Half of a Yellow Sun

2013

Drama / Romance

1
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 36% · 52 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 36% · 1K ratings
IMDb Rating 6.1/10 10 2279 2.3K

nigeria

Plot summary

An epic love story: Olanna and Kainene are glamorous twins, living a privileged city life in newly independent 1960s Nigeria. The two women make very different choices of lovers, but rivalry and betrayal must be set aside as their lives are swept up in the turbulence of war.

Director

Biyi Bandele Photo
Biyi Bandele

Top cast

Wale Ojo Photo
Wale Ojo as Chief Okonji
Thandie Newton Photo
Thandie Newton as Olanna
Joseph Mawle Photo
Joseph Mawle as Richard
Chiwetel Ejiofor Photo
Chiwetel Ejiofor as Odenigbo
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
1023.43 MB
1280*536
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
24 fps
1 hr 51 min
Seeds ...
2.05 GB
1920*804
English 5.1
NR
Subtitles us  
24 fps
1 hr 51 min
Seeds 1

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by samabc-31952 6 / 10

Does not come together

1st Oct, 1960, Nigeria got its Independence from British and as it always, it came with a price. The partition, Republic of Biafra was formed .. a farewell present from Brits!!!! And that followed by a failed coup led by Major Nzeogwu.. then in 1966 Anti Igbo Pogom (Genocide) happened and some 10000a-30000 Igbos were killed in northern Nigeria. Later that decade, oil was found in Biafra.. and that triggered a civil war.. the story centers around this war. It is based on a novel by Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. It Is somewhat in spate and comes short of showing the true horrors of those times...with run-of-the-mill performances, the movie does not come together as powerful or a whole. However, came to know about the dark chapters of Nigerian history. And also, learnt few things as in Nigeria, women are paid bride price - dowry and that Nigerians love wine - they always have both alcoholic and nonalcoholic wines!
Reviewed by konpamusic 5 / 10

A novelist film

I watched this film at the Zanzibar International Film Festival. It is an Okay film for the first-time director Biyi Bandele - jumping straight to big budget film ($10M). Nevertheless,  it does not deserve the golden award for best feature film. ZIFF is promoting mediocrity. There were other local African films that deserve the award - as 'local' is one of ZIFF main criteria. ZIFF is a not-for- profit organization, and it functions no different than the big-name for-profit festivals. If you don't know what I am talking about - watch the documentary Official Rejection (2009).Hollywood actors, big-name producers from Constant Gardener, and expensive special effects did not embellish the poor directing skills of Biyi Bandele. To be successful in his next film project, I advise Biyi to first divorce himself from his novelist style. Just as acting-for-play is different than acting-for-film; the same rule applies to writing a book vs a film script; directing a play vs directing a film.Biyi does not yet understand the job of a director. There are certainly a LOT of specific directorial responsibilities that he needs to master to become a good director.
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