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Popular Hollywood actor Danny Glover was placed on the hot seat
at the Lagos Black Heritage Festival’s pre-colloquium on Sunday, April 4. For
many, who loathed him as Albert Johnson in 80s film, ‘The Color Purple’, it was
time to get back at the villain. When the event was over, though, many
remembered why Danny Glover was beloved (no pun intended) in the first place.

Glover, who had arrived at 5.30am after a flight and visa hitch,
had to rest before his appearance at around 2pm. While in England en-route
Nigeria, Glover discovered his visa had expired by two weeks. The combined
clout of Glover and Soyinka made sure the Hollywood actor could fly to Nigeria
all the same.

The ‘Mandela’ actor, who introduced himself as no stranger to
the post-colonial struggle and accomplishments on the African continent, said
it was his fifth time in Africa in the past year.

Getting it right

A man like Glover needs no introduction, but he went ahead and
did it anyway. Taking questions on how the negative image of Africa can be
changed internationally, the ‘3AM’ actor said it was in “being able to tell our
own stories.” His mother’s first images of Africa, he said “were initially of
Tarzan, which showed Africans as being incapable of developing themselves. As a
cultural worker and as an artist-citizen or citizen artist, it becomes my
responsibility in my profession to begin to show various other versions of my
experience, and of what Africa needs to be.”

Paying too much attention to breaking into the Western markets,
the Lethal Weapon star said, is in itself “missing the point. How do we build
the audiences within our own constituencies? This is important to our own
artistic and cultural development.” Quoting Ossie Davis, Glover said, “It’s
going to take artists to save us from machines.” Known for his roles in
numerous action flicks, Glover referred to himself as a disciple of the late
African-American performer and activist.

He questioned the desire for profit, which seemed to be the
drive for many Africans in the Diaspora whenever they were asked to return and
develop their homeland. The usual response, Glover said, was “How can I make
profit?”

He however asked the curious audience what story people here
could tell that would inspire a return to the homeland from the Diaspora.

Filmmaker Tunde Kelani agreed with Glover on the need to cater
for a massive local market before targeting the foreign. Co-panelist Wole
Soyinka who provided an informal moderation for Glover’s talk, gave the example
of the Bollywood as a film industry with hardly any care for success abroad.
Kelani said plans were afoot with the Lagos State government to provide at
least 50 cinemas across the state.

The movie director then asked Glover what became of an
initiative with late Senegalese filmmaker Sembene Ousmane, to bring 50
filmmakers together from across cultures. Responding, Glover listed the
challenges that had affected the proposed idea. “In this climate, there’s not a
lot of resources available. How can we bring tactical experience, technical
equipment to this industry? In Kigali, there’s not even one theatre.” He
however praised the efforts of the founders of the Rwandan Cinema Centre for
being forward-looking and bristling with ideas.

Hard work is good

Considering the gruelling journey the actor had undertaken earlier
in the day, Soyinka suggested ending the session early, but the spirited Glover
insisted on carrying on, saying, “Hard work is good!”

Recalling his favourite scene from the 1985 film Silverado,
Soyinka told of how Glover’s character Mal Johnson had defied a group of racist
white drinkers in what the writer called “one of the most beautiful moments of
whisky drinking I’ve ever seen.”

Testifying to the power of cinematic illusion, Soyinka was later
to discover that what Glover had drunk so admirably was tea and not whisky.
Considering how many takes of that scene would have occurred, it would not have
been positive thinking if the glass had actually contained alcohol.

In response Glover said, “You never know the value of what you
are doing.” After that movie, some youth had also walked up to him, much to his
surprise, to say, “You knew how to take care of yourself. You didn’t need a
white guy to come help you.”

Speaking on the rise of knife crime in the United Kingdom, a
member of the audience asked if this was due to a lack of role models. Glover,
who along with fellow actors Mike Farrell and Harry Belafonte had been involved
in youth counselling projects in Los Angeles, said “Let the youth know they are
valuable and you can diminish the violence.”

The actor as role model

Glover, who played President Thomas Wilson in the recent box
office hit ‘2012′, told the audience of the various projects he was involved in
across Africa, including ‘Shared Interest’ in South Africa.

The 63-year-old actor said he would continue “finding ways I can
nurture the connection in all these countries and to encourage young people to
engage in discourses like ‘how can I support films (coming) out of Nollywood?’
We’ll continue to find ways to do that and I won’t be saying I’m too old for
this shit.”

That’s not all. “I founded a company and kept it going because
I’ve refused to let a certain group of people be the articulators of our
experience.” Some of those at the forefront of championing African-American
rights in the United States, he said were charlatans. He however had faith in
Thomas Carlyle’s quote that “No lie can live forever,” a line also popular with
the late Martin Luther King Jr.

For those who lost their lives fighting for equality in America,
Glover said, “Struggle is therapeutic.” This he said was because they knew that
their souls would be transported back to Africa.

Asked when he would stop all his “wandering all over the world”
and settle in Nigeria, Glover was quick to say, “There’s always that
possibility.” But for an actor who’s visited 22 African countries, “Every
country that I go to, people say ‘Buy a house.’ But I’m home. Home is where the
heart is.”

Glover continues to be involved in African-related film and social issues as
a member of the Trans-Africa Forum and with his involvement in the US-based Pan
African Film Festival.