“KNOTTED” REVIEW

“Knotted” was written and directed by Victor Olukoju PVO. It is a suspense-filled jigsaw puzzle of a movie that will keep you glued to your seat from the beginning to the end. It throws in a lot of ingredients to make it the movie it is. The 76-minute film skillfully makes the audience see what it wants us to see while saving the huge reveal towards the end after we might have made all the guesses we possibly could. I’m sure with the way this movie was shot, the director of photography, as well as the editor, was given the screenplay for them to see how they could bring their creativity to bear on the final product. Different kinds of shots and angles were used in this movie, and with all the brilliance displayed in the camera movements, I just knew it had to be Kunle Adepoju, and so it was. The editing literally leads our guesses throughout the movie by the use of cuts to new scenes, as well as oscillations between scenes. In this movie, each scene had its own tune and so, when one scene sharply cut to another, the tune changed too. You would think that such abruptness would feel awkward but it actually worked. So, this was brilliant editing by Abiola Babatola (Nattytunes).

The costuming was on point in “Knotted”. The acting was also very good. Dr (Mrs) Adekunbi Obaisi plays the role of Sewa with this aura of peace and delicacy. The performance of the clinical psychologist was beautiful. Richard, played by Philip Oyeleye, really nailed his role. He showed some level of common sense as a doctor and maybe he was right to call off the wedding for posterity sake? But, it was clear that there was something missing from his life. I observed that in his decisions, there was no deference to spiritual authority. I felt that was odd, and at the end, he reveals his true colours. When we see Richard’s friend played by Olumide Oki, we get a good idea of who Richard really is. When your friend calls you ‘omo buruku’ to praise you, that’s probably what you are. What bothers me though is that Tara, a child of God, with parents who are children of God, was about to get married to Richard, who was a phony; how does one spot unfaithfulness in such a man? It’s definitely only the Holy Spirit that can reveal who anybody really is, to us.

I learnt a lot of things from this movie. The major thing is that trials come to reveal our character, and when they come, the Bible tells us to count it all joy, and that we should present ourselves to God so that we will come out perfect and complete, lacking nothing. At the end, it turns out Sewa had been telling the truth all along, though she hadn’t come out plainly about the nature of her parents’ death because it brought her so much pain. Tara’s dad looked like a perfect father, yet he didn’t waste time in threatening to kill Sewa if she didn’t confess. He said he’d kill Sewa and then kill himself; I guess he never knew that he had suicidal tendencies. When faced with the shame of having raised a child that wasn’t his for 27 years, he wanted to kill himself. One thing I learnt in that scene is that prayer changes the narrative of depression. He’d spent a lot of time thinking of shame and that’s why he felt the best thing was to kill himself, but when he stopped worrying and started talking, conversing with God, he knew that the only thing he needed wasn’t to kill himself but God’s help.

The saying that assumption is the lowest form of knowledge is exemplified in this movie. Unfortunately, we see it from the least expected place. Pastor Adams is surrounded by those that have lost the essence of Christianity. The Bible says that the way everyone will know that we are Jesus’ followers is if we have love and unselfish concern for each other. Adams is sucked into this vortex of self-righteousness and completely misjudges and mismanages the situation. His mentor makes him see he’s wrong and he ends up a better pastor than he was at the beginning.

There was a rehearsal scene I felt was almost totally unnecessary though; perhaps it was there just to show how important the wedding was to Tara’s church.

“Knotted” achieves a balance to its narrative that I think is astonishing. The film starts with a focus on Tara and Richard, moves to Daddy Tara and Sewa, narrows in on Pastor Adams, and then flows into the story of Sewa’s son; these stories run concurrently and there’s just this evenhandedness about them. That way, the plot is well-rounded. The effect of this is a rich experience in which we see that everyone has their fair share of tears; everyone has their secrets and shortcomings; many have mobile prisons in their hearts where they’ve locked up those who have hurt them in one way or another. The beautiful thing though is that they all surrender to God and the result is what we have at the end – a happy family, restoration and solidification of old relationships, and building new ones. We see people with different kinds of challenges who come out as victors and are willing to look forward to a future filled with hope because of what Jesus has done, for His plans for us are of good and not evil, to give us an expected end.

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Till the next review, stay blessed!