House of Ga'a: What's Next for Nollywood Epics?

The first time I heard of Bashorun Gaa was as a little boy in Lagos. In those days, my mother was quite the fan of films, and part of my duties as her assistant was to walk down the street to rent these films from Folly D video rental shop. This was at a time when films came in video cassettes. As part of Folly D’s obligation to my mother, being a loyal customer, he prioritized new titles for us. On one of my expeditions to Folly D’s shop, I came back home with Bashorun Gaa.

Stories are beautiful things. They can be weapons of mass indoctrination and subtle tools of immortalization. Catering to an innate curiosity, stories help fill voids that we didn’t know existed. For my small nuclear family, watching the villainous story of Bashorun Gaa on our small Toshiba television was beyond a cinematic representation of myth. It offered a connection, albeit tiny, to home. Both my parents are from Oyo in Oyo State, Nigeria, the resettlement of what’s left of the old Oyo Empire. The Alaafin is still our king, and the Oyo Mesi still holds council. Bashorun Gaa is a part of our history, and back home, he forms part of our tales by moonlight.

In July 2024, Netflix released House of Ga’a. The most recent eponymous representation of Gaa and his adventures was directed by Bolanle Austen-Peters and written by Tunde Babalola. The film features several familiar faces from Nollywood—Femi Branch, who plays the role of Bashorun Gaa; Funke Akindele, who plays Ayinba; Ibrahim Chatta, who is Sasa L’eniyan—Ga’a’s trusted ally and herbalist; Toyin Abraham, Femi Adebayo, and Lateef Adedimeji. Emerging actors—Mike Afolarin, Juliana Olayode, Tosin Adeyemi, and several others also find roles in this film.

The plot follows Bashorun Ga’a’s adventures as Prime Minister of the old Oyo Empire. His reign is tyrannous; this much is indubitable. However, everything else is subjective, leaving the audience to decipher what is tangible across lines of love, jealousy, power, greed, and almost all of the other emotions that are involved in human interaction.

One of House of Ga’a’s strengths is its cinematography. Another is its plot. As much as it seems like it's easy to take a plot from myth, it's not. It requires a patient researcher and creative scriptwriter to populate the missing elements of myths and create some semblance of reality, especially in the nuances of culture. While the scriptwriter of House of Ga’a does get a good go at this, the plot is not infallible. For instance, after Ga’a’s capture, he is found groveling. In Yoruba culture, this is very improbable. Some versions of Ga’a’s myth even posit that rather than be shamed with an arrest, Gaa turned into stone. But then again, creative license?

Casting can be tricky business when casting for a film like House of Ga’a. While Bolanle Austen-Peters does a great job with the lead and several supporting roles, some characters don’t come alive. A major culprit for this is language. The language of old Oyo is Yoruba, the kind that most of the cast cannot seem to speak. A good cushion for this would have been leveraging a strong enough voice with a good grasp of the language for the occasional voiceovers in the film, but even this is unconvincing.

Femi Branch goes over and above in his role as Ga’a, reminding anyone who might have forgotten why he’s a veteran in the industry. On the other hand, there is a celebrity couple in the film that has us wondering if the entire plot could have fared without them.

Despite its flaws, House of Ga’a would join the growing list of epic Yoruba films that are gaining global acceptance. However, for the industry, these epic films need to start aspiring to the next pedestal. Good cameras might not be enough to convince the audience in the near future.