Elesin Oba: The King's Horseman

The film is based on a true story and is set in the 1940s Oyo Town, southwestern Nigeria. The king has just died, and as tradition demands Elesin Oba, the King's horseman, must perform ritual suicide in order to join his deceased king in the afterlife so that the king may gain unhindered passage into the land of the gods, thus preventing calamity from befalling the community. Elesin Oba's sexual appetites cause him to shirk in his duty, which leads to a lethal confrontation with the British and with devastating consequences. When the horseman is unable to fulfill his final obligation to the king, his ghost wanders the earth, spelling calamity for the land and its people.