Is this garbage film based on the awesome book? - All Things Fall Apart (2011) Discussion

[–] jakedag 14 years ago

Considering the book is about Nigerian tribal life and the hardships Africa faced with the rise of Christianity and the detriment of colonialism, while this movie is about a high school football player in his senior year.....jesus i hope not. i can imagine (again, i hope) the studio paid big $$$ to use the name and nothing more. how does 50 cent continue to find work (in the music or movie industry)?

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[–] 14 years ago

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[–] oucutiern 13 years ago

"Things Fall Apart" is a generic phrase? Everyone associates it with Achebe's book.

Can you imagine a world without men? No crime and lots of happy fat women. ~Nicole Hollander

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[–] mel82178 13 years ago

I've never heard of the book before, so not everyone associates it with the book.

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[–] Snugglygirl 13 years ago

I agree with mel82178. I JUST found out about the book called "Things Fall Apart" TODAY while doing a google search for the movie. There are hundreds of millions of book. Everyone on earth cannot read all books in the world. That being said I am going out to buy the book and I'll watch this movie also despite the fact that they have nothing in common except their titles.

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[–] mcleburn45 12 years ago

I agree with mel82178. I JUST found out about the book called "Things Fall Apart" TODAY while doing a google search for the movie. There are hundreds of millions of book. Everyone on earth cannot read all books in the world. That being said I am going out to buy the book and I'll watch this movie also despite the fact that they have nothing in common except their titles.

The *beep*

Yeah, there are hundreds of millions of books, but would that be your excuse if there was a movie called Regarding Mice and Men or A Great Gatsby? Jeebus, Things Fall Apart is a literary masterpiece, and the filmmakers knew damn well what the title of their film would call to mind.

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[–] 12 years ago

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[–] geeblegee 13 years ago

I always thought the title of the book was taken from that Yeats poem, "The Second Coming." There is that line, "Things fall apart, the center cannot hold."

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[–] Kitale 13 years ago

Yes, the title of the book was taken from the poem. So the poem has been around longer than Chinua Achebe's book. But, seriously, 50 Cent needs to retire. I just saw The Set Up and it's just as bad as his other roles. He clearly has no range or acting ability.

"He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life." - Muhammad Ali

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[–] hiphopsays 11 years ago

My understanding is Achebe (RIP) pulled from the Yeats source for his masterwork. Again Yeats being of the Western world alludes to the theme of colonialism found in the book...

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[–] mojo2004 13 years ago

If you're referring to Chinua Achebe's book, the film obviously has nothing to do with it. It's also ridiculous to suggest that "the studio paid big $$$ to use the name and nothing more", as there is no way that anybody can have copyright of a generic phrase such as "Things Fall Apart".

Well apparently author had some kind of copyright because he demaned they change the name of the movie.

No 50 Cent, You May Not Name Your Football Cancer Film After Africa's Greatest Literary Work
http://www.movieline.com/2011/09/no-50-cent-you-may-not-name-your-foot ball-cancer-film-after-africas-greatest-literary-work.php

"Achebe’s reps reportedly answered, “and won’t be sold for even 1 Billion Dollars.” Ouch. "

The flick’s reportedly been retitled to All Things Fall Apart. Check out the trailer below!

"It's like yelling at babies for not changing their own diapers!"

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[–] Napp_Swearengen 13 years ago

This is the true story of 50 Cent's friend that died of cancer. He always said that he was gonna do his movie that's why is so committed to the role. If you look at the imdb info for this movie, you'll see he has a writing credit.

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[–] krissie_feesa12000 13 years ago

I didn't think the movie was crap at all. In fact if I knew 50 I would give him a pat on his back for trying. And as you already know by now this movie has nothing to do with the book.

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[–] hiphopsays 11 years ago

"trying" .... there lies the problem. This could have been a compelling story and in a gifted writer's hands, instead of 50 and his writing partners hands, could have been a 'modern' retelling of Achebe's masterwork. Instead 50s ego decided he could write this story, and act in the lead role for this story, and as such he ruined this story. The characters are one-dimensional. The father, played by director van peebles, is only seen as wanting to cash in on a lottery ticket of Dion's skills. The nuisances such as the paternal love he has and the fact that Dion's successes speaks to his virility as a man is lost with this type of writing. Similarly other characters could have been presented with a more nuanced and rich understanding which could have bolstered the context of the story.

But instead 50 tried to write a serious piece that supposedly doesn't play off of his persona as an artist, and he tried to act with some depth...yeah, the problem with this flick is it tries without a whole lot of successes. (and 50 doesn't get a pat on the back for a lackluster effort).

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[–] lovefilm375 13 years ago

According to the Guardian the film will be renamed

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/sep/14/chinua-achebe-50-cent

"50 Cent has been undone by one of Africa's greatest novelists, Chinua Achebe. The rapper's latest movie has been renamed ahead of its release, due to a conflict with Achebe's most famous work.

Things Fall Apart, published by Achebe in 1958, is Nigeria's most famous English-language novel. It has sold more than 8m copies worldwide. Unfortunately, 50 Cent was not aware of this. He spent much of 2010 shooting a film of the same name, the story of an American football player diagnosed with cancer. "It's a project that I wrote, produced and financed myself," he explained last year. Directed by Mario Van Peebles, it premiered at the Miami film festival in March and is expected to be released soon.

Unfortunately for Fiddy, his film will not keep its original title. After being contacted by Achebe's legal team, 50 Cent allegedly offered $1m to hold on to the title. Achebe, 80, took this as an insult. "The novel with the said title was initially produced in 1958 (that is 17 years before [50] was born)," replied his lawyers, according to Naijan. "[It is] listed as the most-read book in modern African literature, and won't be sold for even £1bn." The film has now been renamed to All Things Fall Apart."

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[–] Adamst5 12 years ago

The book was awesome. But is this piece of *beep* based on the book?

IndaChood on Mon May 31 2010 17:11:44 . Obviously you have no idea whether the book is awesome and it is clear you have not read the book. Stop pretending that you read

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[–] 11 years ago

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