MOVIES - Sept. 1, 1988

Step aside, Charles Bronson. A Nigerian film titled “Vigilante” takes the urban revenge theme so far, it makes Bronson’s “Death Wish” look like “The Adventures of Pippi Longstocking.” The “righteous” violence in “Vigilante,” which premiered in the Nigerian capital of Lagos on Tuesday, is in response to the West African nation’s soaring crime rate: fully 40% of all urban Nigerians are robbed or threatened by robbers at some point. In “Vigilante,” the Adesanya brothers (Afolabi’s the producer, Adediji’s the director) use a final scene showing a robber being “necklaced”--burned alive by placing an ignited car tire around his chest--by a band of vigilantes trying to protect their neighborhood. The film also carries an endorsement of vigilantism by the Nigerian national police chief, Mohammed Gambo, who says, “The ultimate responsibility for the defense of family and property rests squarely on the people themselves.”