Film Review – Black November

It’s common to suggest that a particularly confused production feels like two movies stitched haphazardly together. “Black November” is literally a pair of pictures edited together. Originally shot as “Black Gold,” writer/director Jeta Amata set out to bring the ecological and political woes of Nigeria to the screen, looking to dramatize horrors strong enough to capture the world’s attention. Recognizing that harrowing details are simply not enough to secure distribution, the production reportedly shot new footage (over half the film) featuring a bevy of Hollywood stars, with the resulting divide between the two disparate dramatic speeds easy enough to recognize and often impossible to ignore. The patchwork effort behind “Black November” is almost worth a recommendation just to stare at such misguided ambition, but, overall, this is a botched endeavor, despite having pure intentions to rattle the world. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com