In September 2016, I was picked up from my university apartment in Enugu by members of the now defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) with a gun pointed at my face. My crime? I lived in the same building as an alleged cultist. That Saturday was one of the scariest moments of my life, only to be rivalled by the time gun-wielding police officers chased me during the #EndSARS protests.
Going into Bolanle Austen-Peters new Netflix film, Collision Course, I knew I would be triggered. The films promotional narrative sold it as a story attempting to hold a mirror to society, with a heavy focus on police brutality and its impact on Nigerians like me. And yes, I did get triggered watching Collision Course, but not for the reasons youd expect.
Collision Course introduces its protagonist, Mide (Daniel Etim Effiong), with a situation that feels all too familiar to young Nigerians. On a night ride, Mide is kidnapped by the films version of SARS (TARZ), beaten and extorted. The events of that night leave him traumatised until another encounter with a local police officer (Kelechi Udegbe) changes his life forever.
While Collision Course starts on the right, albeit traumatic foot, the film quickly turns away from Mides life to focus on the police officer who kills him, Corporal Magnus. If trenches were to be captured on film, Magnus house and family life would do it justice. From a dilapidated structure and bowls of garri to a nagging wife, Collision Course tries to convince us that Magnus is really going through it and is a victim of his circumstance. The pity party for Magnus is so intense that by the time Mide dies, youre supposed to pity both the murderer and the murdered..
This pity party for Corporal Magnus is one of Collision Courses biggest flaws.
Despite a rousing effort by Daniel Ettim Effiong to make Mide feel real, the films script works as an opp. Corporal Magnus gets a well-rounded story arc to get the audience to understand his motives, but Mide doesnt feel like a real person. What millennial performs dead rap music with an Afro wig at Quilox in the year of our lord, 2022?
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Theres no gainsaying Nigeria is messed up. We all live here. But Collision Courses attempt to all-lives-matter one of Nigerias most unfortunate social problems with rogue law enforcement makes it a project. Its not trying to hold the police system accountable, its a contrived attempt to get people to understand their side, and thats just fucked up.
Two other things stick out like sore thumbs in Collision Course. In the films climax, Corporal Magnus kills Mide by accidental discharge, a move by the film itself to avoid accountability. If Corporal Magnus had let Mide go, perhaps Nigerians wouldve called the film out for not being true to reality. But if he had taken a clean shot at Mide, it wouldve been an outright call out of the Nigerian Police Force. So Collision Course took the easy too easy way out: an accidental discharge which still leaves Corporal Magnus as a victim even though he called his friends at TARZ to finish up the job.
The other upsetting part of Collision Course is the teams decision to slap scenes from real #EndSARS protests at the end of the film. Why use actual footage of a real situation when youre clearly not on the side of the movement?
In Collision Course, police officers and citizens are the same, equals even. After all, were all being fucked over by a corrupt system. But how can I be equal with someone holding an assault rifle? How is the power dynamic balanced when a police man can shoot me and walk away scot free?
Once you have a gun, it doesnt matter who our mutual oppressor is, were not on the same side level.
Weve been asked to applaud Collision Course for making an effort. But as someone whos suffered at the hands of men like Corporal Magnus and TARZ, I think Ill save my applause. I dont get the concept of approaching a topic if youre not ready to have a real conversation. No one is asking for a perfect story, but we also dont deserve to have our trauma harvested and used for profit without us getting anything in return.
Theres an ongoing conversation about how Collision Course tries but fails actually to say anything, but I think thats false. Collision Course says a lot, it just happens to be saying all the wrong things, and thats even worse than saying nothing at all.
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