Monrovia — When Sean Penn needed someone to play the Liberian character of Moussa in the Last Face, he quickly turned to Zubin Cooper who was then working on the production team as a consultant, but a recently released documentary on the last days of Patrick Sawyer who died from Ebola in Nigeria, is far from that.
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“We already have Liberians shining the light and showcasing our talent to the world. The right one just needs to be chosen for the job, the right one”- Owusu Dahnsaw, Liberian Actor
Aptly titled 93 days and directed by Steve Gukas with shooting in several parts of Nigeria, the movie focused on Sawyer’s final moments and the sacrifices made by men and women who risked their lives to save Nigeria from the then raging Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).
In March 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported a major Ebola outbreak in Guinea, a western African nation. Researchers traced the outbreak to a one-year-old child who died December 2013.
The disease then rapidly spread to the neighboring countries of Liberia and Sierra Leone. It is the largest Ebola outbreak ever documented, and the first recorded in the region, killing over 10,000 persons.
On 8 August 2014, the WHO declared the epidemic to be an international public health emergency.
Urging the world to offer aid to the affected regions, the Director-General said, “Countries affected to date simply do not have the capacity to manage an outbreak of this size and complexity on their own. I urge the international community to provide this support on the most urgent basis possible.”
By mid-August 2014, Doctors Without Borders reported the situation in Liberia’s capital Monrovia as “catastrophic” and “deteriorating daily”.
They reported that fears of Ebola among staff members and patients had shut down much of the city’s health system, leaving many people without treatment for other conditions.
In a 26 September statement, the WHO said, “The Ebola epidemic ravaging parts of West Africa is the most severe acute public health emergency seen in modern times.
Never before in recorded history has a biosafety level four pathogen infected so many people so quickly, over such a broad geographical area, for so long.”
Liberian born American citizen, Patrick Oliver Sawyer, collapsed at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos, Nigeria, due to Ebola complications at a time when the world was mindlessly paying attention to what was becoming a global security scare.
93 Days recaptures the last days of Sawyer in the bustling Nigerian city at the First Consultant Hospital where he gave up the ghost, not without infecting several nurses and a doctor who would go on to take care of him in his final moments.
Played by Keppy Ekpenyong Bassey, it features some of Nollywood and Hollywood’s A-list, including Danny Glover and Bimbo Akintola. Also starring include Bimbo Manuel, Charles Okafor, Gideon Okeke, Sola Oyebade , Charles Etubiebi, Somkhele Idhalama and Tim Reid.
Saying he had malaria, Sawyer denied contact with any Ebola victim in Liberia.
The team at First Consultant led by Dr. Ameyo Adadevoh quickly deduces there is more to his case than malaria. Their vigilance leads to an early detection that Mr. Sawyer indeed had the Ebola Virus disease.
Now it’s a race against time to contain a deadly disease from breaking out and infecting an entire city population and beginning what could be the biggest deadly disease outbreak the world has ever known.
The hospital institutes strict barrier nursing and notify the appropriate authorities. The Lagos state government and subsequently the federal go into overdrive.
The President declares a state of emergency on Ebola in Nigeria. The scare is palpable across the country. The doomsday scenario imagined is here.
Over a 93-day period from when Sawyer comes in men and women from Nigeria, WHO and MSF do battle with this deadly disease. Lives are lost and heroes born. At its core, 93Days is a compelling human story of dedication, sacrifice, resilience and survival.
Great storyline, No Liberian
As riveting as the storyline of 93 Days seems, critics say it was inappropriate not to have a Liberian actor who had lived the moments when Ebola killed over 4,000 Liberians in the country.
Others has suggested that it is quite normal for a character to be of different nationality and be used in to play the role of a central character.
Zubin Cooper, a Liberian actor who was recently cast along Charlize Theron and Sean Penn in the Last Face says it is quite normal and it is usually the producer’s choice of whom to cast. “It’s not really a problem.”
But Owusu Dahnsaw, another Liberian actor who goes by the moniker ‘Major Dahnsaw’ in Nollywood, thinks differently.
“A Liberian actor would have been emotionally connected with the Sawyer character and would have interpreted same effortlessly to international acclaim,” he said in a chat from his base in Nigeria. “It’s normal to use non Liberian actors but inappropriate.”
Critics say akin to Cooper who was cast in Last Face, the casting of a Liberian actor would have shone some light and on a struggling industry thriving at a snail pace.
“Obviously a Liberian cast would. It is only an indigene who knows where all the pinches are in the local crevice. Are you kidding me?” Dahnsaw wondered.
“We already have Liberians shining the light and showcasing our talent to the world. The right one just needs to be chosen for the job, the right one.”
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