In God’s Own Country, which recently screened at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), protagonist Ike Ajayi (Dauda Momoduo) finds himself in New York City with a green card and a dream. The film intersperses voice over narration by Ajayi throughout. In the beginning of the film, Ajayi visits a hotel in search of his uncle, who he tells the concierge is the owner of the establishment. After a few minutes of a back forth exchange between Ajayi and the concierge, it is revealed that Ajayi’s uncle is not the owner of the hotel, but rather a laborer. This is an interesting point in the film, because Ajayi and his uncle have a moment where Ajayi expresses his disappointment in him for lying about being a wealthy owner of a hotel. This highlights the sometimes disconnect between those living abroad and those who live in the States. The perception abroad a lot of times is that everyone in America is well off, when that is not the case. When I receive letters from family back home in Nigeria, I have to counter some of these notions that I am more well off than I actually am.

In the film, Ajayi quickly learns that there is no silver spoon awaiting him in the land of opportunity, and he takes on a job working as a laborer with his uncle in the hotel. After an intense exchange with a hotel manager, Ajayi quits that job and decides to seek out other means of survival. Along the way, he links up with some shady individuals who involve him in shady business dealings and double cross him.

Overall, I found Femi Agbayewa’s film God’s Own Country an interesting depiction of the struggles that people face when they come to America for the first time and are met with the revelation that everything is not as it seems.

To learn more about this film, click here.