| “ | Not a word of protest. You should find a new boyfriend. | „ |
| ~ Obanno to Valenka after negotiating with Le Chiffre. |
Steven Obanno is a major antagonist in the 2006 James Bond film Casino Royale. He is a Ugandan warlord who was in league with Quantum.
He is portrayed by Isaach de Bankolé.
Biography[]
Obanno is a high-ranking member of the Lord's Resistance Army who has ties to Quantum represented by the mysterious Mr. White. He has a considerable sum ($101,206,000) with another of White's associates Le Chiffre.
Le Chiffre ends up losing Obanno's money when one of his stock shorting schemes fails due to Bond's intervention. Without notifying Obanno or Mr. White, Le Chiffre arranges a high-stakes poker tournament at Casino Royale in Montenegro to recoup the loss.
When Obanno learns of the loss of his money, he and his bodyguard travel to Montenegro, break into Le Chiffre's hotel suite and ambush him and his mistress Valenka, threatening to stab with a machete sword. However, Le Chiffre is unmoved by the threat and implores Obanno to give him one day to win the tournament and recoup the loss. Obanno reluctantly grants this and leaves the suite, but not before telling Valenka to find herself a new boyfriend due to his disgust towards Le Chiffre over disregarding her life.
Obanno being strangled by Bond.
In the hall, Obanno and his bodyguard notice James Bond and Vesper Lynd lurking in the vicinity. When the bodyguard sees the hearing device in Bond's ear, he moves to attack Bond, who throws him over a stairwell to his death. Obanno then attacks Bond with his machete sword. He and Bond then engage in a frenzied fight in the stairwell. Once Obanno's weapon is tossed aside, the two men go back and forth through hand-to-hand combat. Obanno gains the upper hand at first but as the fight ends at the bottom of the stairwell, Bond takes control and throttles Obanno to death. Mathis then disposes of their bodies by putting them in the car trunk belonging to Leo, one of Le Chiffre's henchmen, framing him for their murders. Looking through the window, Le Chiffre cries in joy as he is now safe from Obanno.
Bond eventually learned that Quantum was nothing more than a front run by Ernst Stavro Blofeld of SPECTRE, and that Obanno, along with Le Chiffre and Mr. White, were all pawns as part of Blofeld's true plot to wreak psychological pain on Bond.
Trivia[]
- Obanno is loosely based on Joseph Kony, a real-life commander of the Lord's Resistance Army.
- Although Obanno is a major antagonist in the movie, he can be seen as an anti-hero. This is due to the fact his mission wasn't to harm or kill Bond and it was just to maintain a firm amount of money after it's used by Chiffre.
