A Barber's Wisdom is a short farce showing what Nigerian filmmakers can do when not restricted by commercial concerns; the cinematographer is the director of our other new Nigerian release, Thunderbolt. In contrast to Surrender, the father here is ridiculed not for being too traditional but for not being traditional enough, for failing his responsibility to protect his family and uphold morality. Amadou is a barber whose business is so slow his formidable wife, Stella, has had to become the primary breadwinner by selling grilled fish. After a visit to the city, Amadou decides to modernize his shop to attract the hip younger generation. Apart from rap music, the principal new attractions are his two daughters, provocatively dressed like Lil' Kim and Jennifer Lopez. Stella is outraged that he is in a sense pimping his own daughters, but Amadou will do anything to make money. He only sees the light after one of them tells him that she has become pregnant. When we last see him, he is burning the city clothes and the women are again in traditional dress. Unlike Zanzibar in Surrender, the society depicted in A Barber's Wisdom is rushing headlong toward modernity; references to a global television culture abound, and the pursuit of profit has encroached on every other value. The film's humor stems from the contrast between Amadou's presumptions of patriarchal authority and his craven exploitation of his own family. Behind this, one feels, is a more general indictment of Nigerian society, its often corrupt leaders and its "anything goes" economy.