‘Sell And Emigrate’: Obama’s Favorite 2024 Movie, The Piano Lesson That Appeals To Nigerians On The Verge (video)
The Oasis Reporters
December 29, 2024
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While going through the Barack Obama favourite 10 movies of 2024 that he was recommending, I noticed one that caught my attention. The title is The Piano Lesson.
Watch:
I love historical movies with a story for the present day, and in this particular case, I had been enthralled when
The Piano, a 1993 historical drama film written and directed by New Zealand filmmaker Jane Campion starring Holly Hunter, Harvey Keitel, Sam Neill, and Anna Paquin in her first major acting role was released.
The film focuses on a mute Scottish woman who travels to a remote part of New Zealand with her young daughter after her arranged marriage to a settler.
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Campion cited the novels Wuthering Heights and The African Queen as inspirations. I enjoyed the movie tremendously.
Therefore when I saw The Piano Lesson in Barack Obama’s list of favorite movies, I was curious. Since a connoisseur of music, books and films had recommended it, I had to watch it.
Oh, by the way, The 1993 movie The Piano, internationally co-production between New Zealand, Australia, and France, was a critical and commercial success, grossing US$140.2 million worldwide (equivalent to $295.7 million in 2023) against its US$7 million budget (equivalent to $14.8 million in 2023). It was noted for its crossover appeal beyond the arthouse circuit to attract mainstream popularity.
Hunter and Paquin both received high praise for their performances. In 1993, the film won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, making Campion the first female director to receive the award. It won three Academy Awards out of eight total nominations in March 1994: Best Actress for Hunter, Best Supporting Actress for Paquin, and Best Original Screenplay for Campion. Paquin was 11 years old at the time and remains the second-youngest actor to win an Oscar in a competitive category.
But The Piano Lesson recommended by Barack Obama is a 2024 American drama film directed by Malcolm Washington, who co-wrote the screenplay with Virgil Williams.
It is an adaptation of the 1987 play by August Wilson. It stars Samuel L. Jackson, John David Washington, Ray Fisher, Michael Potts, Erykah Badu, Skylar Aleece Smith, Danielle Deadwyler, and Corey Hawkins.
The Piano Lesson premiered at the 51st Telluride Film Festival on August 31, 2024, and it was released in select theaters in the United States on November 8, 2024, before streaming on Netflix on November 22.
The Piano Lesson is about the Charles Family as it grapples with family legacy and difficult decisions as they determine the fate of their family heirloom piano, exploring deeper themes along the way.
Set in 1936 Pittsburgh during the Great Depression, The Piano Lesson follows the lives of the Charles family in the Doaker Charles household and an heirloom, the family piano, which is decorated with designs carved by an enslaved ancestor.
This Movie would resonate greatly and deeply with Nigerian families as the country continues to experience it’s harshest ever Cost of Living Crisis in history as droves of well educated Nigerians decide on which family land, house or heirlooms to sell, raise enough money and emigrate abroad in order to work, live and prosper. Just to escape poverty.
I support this Obama choice.
Greg Abolo
gregabolo@gmail.com
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