothing can stop him from honouring it. But the moment he is told that he has contacted a deadly virus, after rigorous tests, he is humbled. He knows the implication; he knows he has signed a death warrant.
But the damage had been done. People who have had contact with the ill man were not safe gain and the battle to stay alive had begun.
I am sure only few people will be able to relate with the narrative above. And since we were not hit directly, there is a tendency for us to have forgotten how the Ebola Virus Disease almost condemned Nigeria.
This is common with us as a people. Once the ovation goes down, everything dies down. Regardless of the fact that those fearful days are gone, we must always remember that some people paid with their lives.
However, a new movie, ‘93 Days,’ attempts to chronicle Nigeria and her fight with the deadly EVD. The movie, directed by Steve Gukas, is based on the true story of men and women who risked their lives to save the country. The movie captures the experience, trauma and uncertainty the victims faced.
In 2014, Liberian-American, Patrick Sawyer, who had contacted the EVD, found his way into Nigeria and made the world panic. The fear was that if Lagos, the commercial city of Nigeria was under threat, it was going to be a matter of days before the world got contaminated.
Doctor Ameyo Adadevoh, played by Bimbo Akintola, paid the ultimate price. If she truly did all I saw at the press screening of the movie last week at the Filmhouse Cinema in Surulere, Lagos, she was brave.
In saving lives, she perhaps did too much and exposed herself to death. In the movie, instead of worrying about herself as well, she gave so much attention to others. And she did not admit on time that she had been struck by the virus. On another hand, other schools of thought argued that she was destined to die and nothing could have stopped it.
Though the movie celebrates how Nigeria quickly rose to the occasion, it also exposes the country’s level of unpreparedness and decadence. Until the incident, the Isolation Centre at Yaba was in complete mess. And it would have remained so but for the strange event.
But the decision to cast Hollywood’s Danny Glover for a character that could have been successfully played by persons like Olu Jacobs or Pete Edochie is questionable. He played the owner of First Consultant Hospital. Glover would not have come cheap. The money used to bring him on board could have served other purposes.
With the exploit of Nigeria’s Bimbo Akintola, Keppy Ekpeyong Bassey, Bimbo Manuel, Tina Mba and others, Glover and Tim Reid must have been wowed with what they saw and gone back home to share their experience. Nigerian actors gave good account of themselves and showed that they could compete at the highest level, if given the chance.
Though, Adebola Williams, the cofounder of Red Media and YNaija, gave his best in the movie, I see his role as unnecessary. In the movie, he was the personal assistant to Sawyer. He accompanied him to the hospital.
Contrary to the posh and stylish Williams, he played the role of a joker and delivered. At the hospital, while everyone was worried for their lives, he kept savouring banana and groundnut. And he died eating these delicacies.
I am not certain if I was the only one who noticed that the movie was too long. I also felt it became less interesting towards the end. Or could it be that I became tired before the movie could end?
However, the producers and everyone behind the movie did a good job. The usage of First Consultant Hospital, the exact ambulance drivers, and the Isolation Centre at Yaba for the movie, among other efforts, added value to ‘93 Days.’ And having invested N400m in the making of history, they need to recoup their money. They need our help. When ‘93 Days’ hits cinemas on September 16, I urge everyone to take time out to see it.
