Farming (2018)

Plot synopsis of Farming (2018)

The prologue of the film reveals that between the 1960s and the 1980s, tens of thousands of Nigerian children were fostered by their parents to white working-class families in the UK. Working or studying Nigerian parents would pay white British families to foster their children. This informal system became known as “farming.”

The movie starts in 1967, England, where a gang of white bullies is chasing a black man in a railway station. It’s a dark and chilly night, and the victim is running for his life. Unfortunately, he arrives at a dead end and is forced to beg the bullies to spare him.

The scene abruptly cuts to Tilbury in East London, where a Nigerian couple, Femi and Tolu, have traveled to Britain for education. They decide to return to their nation after completing their studies. Soon after, their son, Enitan, is born. One thing leads to another, and the couple tearfully hands over their infant son and a wad of banknotes to Ingrid Carpenter.

Ingrid is a working-class wife from a gypsy background, living in a terraced house in Tilbury. Femi and Tolu promise to return once they’re fully settled in life.

Fast forward eight years later—Enitan is now a boy. He is artistic but shy, preferring to play behind the sofa rather than with his siblings, whom his parents also farmed out. By now, his foster mother, Ingrid, has as many as ten black children in her erratic care. Her husband remains busy making a living by driving lorries, so Ingrid raises all the children by herself.

She pretends to treat the kids equally, saying they are all the same. However, she often insults Enitan and subjects him to constant low-level racism at home, repeatedly threatening to send him back to “Wuga Wuga Land” if he misbehaves. He’s also the object of ceaseless bullying at school, which makes him grow to hate his own blackness.

One day, Ingrid makes him shoplift. The little boy sneaks into a pawn shop and successfully manages to steal a gold chain. He proudly brings the gift to his mum. However, when the shopkeeper reports the theft, Ingrid slaps Enitan and uses racial slurs. Later, she tells him she was forced to punish him, otherwise they’d be in serious trouble. Enitan understands and promises “Mommy” he’ll get the chain next time.

As days pass, Enitan continues to be the victim of bullying at school. In one instance, the bullies unleash their ferocious dog on him, causing him to need ten stitches on his forehead. Ingrid is furious and demands that her husband take revenge on the neighborhood gypsy boys who hurt Enitan. But his foster father instead advises the boy to stand up to the bullies himself.

The scene then shifts to Enitan watching a rainbow from his window. He and his siblings run into the streets in search of its end. After wandering for a while, they come across a puddle of water and make their wishes before hurrying home.

Arriving home, Enitan’s excitement fades when he sees a couple in the waiting room. They are his parents, Femi and Tolu, who had left him years ago under Ingrid’s care. The next thing we know, Enitan and his twin sisters are riding a cab to their Nigerian village. The young boy learns they’re now going to stay there permanently.

Devastated by this dark truth, he remains silent throughout his stay with his biological parents. Even when he’s told to greet his grandfather, Enitan shows no affection or respect. His grandfather, already upset with Femi about the foster care arrangement, tells him, “It takes a whole village to raise a child, and England is not our village. The people there do not know our customs and culture.”

Grandpa then suggests performing a prayer ritual to bring Enitan’s ancestral spirit back home. The scene cuts to a voodoo-like ceremony where a tantric woman continuously cuts Enitan’s chest with sharp blades. The boy bleeds and cries for help while mysterious people around him chant mantras.

Following this, Enitan’s parents throw a party to celebrate the completion of the ritual. However, the poor boy seems detached from everyone around him, especially his parents. Despite their efforts, he refuses to speak or respond during conversations. His teachers, too, grow frustrated, forcing him to change schools several times.

One day, his class teacher asks a question, but Enitan refuses to answer. As punishment, he’s made to stand by the classroom door on one leg. After class, when the angry teacher prepares to beat him, Enitan snatches the stick and strikes the teacher instead.

Femi becomes furious when he learns of the incident. Ignoring his wife’s pleas, he sends Enitan back to his foster parents—where further challenges await him.

In the next scene, Enitan returns to Tilbury and reunites with Ingrid and the others. When she pesters him, he locks himself in the bathroom and tries to scrub off his black skin, then covers himself in whitening talcum powder. The following day, he goes to school with this ghostly appearance, only to attract more ridicule from his peers.

The film then fast-forwards to Enitan as a teenager. He’s still friendless, except for the kindly nurture of his saint-like English teacher, Miss Dapo. During one of her classes, a classmate casually mocks him. The once-lean boy is now sturdy and no longer tolerates bullying. A fight breaks out, and moments later, the headmaster suspends him for causing trouble.

Despite the suspension, Enitan returns to school the next day but refuses to go inside. Miss Dapo notices him and engages him in a heartfelt conversation. She offers to talk to the headmaster on his behalf, but Enitan remains silent. When she asks what his dream was as a child, he quietly admits he always loved drawing—especially on clean sheets of paper, where he could bring figures to life.

When asked about his friends, he says he doesn’t have many, and those he talks to are “behind the sofa.” Miss Dapo gently realizes that his friends exist only in his imagination.

After their conversation, Enitan goes to the field and begins sketching blooming wildflowers—unaware that he has wandered into the territory of a local gang known as the “Tilbury Skins.” The gang is led by Levi, a young man filled with hatred toward black immigrants.

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Video recap of Farming (2018)