Elesin Oba: The King’s Horseman

Elesin Oba: The King’s Horseman is an adaptation of Wole Soyinka’s play, Death and the King’s Horseman, set in Nigeria during the colonial era (WWII).

The source material is a classical play in African literature and theatre. The events of the play are said to be based on true events that occurred in Oyo in 1943.

My first encounter with this play was during my undergraduate days as a literature student, and if you ask anyone that is into African literature or even the older generations, they’ve probably come across it during their secondary school days or even in the university.

I can tell you for free that this play has also been performed countless times by performing theatres in different universities and private theatres. So a lot of people are not strangers to the story.

Regardless, seeing it adapted for mainstream media is really a good thing for more people to experience the story.

The plot summary of the movie goes like this: " The king died 30 days ago. Tonight, Elesin Oba, the King’s Horseman, must commit ritual suicide. Elesin’s spirit must journey with the King’s Spirit to the afterlife. If not, the King’s spirit will wander the earth and bring harm to his people. It is but the duty and destiny of Elesin Oba to accompany the king to the afterlife."

The movie stars Odundekola as Elesin, Shaffy Bello as Iyaloja, Deyemi Okanlawo as Olunde, and some other familiar faces.

Elesin Oba is about one hour and thirty minutes long, and the plot happened just for the duration of one night. I’m glad they didn’t make it run longer than it needed to. I believe the runtime duration was extended to meet the requirements of the industry. The fillers added weren’t too out of place.

The movie has a theatrical feel to it, which you can tell through the characters' interactions and dialogues. Speaking of dialogues, it was a mix of Yoruba and English.

The "Shakespearean English" style of diction used in the source material wasn't present in the movie; a style Wole Soyinka is well known which might be a good thing because, when you look at the demographics of where this movie is available - Netflix, using "Shakespearean English" won't fly with the audience.

It will be more of a disconnect than a new experience for them. After all, they still have to deal with the theatrical nature of the movie in terms of interaction and dialogue.

The core themes of the source materials weren't lost in this adaptation, and it was well delivered. They include colonialism and its effects on culture and cultural values (cultural clash), the juxtaposition of suicidal ritual and war, hypocrisy, life and death, duty and honor, etc. all of which I believe could spark conversations and probably debates. I would have loved to discuss them, but this article will turn into a full essay.

If there was anything I could be critical of about this movie. It will be the area of costume. Elesin’s fake beards kept throwing me off whenever he appeared in any scene.

However, it’s easy to overlook. If I were being extra critical, I'd say Olunde's suit looked way too modern for the era. Although it follows a style from the era, if it were slightly oversized, it would feel more believable than the tightly fitted one he wore. All these are just minor things that can be overlooked.

Moving on, adapting a stage play for a screenplay will always be a challenging task for directors and screenwriters because of the nature of the source materials.

Opinions will always be divided on whether such a movie is good or not. On one side, you’ll have theatre enthusiasts who will be interested in seeing the reenactment of a play they are familiar with on screen, and on the other, you’ll have regular movie audiences who aren’t familiar with theatrical plays.

It's difficult to adapt a stage play into a screenplay for a regular audience to enjoy because you’ll want to stay faithful to the source material and you don’t want to wash it down too much to suit a regular audience. You will not want the regular audience to feel too alienated from what they’re seeing, and you will always want to impress theatre enthusiasts.

There is always that struggle to find balance; therefore, movies like this won’t be for everybody. Each of the sides will have to form an opinion based on what they experienced. Hence, this is a major factor that comes with this type of movie. 

Drawing short examples from two movies, The Green Knight (20021) and The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021). The Green Knight is an Arthurian epic adaptation that makes use of simple and poetic diction; a movie I personally enjoyed. As easy as it was to understand and follow.

However, there were still people who found it boring or couldn’t get themselves to like the movie because of the nature of the story being an adaptation of an epic poem.

On the other hand, you have The Tragedy of Macbeth, which stayed true to the source material by using Shakespearean English, which made it tough to watch for an average audience.

Generally speaking, nobody wants to have a dictionary beside them to check the meaning of words while watching a movie.

Read More: The Green Knight's Review

In essence, when you look further into these examples, you’ll find that adapting a stage play or a certain type of literature material into a screenplay will always cause a clear divide in opinion amongst the audience.

Finally, we live in a time where colonialism is no longer fresh in people’s minds, but when you look left and right in your community today, you can see some of its effects and areas of clashes between indigenous cultures and foreign cultures.

This is the core takeaway from this movie. Elesin Oba evokes a sense of nostalgia for me as a student of literature and I enjoyed watching it, but it's up to individuals to form their subjective opinions about this movie.

What is your opinion about Eleshin Oba? Yay or Nay? Drop your opinions in the comment box.

About the Author

Olayinka Ajayi is a writer, creative director, and movie blogger from Nigeria. Having been involved in the entertainment circle since childhood, his interests range from comics, movies, and animations to video games. He has consistently developed his interest in the entertainment field which led to the creation of his movie review blog, 'Review Krunch', the blog is distinct for its engaging reviews and analysis. 

When he is not analyzing the latest movies or working on some creative designs and stories, he's helping out as a contributor in mobile game communities.