Blood and Oil

An outstanding television drama charting the search for answers to suspicious events which befall an Englishman employed in the oil business in Nigeria.

Tremendous acting draws the viewer in as the horrors committed in pursuit of wealth dawn on both the distraught wife of the Englishman and the sassy PR representative of the oil company whose father is a rich Nigerian. They both face moral dilemmas which exemplify the complexity of the situation they find themselves in. And watching them respond is powerful stuff.

The revelations of the deep-seated corruption blighting Nigerian politics and business are counter-balanced by ground roots attempts to bring a share of the wealth to the poverty-stricken indigenous peoples of a country being plundered of its oil.

Shot in South Africa, the representation of dangerous hinterland in Rivers State where militant gangs hide out and the secure comfort of the hotels in Port Harcourt serving multinational firms related to the petroleum industry, rang true.

I found this a mentally stimulating story which had me researching for fact amid the fiction. And on first investigation it appears 'bang on the money'.

I don't normally write reviews of a BBC television dramas unless I feel particularly provoked one way or the other. Unfortunately it was because of my in-credulousness of how poor this program was. I actually found it hard to watch and certainly impossible to take seriously. The plot centres around a PR woman travelling to Nigeria to work for an oil company who's employees are regularly kidnapped or worse. Perhaps this could have been an interesting scenario. It wasn't.

Everyone is a caricature. In the opening scene the oil workers storm through a village in their Land Rovers knocking over people's property on the way- like cartoon villains. I was watching this scene with a guy who's worked for many years for a blue chip company in Nigeria who scoffed loudly at this. No foreign company acts in this disrespectful, provocative way.

Linking into this is the acting- it was atrocious- like watching actors who speak their lines like extras in a school play- seriously it was that unnatural. The kidnapped oil worker's wife spends her entire screen time crying at full volume and generally acting pathetically. Whilst our PR heroine gives almost a smug performance- acting incredibly inappropriately in certain scenes. For example instead of comforting the , albeit OTT-ly, distraught wife- she casually remarks along the lines of 'kinapping happens all the time here, don't worry' and then proceeds to sip a cocktail by the pool and make pleasantries with the hotel manager. The whole thing seemed staggeringly unnatural as did many other scenes- including the actor who plays 'Johnson' from Peep Show sporting a ridiculous American accent which was almost as funny as the, intentionally hilarious, boss he plays in Peep Show.

The disappointing thing is that there was clearly a big budget for this. But how any of this- the script, acting and direction could have been green lighted is a mystery. In a nutshell- if you want to look at Africa through the lens of a shallow soap opera production then this will be your thing. For a well acted and directed conspiracy drama set in the continent check out 'The Constant Gardner' instead.

Many conspiracy thrillers feature as their hero an initially cynical journalist, keen to get the story but not actually caring. 'Blood and Oil' perhaps shows us why by featuring two heroines who do not fit this template: the earnestly emoting wife of a murdered oil worker, and a glamorous PR consultant who may be repeating her employers' lines, but who genuinely believes them to be true. The plot, set in the region of the Niger delta, predictably exposes their illusions; but the characters are too pure for the story, in a world where everyone in power is corrupt there's something wholly predictable about the basic narrative arc, and too much seems just too neat, and consequently shallow. To give one example, when it seems that no-one can help the widow as she tries to track down her husband's mistress, it turns out that the one person who knows something and is willing to let her know is the kindly gardener she had met earlier; there's a definite feeling of scriptwriting by numbers here. The acting is mediocre and lacking in subtlety (I've rarely seen a drama where internal feelings are so universally telegraphed on the actors' faces); while the final conclusion, where the PR person finds redemption by working for a good cause, is also glib and questionable (because she can afford to do so; and because some might say that a better world needs less PR, rather than a redistribution of resources). In any case, she still looks as glamorous dressed in quasi-ethnic garb as she had done earlier in a business suit. 'Blood and Oil' deserves credit for tackling a difficult and weighty subject; but it's not truly serious drama.

As someone who grew up in Nigeria, I find it intriguing to hear some of the negative reviews of this movie. I can only assume that the reviewers know nothing about the country and its people. This was a very realistic portrayal of the country, the dramatic way that emotions are displayed, the seemingly chaotic lifestyle, and the nature of the oil business in Nigeria. I will definitely recommend anyone who wants to get an objective assessment of life in Nigeria. It gives you a good, albeit brief glimpse into other aspects of living in Nigeria which includes not just the poorest but also some middle class workers. It is a great movie. Highly recommended.

Wonderful movie.Political thriller with some fact based issues being explored about corruption and greed and how the west is partly responsible. The backdrop is authentic. The story is based in Nigeria and it looks close to being filmed on location. The caste is very good. Names that I haven't heard of before. I didn't notice the the time go by even though it's a 4 hour miniseries.The plot keeps the viewer guessing. It was hard to tell who the good and bad guys were.I guess that's because the storyline was quite complex.Yet, it does not lose or confuse the viewer.Highly recommended. I wish they made more movies like this instead of the predictable garbage that's churned out by Hollywood each year.