Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?

We tried to go to a see the film Wolf of Wall Street with some friends the other night. The plan was to catch the show and go out afterwards for a late dinner. Simple enough. Except that when we got to the theater, we learned that the movie had banned by the Kenya Film Classification Board the day before. And no one had updated the online theater schedule, so we were caught by surprise.

The board’s reason for banning the film included its “not being in line with Kenyan values” and its emphasis on graphic sex, drug and alcohol use, and corruption. The board posted the ban on its Facebook page saying, “There is a LIMIT to everything and we believe the Kenyan public deserves better. WOLF OF WALL STREET has been RESTRICTED. The film is NOT for sale, exhibition, or distribution in KENYA. Violators shall be PROSECUTED.”

In a country plagued with widespread government corruption, rampant rape and violence against women, and alcoholism, among other problems, there is no small measure of hypocrisy in all of this. But more importantly, we all know that most censorship efforts backfire. It’s due to what some call the forbidden fruit phenomenon. There’s nothing like banning a book, piece of art, or movie to ensure its increased popularity and demand. 

Articles in the press bear this out. Sales of bootleg copies of Wolf of Wall Street are booming reportedly, with vendors able to charge two or more times the usual prices, and people lining up at cybercafés to watch it online. Social media responses are full of outrage and snarky remarks against the film board. One comment points out that the restriction only prevents the studio and filmmakers from collecting revenues. Another reminds board members that the film is after all based on a true story. And then there’s the one that tells the board to “go watch paint dry… no wait ... don’t …you’ll ban that as well.”

I have to admit that had any of the other Oscar-nominated films been offered for view here in Nairobi, I probably would have chosen one of those over Wolf of Wall Street. But pickings are slim at our local theaters. 

Consider this week’s billboard lineup. There’s a samurai movie with Keanu Reeves, an Indian action thriller, and an Indian romance. You can see a 3-D film called Walking with Dinosaurs. You can opt for a movie starring Sylvester Stallone or a thriller written by him. There’s also The Hobbit, which we’ve seen, and the Snow Queen.

My understanding from the various write-ups and reactions to Wolf of Wall Street is that the depictions of sex, drugs, and debasement of women (among others) do have people squirming in their seats – as does the unapologetic nature of the film’s main character.

I’m not sure it’s my cup of tea. But then I haven’t seen the film, have I? I have seen other Scorsese films like Raging Bull, The Aviator, and Hugo – Scorsese’s delightful homage to the magic of early cinema. He’s a remarkable director, who works with stellar actors. So it’s hard to imagine that this latest movie is completely debauched.

When we first moved here, we saw a really interesting local film called Nairobi Half Life, directed by Kenyan filmmaker, David Gitonga. Though low budget and not as glossy as movies coming out of Hollywood, or Bollywood, it was strong and moving. It told the story of a young country boy who comes to Nairobi with a dream of becoming an actor. No sooner does he step off the bus than he is robbed, arrested, and taken down a path through the dark sides of city’s worlds of crime, corruption, and slums. There is violence and prostitution and police corruption. There are depictions of the very kinds of carjackings and robberies that we are warned of repeatedly. The film is hard and real and likely to reinforce the fears many have of life in “Nairobbery.”

But rather than being banned, it was submitted for nomination for best foreign language film at the Oscars. It was one of only two Kenyan movies ever to be considered for such recognition, even if it did not make the final nomination cut.

The fuss and hullabaloo around the banning of Wolf of Wall Street here has unfortunately overshadowed the news that Kenyan actress Lupita Nyong’o has been nominated for the best Supporting Actress Oscar. She stars in 12 years A Slave – a controversial film in its own right. Nyong’o is the first Kenyan ever to be nominated for an Academy Award.

Perhaps it is in her direction – and that of Kenya’s young filmmakers, entrepreneurs, athletes, and social changers – that the film review board members should turn their heads. Maybe that’s a better way to help exemplify Kenyan values or highlight the positive aspects of this country to its citizens, and the rest of the world.

Oscar nominees Leonardo di Capria (Wolf of Wall Street) and Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave)

Red Light, Green Light

 

Photo: Nairobi Wire, 1 Aug 2013

“Have you noticed that people have started stopping for red lights?”

We were speaking with some acquaintances during a concert intermission the other night, comparing notes about our holiday travels. Like us, this couple had celebrated Christmas and New Years abroad, and they had returned to Kenya to find that a major change had occurred in the traffic practices of Nairobi drivers.

Traffic lights are not very common along the streets of Nairobi. In fact, any kind of lighting is rare. But new digital stoplights have been installed in over 20 major intersections, including the large traffic circles by the central business district (our downtown, known as the CBD) and a few other key spots. These tend to be places where traffic is especially bad during peak hours, and jams of over one hour are not unusual.

The lights are equipped with those countdown numbers that tell you how many seconds until the light changes from red to green. Following some strange law of physics, they are some of the slowest seconds you’ll see tick by.

Though the new lights have been up for 6 months, until recently they were almost entirely ignored. In fact, those of us tempted to obey the traffic lights – especially the instinct to stop at a red one – were quickly dissuaded by the behaviors of other drivers. To stop at a red light was to put yourself seriously at risk of being rear-ended, or worse. And of course, during rush hours, the traffic cops take over the job of snarling traffic, making the switching of red to green to yellow completely meaningless.

Just before the holidays, we received emails from the ever-vigilant UN/International Organizations’ networks warning that traffic cameras had been installed across the city, including at all the stoplights, and rules would now be enforced. It says something that a move to enforce basic traffic rules is big news. But if the result is less anarchy and better traffic flow, so be it.

For nearly 20 years, I worked on public health issues, including how to encourage better habits to improve well-being and lower risks of disease, disability, or death. We analyzed how to replace bad behaviors with better ones, when were opportune times to encourage positive changes, and how to not only transmit health promotion messages but also get people to act upon them.

Driving behaviors are just as hard to change as health ones. Presumably, one has to learn the rules to pass a driver’s test and obtain or renew a license, but you wouldn’t know that by the way people ignore basic traffic rules here.

The fact is, traffic habits are very much tied to groupthink. If the majority of people are breaking rules – by speeding, ignoring traffic signals, overtaking on blind turns, never using a turn signal – chances are others will join in. It’s an interesting example of the prisoner’s dilemma lesson they taught us in public policy school. Everyone would be better off if they all cooperated. There would be fewer jams, wrecks, and frazzled nerves. But the temptation to cheat to get ahead is great – and may work for the first takers. Ultimately, it makes everyone worse off as traffic becomes increasingly chaotic and dangerous. Breaking the cycle is tough, because following the rules means losing out, at least among early practitioners, so no one has the incentive to do so.

Enter CCTV. Supposedly, the traffic lights are equipped with cameras to help regulate traffic flow and catch red-light runners. Our concert companions were convinced that the cameras were indeed having a dissuasive effect, and prompting people to obey the signals.

I am fortunate that my usual driving patterns avoid the central and most traffic-ridden parts of the city. I go about most of my daily business along the outskirts of the worst of the traffic problems. Also, I rarely see a stop sign, much less a stoplight. The intersections I cross subscribe mostly to the rule that the biggest or most aggressive car goes first.

But this morning I had to navigate through some of the lights and circles of Nairobi’s busiest thoroughfare. And I was less convinced than our concert companions of the change in habits of my fellow drivers. Most plowed right through the red lights and ticking numbers, though did not actually rear end me when I stopped. One car to my left at the Westlands Circle not only drove through the red light, but actually grazed two pedestrians without so much as a pause.

Changing behaviors is hard, whether on the individual or societal level. And in countries where many people don’t feel well served by their laws, government, and political leaders it’s especially difficult to replace a sense of looking out for oneself with one of social duty and collective responsibility.

Will Nairobi drivers ever fold to the rules of the road and start to build a new dynamic of collaboration, where everyone is better off? 

Maybe.

The pace of change will likely be slow, but it’s possible that the force of small steps will eventually push through. 

Change has a way of doing that.

To quote Bill Waterson’s wonderful cartoon character Calvin:

“Know what's weird? Day by day, nothing seems to change, but pretty soon...everything's different."  

Bill Waterson, Calvin and Hobbes

The Miracle of Flight

Flying over Samburu, Kenya

Britt has a lovely story from one of the many dozens of flights he has taken for work trips. It goes like this:

Walking across the Tarmac to the plane in Abuja, Nigeria, a 4-year old boy with his hand in his father's squeals with joy. He hops and skips, and says, "We are going on an AIRPLANE! THERE IT IS!"
With his family, he sits five rows ahead of us. We hear him say, "Look at the wings!"
He squeals again on takeoff and says, "We are flying IN THE AIR!"

The story is a joyful reminder of the innocent directness of children – and of the everyday miracle of human flight.

I have a facebook friend who punctuates the updates on her frequent travels with a “Pouf! I’m in [new destination].”  It’s such a lovely way to acknowledge how magically we are transported from one part of the world to another thanks to airline routes, e-tickets, and frequent flyer miles.

For the Christmas holidays, Britt and I joined up with our sons in Europe –  a sort of halfway point for a family split between East Africa and opposite sides of the United States. For the journey, Britt and I began our day in Nairobi, had happy hour along the canals of Amsterdam, and woke the next morning to clear blue skies over Marseille.

Happy hour in Amsterdam, en route from Nairobi to Marseille

With all the current security measures and limitations on what and how much you can carry onto an airplane, air travel has lost some of the fun or cachet it once had. We get frustrated with queues and questions, become annoyed at being squashed into tightly packed seats, and tire of feeling dehydrated and even somewhat dehumanized.

And yet.

What a wondrous thing it is to be able to fly through the air, above the contours and obstacles of land and sea. How glorious to cover distances in hours that used to take days or even months.

In the days before air travel, journeying from Europe to Africa involved endless legs of trains and ships and rough roads. Even during the early days of aviation, though the pace was picked up, the obstacles and travails were still considerable.

In her beautiful book, West with the Night, the Kenya-born and raised aviation pioneer, Beryl Markham, describes flying her plane back and forth from Nairobi to London in the 1930s. With stops to refuel and hassles over transit permits through various countries along the way, the journey often required something like 10 days. She had to deal with considerable discomforts and overnight in some pretty colorful places, including a Libyan brothel, for lack of other accommodations.

It puts having to sleep in the airport hotel or lounge into perspective, certainly.

Flying also gives us a measure of the vastness and beauty of the earth’s features – the deserts and mountains and blue seas, the dense jungles and city lights, the tidy patchworks of crops and fields. Going north from Nairobi across the African continent to Europe, you get a real sense of the huge expansiveness of the Sahara desert. You see the Nile River, the entire outlines of Sardinia and Corsica, and large swaths of the Alps. The evidence of human activity and habitation is visible, though you can only capture the big picture and not the minutia. Individual people and concerns disappear to be replaced by a greater whole, made of all the interconnected bits of our lives.

Beryl Markham describes her reaction to her first airplane ride this way: “I saw the alchemy of perspective reduce my world, and all my other life, to grains in a cup.”

Her contemporary, Antoine de Saint Exupéry, who survived a crash in the desert of North Africa and died when his plane was shot over the Mediterranean in WWII, said that flying released his mind from the tyranny of petty things.

Today, we easily let the petty annoyances of modern air travel overshadow the immensity of the accomplishment of human flight. We quickly lose sight of the perspectives and possibilities it offers us. And it can take the simple reactions of a small child to remind us of its magic.

“We are flying IN THE AIR!”

The miracle of flight