By Amadi Chimaobi Kingsley
WHEN you think of a mechanic in Nigeria, you think of someone who repairs and maintains cars. That’s correct, but that just describes an automotive or car mechanic. These mechanics are responsible for diagnostic testing and inspection of cars and small trucks. You might even find a car mechanic who specializes in a particular car brand or a specific area of auto service, like the chassis system.
Mechanics, in general, are skilled workers who use specialized tools to build, maintain or repair machinery like vehicle engines, motorcycles and even refrigerators.
The movie is an exposition into the lives of mechanics and the typical Nigerian apprenticeship system. The title, in itself, is a stylized version of ‘Mechanic’ written as pronounced by the Yorubas.
The idea behind the story is commendable, realistic and a kind of social call emphasizing the importance of the informal sector. However, it takes a few memory recalls to understand these messages and relate to them.
The role of Ponmile played by Tooni Afolayan the son of Kunle Afolayan, felt like a life project which he had promised his son (who plays the lead actor) a role in. Nollywood filmmakers need to learn from this: Cos you’re related does not mean he/she fits the role. Let that relation start out as an extra in other movies, while growing, in other not to be a laughing stock when he decides to play lead. The viewer was forced to laugh at almost every scene featuring Ponmile, where he gives this blank face with no emotion. One was hoping to see excitement on his face learning new things, but it was blank. He acted the whole movie with a countable number of emotions- his blank face which we see most of the time and the other face he manages to squeeze out anytime his love interest, Simi approaches. This brings us to Simi, acted by popular same name singer-songwriter. It was a decent debut for her, where she did not have to do much. That one generally found her voice annoying would be a personal attack, as there is little to distinguish her singing voice to her normal talking voice. She possesses that unique voice that does not fit acting, well, personal opinion here. Giving her a new accent/dialect would have been a whole distraction from the character, which would have been more of a mess.
Ponmile’s father offers him to be a mechanic apprentice, not because he wants his son to become a mechanic or for him to learn how life is on “the other side” of the class divide to effect positive changes in him, but because he wants the 12-year old to find the job revulsive after a day serving wearing overalls, bathed in oil and in constant search for 12-size spanner thieves! Ponmile’s father is disappointed when his son shows an interest in continuing his apprenticeship during “the weekends and holidays.”
Furthermore, one has always cherished the talent and durability of most Yoruba film actors and in here is a reminder of how good they are. Most times, there’s the tendency to wander into slapstick rendering or bland expositions but here, thanks to Kunle Afolayan’s directorial expertise, the foibles are bridled, and the deliveries are clean and clear like an infant’s bone. Even the erratic Charles Okocha has his volatile, sometimes unfunny theatrics well-guarded. A few people have complained bitterly about the young boy, Ponle, but one believes his dispositions are just about right here. The boy is from a wealthy home, and he finds himself in a mechanic workshop; the much-berated cluelessness and passivity is exactly what is expected from him.
However, Mokalik would have been better served with a bit of attention to story structure, because at several points the beats got repetitive and the usually dependable orature of Yoruba actors struggled to rescue the dreariness. The documentary styled filming also comes off as problematic in patches, with Ponle the rookie as our interviewer helping us to get into the world of a mechanic. He repeatedly asks unimaginative questions like a bored newscaster out of tune with the presentations of a teleprompter. Mokalik is a good movie that could have been great with better attention to the story. If all that happens in the film is just a boy asking questions in a mechanic village populated with quirky characters, then the viewers, are better off visiting one themselves and are most likely guaranteed the same.
Using objects, people, events and places the average Lagosian and Nigerian can relate with, for instance, we can offer a reason, and one has of Afolayan’s decision to place average, ill-educated, and exposed mechanics together with Ponmile who is better educated and from the society’s upper class to expose the ideological discrepancies between these two parties, and the refusal of one to accept new information and change. By this, Afolayan uses Kamoru, a young apprentice to Ajentina, and Ponmile as fictional symbols of himself and his presence amid people like him who refuse to move on with the world and take on more novel ideas. For instance, Ponmile converses with Kamoru, an intelligent and outspoken boy who knows by heart the names of the airplanes flying overhead each time they fly over to and from the airport. Kamoru is adept with the movement and names of each aeroplane, and he lets Ponmile know this. Soon enough, Ponmile catches in on this knowledge. This at a point was annoying as cars were supposed to be discussed and not planes and when Ponmile later speaks to other characters in the village on Kamoru’s rare ability and experiential knowledge, they dismiss him as “a boy who has too much time on his hands.”
On three occasions, three random people quip this to Ponmile and he finds it strange that Kamoru’s rare knowledge is pushed aside as laziness. One was then pleased to hear Ponmile tell his father at the end of the movie the name of the airplane that flew overhead them. And when his father asked him how he knew this, Ponmile’s retort was simple and charged with the wisdom gained from his time with Kamoru: experience. We also see this in Ponmile’s interaction with Tiri, another mechanic and senior apprentice, who maintains throughout the movie, against Ponmile’s argument, that the Mercedes Benz is the fastest car in the world and not “Bugatti!” There is also depicted the danger in following general knowledge without real evidence of truth. Their little banter would have been more insightful if they had at least mentioned 10 other super-fast cars and their engines…. or shed more light on the world of cars and engine but the conversation ended with “Benz'”. At the end we experienced Goke’s graduation ceremony and what significance of the items and the blessings that follow such and Ponmile leaves the workshop for the day.
At the end of the film, there is an uncertainty on the real reason Ponmile chooses to want to be a mechanic apprentice. Is it attributed to a genuine passion for the craft or merely as an avenue to, despite his obvious betrothal to Goke in the end, continues to pursue his love interest, Simi?
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