Half of a Yellow Sun (2014)

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

This is a disappointing film...and I DIDN'T read the book. But while watching it I paused the film and read about Biafra and the Nigerian civil war. This film almost poses that terribly bloody conflict as a severe inconvenience, and as such does it no justice. So that is strike 1.One interesting factor of the film is that it was one of the 2 films of John Boyega's that he made just before he became a shooting star in Star Wars. However, although you see him throughout the film, his lines are limited, so you get no real idea of what kind of actor he was then.Another interesting factor was Chiwetel Ejiofor, who is -- although I can't explain why -- a very interesting actor. There's just something different about him.The other actors do their jobs, but I didn't find any of the performers noteworthy, including Thandie Newton, who is the film's lead. I saw it as a rather flat performance.If I had it to do over again, I'd skip over this film, although I have an idea that under other direction it could have been very good.

Thank God I read the book. This movie version does not do Chimamanda's story justice at all. They tried to do too much within just this one movie that clearly should have been broken down to capture the MULTIPLE stories within the main plot (I also agree with the miniseries idea). Most of the actors did not fit the roles- Kainene was NOT supposed to be as...open, as she was in the movie, for instance. There was a reason they were written a certain way in the novel, and sadly, whoever produced this movie did not understand this. I couldn't even focus on the movie long enough because the acting was just too cringe-worthy for the most part and the story line was way too superficial. Ugh, I'm so disappointed - READ THE BOOK!

My 2 cents......... if you want to do a movie about Nigerians, why should you work with a foreign cast? I may be wrong, but i think the director would have done better with an all- Nigerian cast. They would have interpreted their roles better. For Pete's sakes, this is a story about a civil war! I have a major problem with the cast. Thandie Newton was so so not fluid at all; Anika Noni Rose was OK; but the major disappointment I saw in the movie is from Chiwetel Ejiofor of "12 Years a Slave" I believe he did not put in half his best at all. The whole thing boils down to the directing. It lacked depth. But I believe there is still room for change and they can do better than this parody of a best selling book turned movie. And yes! i read the book and I am saying that if you have read the book, watch the movie, only if you can look past the passive acting and bad direction. i give it a 6

I beg to disagree with many of the other (negative) reviews. I believe that the movie communicated the right intensity. It's not about the book, it's about a story needing to be told. I'm a Nigerian who is closely intimidated with the war and the true story, and this film did enough to express the reality of it on many levels. I especially appreciated the live footage. I've been reading memoirs from a variety of ethnicities who were involved in the war, and this movie shows a story that is consistent with all of their stories. It's only one perspective, and fictional at that. I would recommend this movie to anyone and everyone interested in Nigerian history and heritage.