Why The Sudden Drift To R-Rated Movies In Ghana?

The movie industry has been making impressive progress for the last few years. The awards received at the just ended Africa Movies Academy Awards (AMAA) clearly show we are definitely on an upward curve.

Why then the sudden drift to R rated movies? Ghanaian movies have always evolved around family entertainment and culture – just like we used to gather round to watch Thursday Theatre back then. Pure family entertainment and that’s what makes it different from the western movies.

When Frank Rajah (Venus films) produced Hearts of Men, it didn’t show much nudity like we seeing today. The movie showed Majids butt crack and some scenes we not used to seeing in our movies. Ghanaians did let this slide without considering its profound implications. Overall the movie was a hit and ended up becoming the trendsetter.

What did we see next? Well, the likes of Socrates, seeing how Frank cashed in decided it’s the way forward and took it to another level. Cheap poor quality productions with more repetitive and unnecessary sex scenes which do not fit anywhere in storyline became a common practise. Originality and creativity went through the window. Socrates has since produced Sex and Love; and now Hot Fork.

The turnout for Hot Fork was great. People had to actually queue for hours before getting to watch the movie. That makes me wonder was it out of curiosity or simply because it was free. Then again we have different movie choices right?

The less said about the acts in this movie the better. Was it for cheap fame or money? Definitely not the latter as I understand they were underpaid. Desperate ‘wannabes’ I suppose. It’s a shame! I bet self respect and moral values means nothing to them.

In our stride to move forward, break barriers and get international recognition these cheap poor production of R rated movies do not only question the regulatory framework of the industry. It serves as an insult to the genuinely hard working producers trying to put Ghana on the worldwide movie map.

In as much as this drift is money motivated, I strongly believe Ghanaians will appreciate some originality and creativity. Give us something different- in a good way – to the rest (West). There might be a market for this sort of production but question is, are we to compromise on our moral values in the name of movie choices and diversity? Spare us this.