CineTV Contest: The Razz Guy

I haven't been seeing a lot of movies lately, but since I got myself a Netflix account, I somehow, tried to see some movies occasionally, and sometimes, it may take up to a week to complete a two-hour movie. However, when I saw the CineTV contest for this week, I quickly remembered a nice movie I saw recently, so in this, my first CineTV post, I will be sharing details. Enough of the preamble, let's talk about the movie called:

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The Razz Guy

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A bit of context

Before I go ahead, let me bring in a bit of contest (a social/cultural contest). In Nigeria, English is our official language and most times, your level of education is quickly and easily judged by the quality of your English.

It is a thing of pride to speak spotless English, which most people will refer to as Queens English. If you thought about the Queen of England, you are right in your thoughts, as Nigeria was colonized by Britain, so we model our English after the British.

However, in Nigeria, daily, people communicate more unofficially with an altered version of English popularly known as pidgin English (Nigerian version). This form of English is best in communicating in unofficial settings such as with traders, louts, and laymen are most likely to understand you when you communicate with it than when you speak eloquent English.

Here is an example of Pidgin English compared with eloquent English:

English: I'll be visiting my research supervisor at school tomorrow.
Pidgin: I go like go school tomorrow go see my project supervisor

English: What is your name?
Pidgin: Wetin be your name?

The interesting thing is that most persons believe that pidgin is the lingua franka of Nigerians and should be made official. But the problem is that pidgin is not standard, as different parts of Nigeria have some alterations of it. Visiting a city called Port Harcourt, you will be welcomed by a dynamic form of pidgin with grammer structure and words not even available in English and the Nigerian pidgin. That is enough for now, let's proceed.

The Razz Guy

"The Razz Guy" who is the main character in the movie known as Adeyemi Nosa Afolabi is an eloquent lawyer who is heading a big corporation which is about to have an international merger. He was basically next to the CEO and thus, have a lot of subjects under his control, including some other top officials that are below him in authority, a lot of interns and other staff members engaged in casual duties such as cleaners.

The Razz Guy as I would prefer referring to him going forward is cynic with his use of English, he quickly finds faults and would not hesitate to offer corrections in every setting, whether public or private. He listens keenly to his surbodinates and those around him to pick at grammar errors, and points them out quickly.

To The Razz Guy, it is unacceptable for someone to have an unpolished grammar especially in a work setting. So, as a result, he is quickly offended by any slight grammar error.

The Offended

On a very good day, The Razz Guy has severely offended his colleagues and some interns, while doing so, this old man - a cleaner - was closely observing the conversation and the reaction of the offended.

Beggining with an intern, after severely disrespecting the intern with a public reproof, at the end of the conversation with The Razz Guy, she angrily snapped her finger at him as he turned his back against her. The Razz Guy had an unusual bodily sensation but didn't take it serious. Remember, the old man - cleaner - was observing.

After fall-out with his colleague, the colleague did the same gesture as the intern - quickly snapping his finger as he turned his back. Now we have two snaps (and as the first, he had an unsual sensation).

The old man - cleaner - was concerned, so when he got to the Razz Guys office to do some cleaning, he tried to advice him that the reaction of his colleagues and the intern doesn't tell well on him that he should be nicer. But The Razz Guy in his pride, ruled him off. Before he left his office, he (the cleaner) asked The Razz Guy whether he believed in superstition, and he quickly rebuffed in his pride. The cleaner now told him that where he is from, if three people angrily snaps their finger at a person in a day, something bad will happen to him. But the prideful Razz Guy didn't take it serious.

So, the old man did the third snap at him and immediately, The Razz Guy fell asleep only to wake up the next day on his seat in the office. Twas really unsual, but he ignored nonetheless, and went ahead with his official duties.

Pidgin?

The Razz Guy gave assignments to some few interns and with the aid of his personal assistant he went to meet with them to see how well they have done.

With his first word for the day, instead of some eloquent and queens English, he was dishing out deep pidgin like a roadside lout. He knew something was wrong but he tried repeatedly, and he comfirmed his English has been altered. It just felt like some form of corruption to his linguistic centre of his brain and the vocal cavity, he processes good English but delivers deep pidgin.

Remember, there was an international merger coming up, so he had to do something.

The Search for a Solution

The Razz Guy with the help of a few friends tried searching for all possible solutions to his predicament. But to no avail. He tried some mixtures by a native/spiritual doctor (herbalist), tried the services of a pastor, and tried re-snapping the fingers snapped on his by having three people snap at him again but to no avail. The Razz Guy while searching for solutions had to accept his fate, and continue living with it for the time being.

The Merger

The morals of the movie where highlighted when The Razz Guy who condemned others for their poor English (seemingly poor though, by his standards), hard to go back to these ones for help to deliver the presentation that will seal the merger or risk loosing his job and losing all he have worked hard for.

He had no option that to start being nice to the interns and his colleagues since at his current state, they are much better than him. He had to humble himself.

With humulity, he was able to complete the merger by working closely in submission to his interns and colleagues.

The Lout

Interestingly, the old man who seem to be a magician, swapped his good/eloquent English with a lout who have very bad and a deep pidgin, and at some point, they both met and tried brainstorming solutions, none of which was fruitful.

The Turning Point

Things improved for The Razz Guy when he started becoming nicer, collaborative than authoritative and demonstrated more humulity. At some point, he accepted his new self, and with the new changes he has made to his lifestyle, things improved over time, and one good morning, his English eloquence was returned back to him.

Did you learn?

The lesson from this comedy movie that is available on Netflix is simple, you don't have to be rude to prove a point, and being too cynical doesn't help anyone, especially in maintaining healthy human relationships. Being humble doesn't make one less of himself, and true happiness comes in making other people happy than in making others feel worthless.

I hope my grammar was fair. Maybe the Razz Guy can help do a little bit of editorial work on this piece, but for now, I am signing out. Thanks for reading till this point.

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Photo credits:
IMDB
The Film Conversation