Lagos - Notes of a City

With 15 million inhabitants, the Nigerian city of Lagos is one of the largest and fastest-growing metropolises in the world. It is a city constantly in motion, people swarming everywhere, with business being done on every street corner and traffic creeping in endless rivers along its roads and over bridges. A recurring panoramic image of the city makes it clear at a glance that not everyone is benefitting from this boundless energy, however; we also see a sea of poor shacks, with modern apartment buildings in the background. The film zooms in on the everyday lives of six inhabitants of the city, including a rich businessman and a poor single mother who is HIV-positive. The businessman talks about the growing banking insdustry and a favorable climate for investment; the mother worries about the future of her children. The contrast is great, although a lot of the concerns about the current state and future of the country are shared by both characters. A source of pride and hope for a better future comes from the Afrobeat musician Femi Kuti, the son of Fela Kuti, famous for both his infectious music and as a critic of the Nigerian government.\par