Half A Yellow Sun really should have been a mini-series for television and that is the main problem here. It's an epic story with a plethora of characters being rammed into a small running time and as such it struggles to find its emotional center. Set in the late 1960s the film is set during the turmoil that followed Nigeria's independence. Accusations of tribal racism soon led to a civil war resulting in part of the country succeeding in its own state of Bifra - much of this is shown through the use of documentary clips and newsreel footage, which sadly were more interesting and engrossing than the actual movie.

The story centers around the relationship between two daughters, Olanna (Thandie Newton) and Kainene (Anika Noni Rose) are brought up in a wealthy politically connected household. Both filled with a sense of entitlement the two leads don't make for especially sympathetic characters though the gutsy dry witted Kainene grows on you after a while thanks to a great performance by Rose. Olanna is engaged to be married to political intellectual Odenigbo (Ejiofor) while Kainene is quick to jump between the sheets with white businessman Richard (Joseph Mawle) another characters perspective comes from newly appointed houseboy Ugbo (John Boyega) who cooks and cleans at the house of Olanna and Odenigbo and is a witness to Odenigbo infidelities.

Much of the early scenes is spent establishing tribal tension between Odenigbo's mother (Onyeka Onwenu - excellent performance) and Olanna and on Odenigbo having political discussions with other friends he invites over where he continues to blame the white man for the countries problems. The latter focuses on the tribal civil war that followed the break away state and is set over several years following the characters attempts to continue a normal life.

I have no doubt that the book, which I haven't read (but will as soon as I can get my hands on a copy) paints the characters in much more dimensions than was allowed here. Here in lies the flaws of this film - Characters are painted either too stereo typically such as Odenigbo who comes across as an annoying superior hypocrite or too thinly such as Richard whose core motivations and emotions are never real to us until the final reel. Olanna is given the most screen time and she is the least appealing of the main characters, allowing herself to be a victim one minute then abrasive the next with everyone around her. Much of the script feels forced and trite and there's too many other characters whose screen time is too little yet whose deaths are played out as having major importance and significance yet we struggle to remember who they really were. I'm surprised that such a big budget film was given to a first time director but then you can't really blame him pulled from pillar to post as I am sure he would have been - the film does reek of too many cooks and really should have been made into a mini series, this would have allowed a broader stroke of scenes and story line to make the main characters more appealing and also given the minor characters more of an impact so their loss is keenly felt once it comes. The acting here is really variable too with only Joseph Mawle in an extremely underwritten part and John Boyega coming through completely unscathed. It's not a film without its merits or strong moments but ultimately it is a flawed film that has no where near the emotional impact that it should have done and that is chiefly because you do not care about the characters on screen enough to be fully engaged in their journey.

This film is a great example of some incredible archive footage ruined by a boring, mediocre and incoherent film in between.

Yes, I have read the book. I wasn't expecting a literal screen translation of the book, as the book covers a vast array of characters, but I did expect the essence of it to be retained.

It wasn't.

The film follows the lives of twin sisters Olanna (Thandie Newton) and Kainene (Akina Noni Rose) right after Nigeria gets its independence from the British and through to the Biafran war, as the Igbo people struggle to establish an independent republic. The film (similar to the book) tries to follow the lives of these 2 affluent young women, their relationships with men and with one another set against a significant historical event in Nigeria.

I went to watch this film specifically to support African Cinema and exited about a Nigerian Director making a film with a strong cast. I was bitterly disappointed with the lazy result.

Firstly the performances; Chiwetel Ejiofor is ever earnest in his role as Olanna's lover Odenigbo. He is OK, not offensive and gives a similar performance as he did in 12 years a slave. Thandie Newton is horrific. She has literally two expressions. I like to think its to do with the bad direction, someone should have told her she's over-acting .

The worst and best performance came from Odenigbo's Mother played by Onyeka Onwenu. What can I say. The best is that she was very entertaining, funny and a joy to watch. What made it the worst was that it belonged to a different film. A film I would have preferred to watch by the way. Her performance added a quality of a soap opera to the film. Anika had the strongest performance among them and deserves a mention for it.

The film has two parts, the first comes across as a cheap soap opera and the second, a cheap action movie. Choices that were made baffled me. Scenes played out that were pointless and didn't add much to the plot, making the first half plod along longer than it should have. The second half was riddled with inconsistencies and poor editing. Characters were introduced just as quickly as they were killed off. I am not sure why it was important to illustrate on a map were everyone was, that added nothing.

But the biggest problem with the film is that it lacked a director, a proper director. There wasn't anyone keeping the actors believable, controlling the movement of the camera, having a coherent edit or keeping tabs on the horrendous sound score.

Unbelievably the producers also produced Constant Gardener and should have known better than this. How can you allow an inexperienced Director to helm such a significant film? It's arrogant and irresponsible.

I am African (yes, I know it's a continent), I applaud any one trying to make our stories for an audience outside of the continent but this effort was so poor that I had to write about it. We can do much better than this.

I beg to disagree with many of the other (negative) reviews. I believe that the movie communicated the right intensity. It's not about the book, it's about a story needing to be told. I'm a Nigerian who is closely intimidated with the war and the true story, and this film did enough to express the reality of it on many levels. I especially appreciated the live footage. I've been reading memoirs from a variety of ethnicities who were involved in the war, and this movie shows a story that is consistent with all of their stories. It's only one perspective, and fictional at that. I would recommend this movie to anyone and everyone interested in Nigerian history and heritage.