A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE MOVIE MISTER JOHNSON
INTRODUCTION Mister Johnson is a 1990 American drama film based on the 1939 novel by Irish author Joyce Cary. The film, set in 1929, stars first-time actor Maynard Eziashi as a Nigerian who works as a clerk for the British civil service and adopts the style of the British colonialists in the belief that he is a true Englishman. It was the first American film to be shot on location in Nigeria. The film was given a PG-13 rating in the United States and a 12 rating by the British Board of Film Classification. SYNOPSIS The title character in Mister Johnson, Bruce Beresford’s colonial drama, is a smilingly cheery Nigerian clerk who sports a pith helmet and a cream-colored three-piece suit and considers himself, in spirit, a true Englishman. Mister Johnson is tanty and eager, and he’s an expert at charming the British officials who have come to West Africa to expand their empire. Yet he doesn’t make enough money to support his relatively cushy life-style (which includes a beautiful