The Psychological Effects of Sodomy in Kunle Afolayan's October 1

Reviewer:

Olumide Labulo Year of Release: 2014

October 1 is a Nigerian film written by Tunde Babalola and produced by Golden Effect, a film production company run by the ace director, Kunle Afolayan. It features Sadiq Daba, Kayode Olaiya, David Bailie, K e h i n d e B a n k o l e , K a n a y o O. Kanayo, Fabian Adeoye Lojede, Femi Adebayo, Colin David Reese, Yemi Elebuibon, Nick Rhys, Ibrahim Chatta, and a host of others. Yes, the film is set in Colonial Nigeria to portray how Danladi Waziri (Sadiq Daba), a police officer from Northern Nigeria successfully investigates the frequent female murder cases in the community of Akote in the Western part of the country and challenges of having the mystery solved before Nigeria's Independence Day on October 1. However, amidst all is this silent but pronounced effects of a moral injustice perpetrated, worse off, by a religious custodian and guardian, Rev. Father Dowling, against two young boys, Agbekoya and Prince Aderopo, who were recipients of his scholarship. Now in their adulthood, we see how they are h a u n t e d b y t h e m e m o r y a n d experience of their sodomization.

Psychologists say the psychological a n d e m o t i o n a l e f f e c t s o f sodomization can be quite huge and range from multiple f lashbacks to intense pain of regret, borderline p e r s o n a l i t y d i s o r d e r, s u i c i d a l t h o u g h t s , r a g e , r e v e n g e , n i g h t m a r e s , d i s t r u s t , l o w s e l f esteem, etc. In a 1992 article of Simon G a r f i e l d t h a t b o r d e r s o n t h e testimonies of raped men by other m e n a n d p u b l i s h e d o n www.independent.co.uk, a U.K man by the name Ben was explicit. He said he had a normal life until he was raped in 1989 in Kesington by a stranger with a knife. While the rape lasted, the stranger made him do many unspeakable things and even peed in his mouth. Ben said after everything, he lost all sense of time, w a s h e d o b s e s s i ve l y, b u r n t h i s clothes, became withdrawn, felt subhuman and welcomed multiple suicidal thoughts. Agbekoya and Prince Aderopo could have felt this way in those teenage years or even worse. Each could have developed different coping mechanisms to withstand the humiliation. Or how else can one compare the emotional wounds of one rape to what they experienced every other night for six whole years!! sodomization could chart a new course in their sexual orientation as they grow older. In another article on ‘Homosexual Rape’ published on www.americansfortruth.com in 2015, May 1 precisely, the testimonies of many gay men today reveal that they became gay as adults because of their childhood experiences among which included rape by older gay men which were either family members, family friends or neighbours. But for the characters of Agbekoya and Aderopo, it couldn't do more damage than the intense bitter taste left in their mouths to birth rage and r e v e n g e . A g b e k o y a , t h e r e a f t e r, develops so much hatred for Western education such that he angrily decides to drop out of school and begins to nurture the thoughts of killing the Rev. Father. He gets the chance to execute his plans eventually when he (the Rev. Father) returns to Akote for an event organized in his honour. Aderopo, on his part, moves on with life, goes to the university like