Open Country Mag, the pan-African magazine, recently published a review of Chude Jideonwo’s debut film, Awaiting Trial.
In the article, an in-depth analysis of both the subtle and loud but salient details in the documentary, the writer opined, “Jideonwo’s narration does well to provide cultural context for the pending justice for End SARS victims, including the Nigerian legal limbo called “awaiting trial,” from where the documentary took its name. That culture—of being arrested, sometimes for the flimsiest reasons, and spending months and years in jail without getting a hearing—is fed, he explains, by a long chain of subcultures: many Nigerians have a stigma of being arrested, which leads to their eagerness to bribe the police to avoid it, which leads to the police getting greedier, becoming emboldened to impunity, which leads right back to the police making random, baseless arrests.
“Awaiting Trial is a documentation of defiance.”
To read the full review, see here
