The Prime Suspect is a mini-movie series from the stables of Horeb Digital that comprises nine episodes. The movie was written, produced and directed by Sola Adeaga, who played the role of Steve in the series. It is a 2020 production and there are a lot of things to say about this film.
The story is very good; it’s societal, political and spiritual in the same breath. It had compelling characters, suspense, intrigue and conflict – all you’d want from a series. The first episode was impressive and set the tone for what was to come; you would always look forward eagerly to the next episode. The Prime Suspect is about the president of a fictional country – the United Africa Republic – President Adebowale, played by Late David Komolafe. His journey is closely linked with that of his daughter – Cherish – played by Ayobami Olakunle, and Kola Brown, played by Victor Olafimihan.
This movie spares nothing in bringing in the cream of the crop in cast and crew. I feel that this is the level Nigerian gospel movies are getting to: a level where several professionals are brought in to work on a single movie project. I counted close to 200 cast and several others as crew. Definitely, a lot of money, time and manpower were invested in this production. The branded airplane was a remarkable sight. The underwater shot? I was wowed and I think it is novel as far as Nigerian gospel movies go. I like the fact that the movie had a very broad scope, a national scope that called for the use of other languages and dialects. The costuming was good and quite creative. The acting here was first class, especially Ayobami Olakunle’s. I hope she gets nominated for an award at Gospel Film Festival for 2020. Wole Olaleye also excelled in his part as Atiba who was the comic relief in a series that treats very serious issues of governance.
I made a lot of observations about this series. First is the fact that one of its main characters, David Komolafe, had passed away in 2017. This suggests that The Prime Suspect movie had been shot 3 years ago at the latest. We don’t know why it hadn’t been released before now (and there must definitely have been several challenges) but the testimony is that to the glory of God, it eventually came to fruition. This is highly commendable because this film is a wonderful production. I think this is a great lesson for gospel movie producers out there to never let their dream of producing great movies from the Lord die, for we will reap a harvest IF we do not give up.
It saddened my heart to find out that the renowned gospel actor is no more but there’s joy because he knew the Lord. Perhaps, this was his last participation in a gospel movie; it was nonetheless an exit in grand style.
I see the whole concept of The Prime Suspect as a lofty idea and I would say that it was a successful experiment. I use the word ‘experiment’ because from this mini-movie series, we see things that work and those that could be done differently for a greater production.
The removal of certain items would have made the movie feel more original. I’d have appreciated it better if the drone and establishing shots of The Prime Suspect had been shot by Horeb Digital herself, rather than what looked like stock footage. Also, the simulated driving by Wole Olaleye didn’t work for me. The scene in the House of Assembly where it seemed Automated Dialogue Replacement (ADR) was used for Elvon Jarrett should have been removed; it wouldn’t have been missed.
The major drawback of this movie must be the omissions – deliberate or circumstantial – in the plot. For example, we don’t know when Kola and Steve graduated from school and got jobs, we don’t know when Steve got married, we don’t know how the relationship with Cherish and Kola became amicable, considering the fact that it would naturally have been a vengeful relationship; neither do we know what information Kola supplied to have made the assassins want to kill him.
More time could definitely have been given to character development. Cherish’s mother and brother(s) were virtually non-existent until the sixth episode. Generally, if more time had been used in building the characters, it wouldn’t have felt out of place, neither would the pacing have been affected. This series therefore might have easily been referred to as an actual series, rather than a mini-movie series. It might have had 20-odd episodes for the audience to watch, enjoy and look forward to.
Most definitely, Sola Adeaga’s next series will be a full one and not a mini-movie series, because this one surely had the potential to be one. The Prime Suspect is done and dusted now and we look forward to the next. The producer has told us to be on the lookout for “a new, powerful Yoruba movie starring Tope Alabi”. Fingers crossed!
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Witness Gospel Movie Reviews 