In September 2016, I was picked up from my university apartment in Enugu by members of the now 鈥渄efunct鈥 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鈥 new Netflix film, Collision Course, I knew I would be triggered. The film鈥檚 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 you鈥檇 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 film鈥檚 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 Mide鈥檚 life to focus on the police officer who kills him, Corporal Magnus. If trenches were to be captured on film, Magnus鈥 house and family life would do it justice. From a dilapidated structure and bowls of garri to a 鈥渘agging鈥 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, you鈥檙e supposed to pity both the murderer and the murdered..
This pity party for Corporal Magnus is one of Collision Course鈥檚 biggest flaws.
Despite a rousing effort by Daniel Ettim Effiong to make Mide feel real, the film鈥檚 script works as an opp. Corporal Magnus gets a well-rounded story arc to get the audience to understand his motives, but Mide doesn鈥檛 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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There鈥檚 no gainsaying Nigeria is messed up. We all live here. But Collision Course鈥檚 attempt to all-lives-matter one of Nigeria鈥檚 most unfortunate social problems with rogue law enforcement makes it a project. It鈥檚 not trying to hold the police system accountable, it鈥檚 a contrived attempt to get people to 鈥渦nderstand鈥 their side, and that鈥檚 just fucked up.
Two other things stick out like sore thumbs in Collision Course. In the film鈥檚 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 would鈥檝e called the film out for not being true to reality. But if he had taken a clean shot at Mide, it would鈥檝e been an outright call out of the Nigerian Police Force. So Collision Course took the easy 鈥 too easy 鈥 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 team鈥檚 decision to slap scenes from real #EndSARS protests at the end of the film. Why use actual footage of a real situation when you鈥檙e clearly not on the side of the movement?
In Collision Course, police officers and citizens are the same, equals even. After all, we鈥檙e 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?聽
Once you have a gun, it doesn鈥檛 matter who our mutual oppressor is, we鈥檙e not on the same side level.聽
We鈥檝e been asked to applaud Collision Course for making an 鈥渆ffort鈥. But as someone who鈥檚 suffered at the hands of men like Corporal Magnus and TARZ, I think I鈥檒l save my applause. I don鈥檛 get the concept of approaching a topic if you鈥檙e not ready to have a real conversation. No one is asking for a perfect story, but we also don鈥檛 deserve to have our trauma harvested and used for profit without us getting anything in return.
There鈥檚 an ongoing conversation about how Collision Course tries but fails actually to say anything, but I think that鈥檚 false. Collision Course says a lot, it just happens to be saying all the wrong things, and that鈥檚 even worse than saying nothing at all.
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