“At Ease” Review: A Nollywood Microcosm of War-induced Post-traumatic Stress Disorder 

Awareness on mental health issues is low in a society like Nigeria where such issues are often trivialized and perceived as less consequential than physical health problems. In spite of the abysmal knowledge, an estimated 20% of the population is believed to be experiencing one form of mental illness or the other. Unfortunately, these individuals encounter difficulties in accessing requisite treatment, care and other privileges to alleviate their sufferings. They are often stigmatized and ostracized by family and friends who perceive them as being demonically possessed and/or unfit for cohabitation among humans. Popular culture, notably film, has attempted to document some of these experiences. Contemporary Nollywood films, such as Daniel Oriahi’s Sylvia, Mo Abudu’s Iyawo Mi and Her Perfect Life, Izu Ojukwu’s 4-4-44, Damilola Orimogunje’s For Maria, Ebun Pataki draw awareness to a range of mental health challenges, including postpartum depression, anxiety and delirium—while showing societal reactions to the victims’ conditions. Seun Richards’s (known for Wallflower, SHE) latest drama, At Ease, joins the catalogue of Nollywood films aimed at conscientizing people about these mental disorders. The title of the film is captivating for its snoopy ambiguity: not only does it register as a military parlance for ordering troops to get in a relaxed position but it also signifies relief from any frenetic activity.

In his sophomore feature film At Ease, Richards delves into war-induced Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and its ripple effect on relationships, marital and family life and public perception. The film has Asa’ah Samuel embodying the lead character Major Ifeanyi Agbo, an outstanding military officer who leads his team on a special operation where they successfully rescue hostages from insurgents but suffer heavy casualty. Recuperating and reuniting with his wife Lara (Anee Icha) and son Nnamdi (Odunaro Emmanuel), the Major, who is the only survivor from the rescue team, plunges into trauma, depression, alcoholism— struggles that threaten to put his life and his family asunder.

The plot of the film stands out for its simplicity, with events therein progressing in a logical yet emotional sequence. While there are occasional flashbacks used to recall the fateful operation and trigger Agbo’s fits of trauma, these do not distort the order of the storyline. The story begins with the military operation, briefly capturing the spirit of camaraderie as the soldiers rescue the hostages before getting caught up in an explosion. While this opening sets the pace for the rest of the film, it doesn’t offer depth in action and military strategy. What the audience witness after that inauspicious moment are further scenes depicting the emotionally charged and gruelling journey towards physical and mental fitness. Mental fitness, the filmmaker attempts to exhaustively persuade us, is more crucial than physical health. We see this through Agbo who, against his will, is retired because of concerns about his mental state. This forceful retirement, coupled with Agbo’s therapeutic recalcitrance, brings the already distressed to a state of self-abasement and abject hopelessness.

The protagonist in At Ease manifests several behavioral anomalies associated with PTSD. This includes prolonged periods of quietness and getting lost in thoughts (he is startled by his wife’s touch after his son, shouting “daddy”, fails to get his attention); insomnia; aggressive outbursts towards Lara and Nnamdi; indulgence in reckless and destructive behaviour such as heavy drinking and physical assault (Agbo attacking a fellow drunk man at the bar for insulting him, also deliriously strangling Nnamdi while possessed by the memory of an enemy he killed in action); and suicidal attempts. The victim’s conditions are made more torturous by the delusional persistence that he does not need help and reactions of the society towards his plights. Society, here, includes his wife and mother-in-law who resort to distancing themselves from him for a while. This, unfortunately, reflects the reality of many victims of severe mental problems in Nigeria and other African countries who, similar to how struggling drug addicts are treated, are left to their own fates after attempts to rehabilitate them have failed. In At Ease, the pacing is relaxed, with the draggy sound design and mild-to-pale lighting enhancing the mood of despondency. This pacing and atmosphere is reminiscent of Korede Azeez’s With Difficulty Comes Ease, also released this year—a film with nuanced take on identity and religion. 

At Ease is an ambitious project, spotlighting an often underrepresented aspect of military life in mainstream media—the psychological vulnerabilities of servicemen and ex-servicemen. While the film builds on existing Nollywood work on mental health, it is a poignant depiction of an ex-soldier’s reintegration into and psychological conflict with the civil world, the superstrate of society. Although the film does not offer much in military grandeur and ostentatious display of production values, it makes a satisfactory screentime experience for Nollywood cinephiles and contributes towards reshaping conversations around mental health. At Ease also stars Keppy Ekpenyong-Bassey as Colonel Segun, Rita Chinedu as Dr. Henrietta, Rekiya Attah as Eniola, Tony Goodman as Dejumo, Nadine Love as Esther, among others, and is currently showing on Prime Video.