Hope Is A Word

The power of words as a means of protest is celebrated by Maria Galliani Dyrvik in her feature debut documentary, which focuses on the Niger Delta in Nigeria, an area that has long suffered environmental pollution courtesy of oil companies’ extraction techniques. Heartfelt if somewhat loose in terms of structure, her film follows poet and activist Nnimmo Bassey as he mentors young adults in the Ogoni region to give voice to their frustrations not through violence but through verse.

Nnimmo himself is following in the ink line of Ken Saro-Wiwa, whose words we hear repeatedly through Hope Is A Word and who was executed in 1995 by the state for his activism after a trial condemned by human rights groups. Dyrvik’s film weaves together footage of Nimmo as he travels the region talking to community groups about the decades of pollution from the Trans-Niger pipeline and the hopes for clean up and segments showing him with young poets including Barinedum Mbee, who we see, in turn, using poetry as a community motivational tool. Throughout, sound design that sounds like shifting ice, adds a moody and melancholic tone to cutaways of oil on water, and polluted landscapes.

Footage from Glasgow – which I presume was shot during the UN Climate Change Conference COP26 – shows Nnimmo’s further travels but doesn’t sit particularly comfortably within the rest of the Niger-focused film, although this is chiefly down to a lack of contextual detail.

Among the other young creatives encountered is Nimmo’s own son Ukpono, who is a skilful musician and rap artist. Dyrvik touches lightly on family background, including Nnimmo’s regrets that he didn’t spend more time with his children and it’s a shame this topic feels somewhat skated over as a little more biographical information would go a long way to rounding out the film. More on Barinedum Mbee and fellow young poet Oduduabasi Asuquo would also be welcome, as though we can see their talent, their connection to the region and their motivations for becoming involved with Nnimmo and poetry are sketched rather than detailed.

Poetry itself provides strong punctuation for the film, with each one appearing in coloured subtitles so that we are better able to drink it in. Those who are not familiar with Nnimmo’s work beforehand will be able to get a strong feel for it, including his use of ‘chorus’ like moments that can be used as a call and response refrain in certain circumstances. In general Dyrvik’s film is likely to provoke further reading and listening.

An inscription on a memorial to Saro-Wiwa bears his quote: “I may be dead, but my ideas will not die.” Hope Is A Word is a living testament to that.

Reviewed on: 14 Jun 2026