The Figurine: Araromire is a 2009 Nigerian supernatural suspense thriller film written by Kemi Adesoye, produced and directed by Kunle Afolayan, who also stars in the film as one of the main protagonists. It also stars Ramsey Nouah and Omoni Oboli.
The movie narrates the story of two friends who find a mystical sculpture in an abandoned shrine in the forest while serving at a National Youth Service Corps camp, and one of them decides to take the artwork home. Unknown to them, the sculpture is from the goddess 'Araromire' which bestows seven years of good luck on anyone who encounters it, and after the seven years have expired, seven years of bad luck follow. The lives of the two friends begin to change for the better, as they become successful and wealthy businessmen. However, after seven years, things start to change for the worse.
The idea for a thriller film was conceived by Kunle Afolayan and scriptwriter Giovanni Durojaiye (also known as Jovi Babs) and was originally titled Shrine. The script took nine months to finalize and the development stage took five years. The film was shot in Lagos and Osun States over three months and received sponsorship from companies such as MicCom Golf Resort, GSK, Omatek Computers, MTN, IRS Airlines, and Cinekraft. It also had media partners like HiTV and others. There were no stuntmen on the ground, so most of the stunts were performed by Kunle Afolayan on set.
The film was released at the 2009 Rotterdam International Film Festival and met with widespread critical acclaim. It received ten nominations and won five awards at the 6th Africa Movie Academy Awards, including the awards for Best Picture, Heart of Africa (since renamed Best Nigerian Film), Achievement in Cinematography and Achievement in Visual Effects.
On 31 July 2014, Auteuring Nollywood: Critical Perspectives on The Figurine, a compilation of scholarly analysis of the film, was published to positive reviews. The Figurine has also been used as a subject of educational studies in the Arts department of some higher institutions.
Plot
In the year 1908, a folktale originated about the goddess Araromire who asked a priest to invoke her spirit into a figurine carved out of the bark of a cursed tree. When villagers of Araromire touched the figurine, Araromire granted them good fortune for seven years. After that, their blessings reversed and their lives took a turn for the worse. When the priest is found dead, the villagers become infuriated and burn down the Araromire shrine, bringing an apparent end to the evil of Araromire.
The story jumps to 2001, Lagos. Femi is about to go for his NYSC and has been posted to Araromire. His father is very ill with cancer.
Sola, on the other hand, has no NYSC, without which he can't secure a job following an interview. He subsequently visits the Dean of his faculty to get his clearance for NYSC. Upon learning that Sola has been posted to Araromire, the Dean pulls out a book on the folk tale of Araromire which he starts to read to Sola. Disinterested, the young man departs the dean's office and doesn't hear the rest of the tale recounting the disaster which follows the seven years of good fortune.
Mona, a close friend of Femi, has also been posted to Araromire and the two travel together to their destination. During the bus ride Femi brings out a ring that he clenches while gazing at Mona as she sleeps, visibly enamored with her.
Sola finally arrives at the NYSC orientation camp when the camp is almost over. Out on an endurance trek Femi becomes is out of breath and stops in the woods to use his inhaler, while Sola waits for him. Hearing a strange sound, the two men trace it to a peculiar object atop a tree. Rain starts to fall and they both find shelter in a mud house. Sola uses his lighter and starts to explore the place. When Femi steps out of the house to get fresh air, Sola finds a figurine enclosed in a dusty wooden cradle.
On the last day of Parade, Mona informs Femi that she accepted Sola's marriage proposal and that she's carrying his baby. Jealous, Femi tries unsuccessfully to discourage Sola from getting married. Sola dismisses Femi's entreaties, and brings out the figurine he found in the mud house, dropping it on Femi's lap. Femi returns home to find his father healthy and fully recovered. His good fortune continues when he is selected by his employer to go for a special training within just six months of his appointment. Meanwhile, Sola gets a job as well and marries Mona.
Seven years later, Femi returns from abroad and attends a reunion arranged at Sola's home, where he still keeps the Araromire figure. Mona, who is pregnant again, introduces Femi to Linda, a fashion designer. Throughout the party, Femi ignores her and keeps staring at Mona whom he is visibly still in love with. Lara, Femi's younger sister, now lives with Sola and Mona, as Mona is helping her with her thesis. Smoking at the party, it's evident that Femi's asthma has been miraculously cured.
Learning about the Araromire legend, Mona becomes suspicious and concerned about the source of Sola's sudden wealth. She concludes that the figurine may also be the reason why her marriage with Sola has been so flawless. She asks Lara to throw the figurine away but it mysteriously finds its way back into the house. When she decides to throw it into the lagoon herself, she suffers a miscarriage on her way over to the lagoon. Matters continue to worsen for everyone. While dancing at the club with Linda, Femi gets his first asthma attack in years. Sola also starts having an affair with Ngozi after years of faithfulness to Mona. Femi discovers his father dead in his crafts workshop. Both Femi and Sola eventually lose their jobs. Femi suggests returning the figurine to the shrine and though Sola doesn't believe it is responsible for all the misfortune, he agrees. Junior, Sola's first son, dies by falling off from the building. After burning the figurine following the tragedy, it reappears once again, prompting Sola and Femi to finally return the figurine.
Mona, now in a depression, kicks Lara out of the house believing she is responsible for Junior's death. While Lara struggles with Linda who is throwing her belongings out, a box opens and multiple figurines, similar to the one in Sola's study, spill out. Lara confesses she was responsible for replacing the figurine each time it was discarded and reveals that she was doing so at the request of her brother, Femi. Meantime, Femi and Sola arrive at the Araromire Shrine to return the figurine; rain starts to fall and Femi is nowhere to be found. While Sola is busy looking for him, Femi kills Sola by hitting him with a log. Femi returns to Lagos and he is confronted by Linda, whom Lara has already confessed to. Femi confesses and reveals how Araromire's apparent good and bad fortune was all orchestrated by him in order to kill Sola and claim Mona for himself. He claims the loss of their jobs, his father's death and the return of his asthma as just coincidence. Femi then kills Linda and dumps her body in the lagoon. On his way back, he has an asthma attack and commands Lara to bring him his inhaler, but she refuses; instead, she calls the Rapid Response Squad to report her brother's killings. Femi struggles to get upstairs. He reaches out to Mona's body, removes Sola's ring from her finger and replaces it with his ring. The Rapid Response Squad arrives and declares Femi dead.
Linda, Femi and Mona are later seen alive and the movie ends with the caption 'What do you believe'?
Cast
Ramsey Nouah as Femi, an unpredictable nerd who falls in love with Mona, this feeling of love overtakes him until he becomes irrational and violent. He orchestrates a plan to win his love back by making the 'Araromire myth' a reality. Nouah has expressed love for his role in this film and the film as whole on several occasions. He stated that the movie had everything Nollywood lacked in storytelling at the time and he was glad the movie was coming out of Nollywood. He stated in an interview that The Figurine was the only movie he has acted that he is willing to keep to show his kids when they are grown. Omoni Oboli as Mona, a close friend to Femi who is oblivious of the fact that Femi is desperately in love with her as she's in love with Sola, who is also Femi's close friend, however Sola knows that Femi is interested in Mona. Mona eventually marries Sola after getting pregnant for him. Oboli stated that she likes Kunle Afolayan as a director and she wishes to learn a lot from him as she's hoping to become a director herself. She also stated that it was stressful on set as she was shooting with her real son (Tobe Oboli), so she had to take care of her son and shield him from likes of Kunle and Ramsey who would want to talk about "adult stuff" on set. According to her, the scene where she was dragged down the stairs was the most difficult as it was shot over and over and she got a lot of bruises as a result. Kunle Afolayan as Sola, an unserious Casanova who finds a mystical Araromire while serving as a youth corps and takes it home. Despite his wayward ways and terrible grades, he gets a job, marries Mona, gets rich and raises a wonderful family until things start to turn around after seven years. Afolayan, who was also the director of the film expressed that it is very stressful to act in one's film. Art Director Pat Nebo stated "Kunle showed heavy maturity when it mattered most; cos he had to act, then go back to direct". Funlola Aofiyebi as Linda, an outgoing fashion designer who is a little desperate to get married because of her age. She ends up with Femi who is still in love with Mona. Tosin Sido as Lara, Femi's younger sister who he uses to carry out his plans. He gives her many Figurines crafted by their father who is a Sculptor to scare Sola and Mona into breaking up. This is Tosin Sido's first film role. She was one of the actresses auditioned to play Femi's younger sister and she got the role. David J. Oserwe as Femi's father, a sculptor. He helps Femi to make the 'fake' figurines; believing he is selling them to western museums. Kate Adepegba as Ngozi, one of the Older Ladies Sola used to date; he still cheats on Mona with her after marriage. Muraina Oyelami as Sola's Dean in school Wale Adebayo as Camp Commandant Ombo Gogo Ombo as Araromire Priest
The narration at the beginning of the movie was done by the highlife singer Lagbaja. Pat Nebo, the art director, played the marriage registrar at Sola and Mona's wedding ceremony. Yomi Fash Lanso played Femi's doctor in the movie. Jide Kosoko played an antagonistic chairman and featured in two scenes in the film. The make-up artist on set, Lola Maja also played the doctor at the scene where Junior was taken to the hospital. She was also the Doctor that came to give Mona her medication, making her feature in a total of two scenes.
Production
Development The Figurine'''s funding came up when many questions were asked about Nollywood, about the level of mediocrity and lack of good structure in the industry. Before The Figurine, only few movies were fit to be shown in theatres as Nollywood was a home video-dominated Industry.