I’ve read various posts, reviews, and comments on the movie “The House of Gaa.” While this isn’t a critique of these discussions, posts, comments, or the movie, I only want to express my curiosity about a few things.
1. I’m struck by the absence of any mention of facial or tribal marks among the Yoruba people in the posts and comments. For instance, Funke Akindele, supposedly the wife of Bashorun Gaa, bears Abaja facial marks traditionally reserved for the Alaafin.
If in doubt, compare photos of Funke Akindele with those of the late Alaafin of Oyo below. Was Funke Akindele the daughter of the Alaafin who married Gaa? What historical sources did Femi Branch or whoever presented the movie, rely on? There was no record of any Alaafin who gave his daughter off in marriage to any Bashorun.
2. Additionally, the movie claims Agborin was the sole child of Alaafin Abiodun, a historically questionable assertion. Who was Olufi’s father? For clarity: Olufi, son of Alaafin Abiodun, led the first group of refugees from Alaafin’s family to Ile-Ife in about 1793, following the fall of Oyo-Ile. Ooni Akinmoyero, then reigning Ooni of Ife, welcomed Olufi and his band into Ile-Ife.
3. Should I also highlight that Gaa’s violation of the Oyo Constitution wasn’t solely his doing? It involved criminal collusion with certain members of the Oyo Mesi and the Ogboni. The film fails to depict the role of the Ogoni, a crucial institution in the removal of the Alaafin.
Were any of these aspects hinted at in the movie?
4. Eso and Ilari were pivotal institutions in Oyo. Eso was a military class under the Bashorun’s command, while Ilaris were civil servants under the Alaafin. The Alaafin’s Ilaris numbered in the hundreds, mostly eunuchs. In Femi Branch’s portrayal of Oyo’s history, Gaa supposedly replaced the Ilaris with his offspring. How many children did Gaa have to replace these hundreds of state officials who managed Oyo’s revenue? For reinforcement’s sake, the Ilaris numbered in the hundreds. Femi Branch and others failed to specify how many Ilaris Gaa replaced or where the loyalties of the others lay.
Considering Gaa’s underlying motive of jealousy over Alaafin’s control of the state’s wealth, the film neglects to explain how Gaa distributed the state’s wealth among his co-conspirators, the Oyo Mesi and Ogboni, during his two-decade usurpation of Alaafin’s authority.
Movies, like other art forms, entertain, educate, and inform. It’s fair to say “The House of Gaa” fulfilled only one of these three functions of art.
I will find time to review the movie as a historical piece. This is just a curtain-raiser. Since I am not a theater practitioner, I will limit the review to costume and historicity.
(c) Adeyemi Bukola Oyeniyi
August 8, 2024
