I watched Akinola Davies Jr’s My Father’s Shadow today, and I’m sitting with for a bit — I’ll write something on Letterboxd tomorrow — but initial impression is that it’s a good film that would’ve been great if it’d had a few more script or editing passes. Or both.

But I liked it. It made me want to visit Lagos. Or at least this fantasy version of Lagos. Which of course made me think of Nigerian representation in Western films.

Yes, My Father’s Shadow is a Nigerian film — in the sense that it’s made in Nigeria by Nigerian filmmakers — but it’s also technically a British film. And not just British in terms of funding, but it’s also British in terms of narrative; it plays more like a Western film than a Nigerian one. And in that respect, it reminded me of Santosh; an Indian film that’s also technically British.

I’ve seen so many western films that should know better than pronounce Lagos as Lah-Gos. One that comes to mind is Captain America: Civil War. But also, getting the accents wrong is also something that irks me. Not to keep piling on Marvel, but in the first Black Panther, there were people who were supposed to be Boko Haram — who are a Northern Nigerian people — having an accent that no one from that part of the country would have.

In fact I cannot remember a Western film — that’s anything from Europe or the United States — that’s gotten a Northern Nigerian accent right. But this one did, which I appreciated, even though the politics of why it did is still something that I’m not entirely sure I’m comfortable with.

Still, was happy to hear it. And maybe that’s what makes this a Nigerian film.