What does a woman give up in order to achieve independence? This is the heart of Olive Nwosu’s LADY, her feature debut at the Sundance Film Festival. Set in Lagos, following a female cab driver, LADY finds balance in being uniquely Nigerian while speaking to all women fighting to find some semblance of freedom and individuality in a male-centric world.
Lady (Jessica Gabriel’s Ujah) is a young, determined, tough-around-the-edges cab driver in Lagos, struggling to keep up with rising fuel costs in Nigeria, as we learn through bits and pieces of background news casts. After her childhood friend, Sugar (Tinuade Jemiseye), reappears after years, offering her a job driving her and her friends to their jobs, Lady reconciles her feelings about femininity, prostitution, and freedom while slowly building a bond with the high-energy ladies of the night.
Nwosu, who also authored the screenplay, presents two women within the same patriarchy. Lady chooses to hide her femininity and sexuality, dressing masculine, acting strong and aloof, and maintaining her virginity. In an emotional sequence, the girls, who all, of course, use sex as a form of currency, learn of Lady’s lack of experience, and we see that Lady choosing to remain a virgin is not only out of obstinance, but fear.
The irony of ‘the virgin of Lagos driving around a bunch of whores’ speaks volumes to the different ways women operate in this society. Sugar is the opposite of Lady, dressing sexy and feminine, and choosing a line of work where her sexuality is her greatest asset. This is something Lady cannot stomach.
Both girls share a dream of escaping Lagos. As children, we learn that they dreamt of running away to Freetown, Sierra Leone, a dream that Lady still secretly holds onto. As Lady begins earning more money, her dream is reignited, and we see hope gloss over her eyes. Ujah is phenomenal, mastering subtle tonal shifts as Lady puts up her guard and lets it down, whether she’s alone or with Sugar. Both actresses, Ujah and Jemiseye, who carry a majority of the screen time, share an intimate chemistry of sisterly love and respect. They can see in each other’s cracks that both of their lives have been filled with tough choices and sacrifices, but not without a back-and-forth of criticism about how each chose to live.
In a way, the story focuses mainly on two women, navigating the world alone, which is a rather shared experience, speaking to women outside of Nigeria. However, Nwosu weaves Lagos into the details, creating a more vibrant, complex pattern of individuality and universality. Lagos is shot beautifully, the streets filled with energy, color, and music. It is chaotic and noisy, but you feel a sense of community.
At the same time, Nwosu shares details, specifically from radio broadcasts and the cab driver community, that Nigeria is also in turmoil. Throughout the film, although not always the focus, Lady and the women find themselves driving through protests or hearing about people’s disagreements with governmental decisions. Starting as a casual conversation and crescendoing into a scene of protestors and passion, LADY intertwines the individual cry for independence of the two central characters with that of an entire nation.
In the end, our question of what must be sacrificed is only half answered as Nwosu opts for both a happy ending and an ambiguous ending. Her story leaves a lot of “what ifs” as the credits roll, but this is the true testament to the feminine experience – every day is uncertain and every day is a fight. As we see Lady slowly succumb to the protest spirit, after constantly reiterating that she wasn’t interested in joining the fight, I couldn’t help but cry for Lady, someone who sacrificed so much only to see that there is still a long fight ahead.
Olive Nwosu brought passion, energy, and heart to her feature debut, Lady. Finding harmony in taking a small story and attributing it to a nation’s struggle, this Nigerian narrative is a story we can all find a piece of ourselves in.
Review Courtesy of Sara Ciplickas
Feature Image Courtesy of Sundance Institute