If you’re like me you probably first became aware of British-Nigerian actor Adewale Akkinuoye-Agbage when he played the brutal tilted cap-wearing prisoner Adebisi on HBO’s Oz. From there his career has really skyrocketed with roles on Lost, Game of Thrones, Suicide Squad, GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Thor: The Dark World, and more. He’s had one Hell of a career and it’s only just getting started, but there was a time when his future was a lot more uncertain. Akinnuoye-Agbaje’s violent childhood is explored in his directorial debut, Farming, which has been earning accolades since debuting in Toronto last year.
The title Farming comes from the practice of giving away one’s own child to informal foster parents, which many Nigerian immigrants did in the ’60s and ’70s. Akkinuoye-Agbage was one such child, whose parents gave him to a working class white couple in Tilbury. There he faced discrimination from the majority-white townsfolk, and threats of physical harm from the local skinhead groups. Seeing himself as white, and in need of finding his own identity, Akkinuoye-Agbage joined the skinheads who had been tormenting them, eventually becoming their leader.
It’s a wild story, featuring Damson Idris as Enitan, a fictional version of Akkinuoye-Agbage. Also in the cast are Kate Beckinsale, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Jaime Winstone, John Dagleish, and Genevieve Nnaji. Akkinuoye-Agbage also wrote the script, telling the story in his own words and in his own voice. He even takes a small role as his own father, a hard-working student.
Farming hits theaters on October 25th, and this is one we’re definitely looking forward to reviewing. Keep an eye out.
