Witness Gospel Movie Reviews

“AFFLICTION PERMITTED 2” REVIEW

Affliction Permitted 2 shares a similar thematic preoccupation with its original movie, which, in my own words, is the importance of being in alignment with God’s will for our lives. It shows that a different positioning could spell doom even in the lives of God’s people if not quickly redirected. And this is true: we cannot claim to be genuine children of God if we do not obey Him. That would only mean that we worship Him with our lips, while our hearts are far from Him.

This film’s plot, I would say, is rather harsh on its characters. A new persona, Faith, has her marital life begin Affliction Permitted 2: Despite God revealing His marital “choices” to her, they inexplicably end up getting married to other ladies. Her epiphany dictates that she has been spiritually lethargic, and within the first third of the movie, this conflict is resolved. What this sequel tells the audience contradicts what it shows us about Faith: I feel that if nothing else, she exhibits unwavering trust in God after years of marital disappointment. That God would reveal His will to her and then keep mute about a supposed lack of fervency is utterly unlikely. Making the matter direr, this subplot is completely inconsequential to the main plot and thus, should not have been included in the first place.

In the lives of the protagonists, Benedict and Loveth, Affliction Permitted 2 seemed to have forgotten where its original movie ended, thus causing ambiguity in its initial temporal settings. In retrospect, it was probably done in order to set up its villain’s motivation, which from the get-go I’d perceived to be a forced and cheap justification for such a core part of the movie’s conflict. It therefore bothers me that after all the crisis and resolution in Affliction Permitted, Benedict and Loveth experience more losses in this second movie, and the manner of it confounds me.

1Corinthians 10:13 tells us that God would not test us beyond our ability and would always make a way out. Furthermore, James 1:13 enlightens us that God does not tempt us with evil. How then could one of the God-representations in this movie say “Mission accomplished” after the greatest tragedy the couple had ever known befalls them? How could a person Jesus died for be compared to Job who didn’t have God’s promises in the covenant sealed with the precious blood of the Lamb? How would God lead Benedict to leave his ailing son to minister healing to another sick child whose diabolical father’s monetary gift would cause that son’s death, even after God had promised healing for him? I find these scenarios to be inconsistent with the scriptures.

Technically speaking, the sound design for movies could involve original soundtracks, non-copyright tunes and a skilful use of silence across different scenes; extended and repeated use of the same instrumentals is monotonic. Also, movies with God-characters need to get His costume, and grammaticality of His dialogue spot-on. On a general note as well, original films that point to a God-given assignment for the protagonist need to put in more effort to show the expanse of such tasks in their second parts.

It is my prayer that for subsequent productions, the story will be critically looked into, so that all nations will see God as He truly is – One in whom there is no darkness (1John 1:5).

The link to the movie is https://youtu.be/4UgfJ44Jves

Till the next article, stay blessed!

Film Credits

Affliction Permitted (2022)
GCDM Film Productions
99 minutes

Cast
Muyiwa Omotara as Benedict
Elizabeth Ozohu as Loveth
Grace Banigbe as Ruth
Oluwadamilola Abiodun as Faith
Boluwatife Omotara as Jane
Godwin Oluwasegun as Accuser

Director
Femi Adebile
Writer
Muyiwa Omotara ‘Chosen’
Cinematographer
Fashikun Francis
Editor
Ayomide Balogun

“BATTLE OF THE GATES” REVIEW

Battle of the Gates presents an expansive story about Anthony, a young man with the world at his fingertips, until he realizes how empty his life is without God. This discovery takes him down the route of salvation which presents challenges he’s not willing to face.

I’d love to point out that the publicity for this movie is one of the best I’ve seen in years. It had different poster pictures, two teasers and a countdown to its release. Adding a trailer or two to this set would make a perfect advertising combination in my opinion.

The feature does well to go the extra mile to establish a number of its characters. In a sense therefore, Battle of the Gates has the soul of a series. Its leisurely pace sufficiently shows us the world of our protagonist, whose life is further complicated when he is unfortunately deceived into thinking a Christian lifestyle endorses sinful living. When his friend in iniquity comes to the knowledge of Christ, and confronts demons Anthony has avoided, the tables turn and he becomes vengeful, wanting to prove that a holy Christian life isn’t possible. The conflict is set up nicely for its second part, which it works through to resolve.

Battle of the Gates outlines the paths available to every human in the world and admonishes us to go for that less-trod but eternally profitable way.

The links to the movie: https://youtu.be/X1R7hSqelsU https://youtu.be/hZptfk6UEwM

Film Credits

Battle of the Gates (2022)
Impact Global Ministries
174 minutes

Cast
Fiyinfolu CP Okedare as Anthony
Isaac Femi-Akintunde as Mr Kuti
Feyi Adeopoju as Mrs Kuti
John Oguntuase as Femi
Seun Adejumobi as Corporate
Esan Oluwatomi as Nike
Tobi Olumuyiwa as Pascal

Director
Damilola Fasesan
Writer
Damilola Fasesan
Cinematographer
Sesan Afolayan
Editor
Distinct Creative Media

“DARK CORNER” REVIEW

Dark Corner is a production of Fruit Bearers’ Films. After getting a seemingly inconsequential opening scene out of the way, it settles into its story centred on Gift, a Christian lady on the verge of next levels in her life. The film shows the importance of illumination for the eyes of our hearts. God knows who everyone really is; therefore, He’s the only One that can reveal the depths of wickedness in a man’s soul, as well as the future ramifications of our present decisions.

Dark Corner further demonstrates the beauty of having godly friends, while avouching how even mentor-mentee relationships need to be umpired by God’s truth. Going forward, it should be noted that more investment in character development is essential to getting the audience emotionally infused to the story.

The link to the movie https://youtu.be/Yj_nbBqldOQ

Film Credits

Dark Corner (2022)
Fruit Bearers’ Films
67 minutes

Cast
MaryAnne Enereba as Gift
Tunrayo Falade as Mama
Olalekan Adesina (Elgee) as Remilekun
IfeOluwa Adejumobi as Faith
Seun Adejumobi as Fred Badejo
Jide Ogunmilade as Baba
John Oguntuase as Raymond

Director
Seun Adejumobi
Writer
Opeyemi Gbadebo
Cinematographer
Dosunmu Davd, Oreofe Johnson
Editor
Abiola Babatola ‘Nattytunez’
Composer
Sewedo Wusa

Till the next review, stay blessed!

“IMA & GOD” REVIEW

Ima & God was released on October 14, 2022 by Zionhome Drama Outreach Ministry. It narrows in on the importance of our actions in correlation to God’s instructions to us.

This is a title that I really like, and coupled with its impressive poster design, I eagerly expected a story that would resonate at a personal level. The matter of “God said…” in potential courtships is an age-long phenomenon that has been severally applied and received by different people. Ima & God tries to illustrate how a child of God backed by God’s word could make a hash of the whole thing. Many that have experienced this will find some wisdom in this movie, in their subsequent dealings with the Holy Spirit.

In the film’s pursuit of dynamism, Ima & God in my opinion, sadly becomes rather too clever for its own good. The entire opening sequence of three scenes was immaterial in the long run. It ambitiously ties viable knots of conflict but gets so tangled in them itself that the resolution was predictably precipitate. Furthermore, its cuts to new scenes were sometimes confusing. Also, the story seems to be more about Richard than the eponymous Ima; she could have done with the development given to Ajim, who really could have just been a random bad guy. Lastly, portraying God as being so detailed to Ima and Denilson at the outset, only to become reticent for no stated or implied factor at the most crucial point could be misrepresenting.

In conclusion, Ima & God is a caution for Christians not to take a word from God and make a paragraph out of it. It is vital that while we follow God’s past leadings, we learn to be patient to know what He has for us at every point in time.

The link to the movie is https://youtu.be/3f9wbqVipy0

Till the next article, stay blessed!

Film Credits

Ima & God (2022)
Zionhome Drama Outreach Ministry
67 minutes

Cast
Bamike Are as Ima
Ayo Afolabi as Richard
Segun Oyeyemi as Denilson
Temitayo Idowu as Omolola
Chosen-Mic Adeniran as Ajim

Director
Tolulope Ibasanmi
Writer
Femi Fakayode
Cinematographer
Tolulope Ibasanmi
Editor
Tolulope Ibasanmi

“APOSTLE BEN” REVIEW

Apostle Ben is a riveting motion picture that centres on life in the marketplace or workplace and what is expected of children of God there. Ushered in by cool jazz music, its opening scenes set the mood for an interesting watch. It was quite refreshing to see a movie whose key setting and tone were official. Hearing a lot of shoptalk in specific fields isn’t a common experience in watching faith-based movies; so, I really enjoyed this one.

Apostle Ben has something that I’ve sorely missed in many Christian films this year – a good story. It’s quite obvious that the concept for the movie was born from a burden, and it was well executed. I love how it initially leads us to Cossy before taking us to Mr Oluremi. That way, its major characters receive the sufficient development its runtime allows. The twist felt organic to the plot and the editing brilliantly navigates a lengthy all-important narration by creating an illusion of oscillation in time passage.

This is not to say that the movie couldn’t have done better in, for example, occasional overacting by a few characters, glaring dialogue replacement, flash-timed reaction shots and B-rolls, unnecessary discrepancies between dialogue and subtitles, and unimportant snapshots at the end – all of which were a bit distracting for me. However, the overall quality and content of Apostle Ben far outweigh any of its shortcomings in my opinion.

Another thing I have to give Apostle Ben credit for is that this is one movie that knows where to insert and commence the right kind of music at different points in time. It furthermore does this justice by including every song and tune used in it at the end credits for easy reference. More impressively, they were composed and performed fully or in part by the producers. The end credits surprisingly came after an epilogue that contained a powerful charge for Christians to reflect Christ in their workplaces and for anyone serving Him to be confident that God never fails His own. They were accompanied by a catchy end credits song intro that has become my new favourite. I recommend this film for your viewing pleasure and blessedness.

The link to the movie is https://youtu.be/r9loYbvIvQA

Till the next article, stay blessed!

Film Credits

Apostle Ben (2022)
A MASS TV production
57 minutes

Cast
Kayode Babalola as Apostle Ben
Deborah Olorunnisola as Elizabeth
Aramide Oloko as Cossy
Segun Adelaja as Archbishop Julius Abaado
Samuel Daniel as Yemi

Director
Tolulope Toluwase
Story
Shobowale Ebenezer
Cinematographer
Olayinka Bolade Emmanuel
Editor
Tolulope Toluwase

“MY DREAM” REVIEW

Hey folks! You’re welcome to the review of My Dream, written and produced by Evangelist Gloria Bamiloye and directed by Evangelist Richard Omidiwura. It was premiered on YouTube on September 17, 2022 before being made public a week later.

I consider My Dream’s approach to creating protagonists a bit unique, in the sense that it’s tough to pin it down to one individual’s journey. It felt like four intertwined stories of almost equal measure, all a blessing to me. On first impressions, the story seems to be about Deolu, whose dreams of greatness are tested when he’s faced with a decision that might change the course of his life. Subsequently though, I observed the film also follows Mama Tunde, giving us a bit of her backstory, motivations and desires. Mr Ishola and Mama Deolu also have a bit of screen time for us to learn submission to God. So, as much as I’m a proponent for that one compelling protagonist, I enjoyed having different stories to follow that were able to achieve balance at the end of the day.

All characters played their roles well and it was like music to my ears, as Evangelist Shola Mike-Agboola’s soothing voice and fluid delivery of lines breezed over the Jay-Mikee-led sound department’s film scores in a good number of scenes, as Teacher. Also, Deolu’s friends, played by Tomisin Fasola and Sewedo Wusa, took their exchanges of dialogue very well.

The peaceful atmosphere in My Dream registered to my senses that, in the final analysis, everything would be okay. For every child of His, God has inspired a dream; we have to note though, that there’s always a process and a passage of time. Between ‘little’ and ‘large’ is usually a journey of challenges, as in the cases of Joseph and David in the Bible. Each obstacle has to be a stepping stone to the next level. It is required at such times for us to get more intimate with God in prayer and Bible study, remain on the side of righteousness, maintain a positive attitude while confessing God’s word, count your blessings, and never get discouraged, even if at times, you’d be the one to encourage yourself in God. In all, just keep moving forward.

If you’ve seen My Dream, please share your thoughts about it with me, so we can be blessed together. If you thought this article was valuable, please like and share it. Thank you very much!

The link to the movie is https://youtu.be/cpzR5flVeps

Till the next article, stay blessed!

“BEYOND I DO (EPISODES) 3 AND 4” REVIEW

Hey folks! You’re welcome to the review of BEYOND I DO 3 and 4. The movie more or less proceeds from where the first sequel ends.

Before I go any further, I would say that Beyond I Do currently has a need for identity definition – it has shown itself to be either a franchise of sequels or a series of episodes. The first movie was fine and the second was better, only that it ended with no resolution. Now, almost a year after, it seems it has evolved into a series. Hence, it has produced two episodes of about forty minutes each, with cliffhangers for subsequent episodes this year. If that’s what it is now to be, the recaps of previous episodes and previews of following episodes need to be more concisely and stylishly done.

The string of conflicts in Jide’s and Sharon’s marriage continues, and we can all learn as children of God that though unprecedented and shameful situations might occur, opening up to your spouse is a covering for you. Solutions come in the midst of openness and Christians can only thrive under the light of Christ.

Jide and Sharon strangely choose darkness when its symbol in Jide’s mother makes her move. They conveniently forget their pastor and his wife whom they’ve always confided in. The result puts Sharon especially, in a pitiful state. On another end, Jide’s friend, Mike, succeeds in getting him dismissed from work, while he himself receives an unpleasant visit from old allies. Subsequent episodes will reveal what will become of Beyond I Do series’ plot and subplots.

Till the next article, stay blessed!

“MISSED” FANTALK

What’s up, gospel movie lovers all over the world? You’re welcome to this Fantalk edition where we take a look at an upcoming EVOM movie, Missed. As usual, we’ll be making cast, crew and plot guesses. So, let’s do just that!

Information first emerged September 20, 2022 on the IG page of the director, Evangelist ‘Shola Mike Agboola that Missed would soon be released on EVOM Channel on YouTube. The poster reveals that the story was written by ‘Tomisin Agboola, who wrote the short film Corked (2020).

And rather surprisingly from information just seen, that ‘soon’ turns out to be VERY SOON because, Missed will be premiering on YouTube TOMORROW, Friday, September 23, 2022 on EVOM Channel. We don’t have a trailer to get more details from; so, we’ll just have to see what the promising movie is about. Watch out for it!

Till the next article, stay blessed!

“AFAIMO” REVIEW

Hey folks! You’re welcome to the review of Afaimo, which means ‘Not Unlikely’, written and directed by Olasunkanmi Solomon. It is a powerful movie that will take you on a journey of introspection through the use of clear illustrations that will pique you sensitivity to the reality of our lives here on earth.

Afaimo is a well-written movie that achieves remarkable balance in its rhythm and pacing. It treats an earnest theme in a witty way, and for the first time in a long while, if ever, it hurt having to wait a week for a film’s concluding part. The motion picture utilizes the allusion method excellently to pass across its message to the intended audience. This was done by giving prominence to one layer of the story and creating characters that we would care about. Here, we have four personalities that represent different kinds of believers. The imagery really struck me and at different times while watching the movie, all I could do was to ask God to help me.

Seyi Adeniyi, Segun Adedare, Ayobami Adegboyega and Taiwo Solomon shared a chemistry onscreen that made their siblings relationship thoroughly believable. Nike Adebayo really shone in her role here as the character I’d love to hate, Agent 3. We follow them on their expedition and really, you couldn’t tell where the story would end. The cinematography was very much involved in this, timely adjusting to character movements and chase sequences, and using focus to purposefully direct our gaze. Furthermore, the music score was varied and suitably used.

Afaimo creatively portrays the different distractions children of God encounter on their earthly sojourns. The depictions of the devil’s sly operations were vivid, and it’s a wonder how, despite slipups by the enemy, some believers ultimately believe what their ears were itching to hear all along. The importance of togetherness, every word that comes out of the mouth of God and the guidance of the Holy Spirit is foregrounded in the movie as well.

In this race of faith, we need to be wary of weariness, so that we won’t shift focus from God’s blessings on us to the circumstances around us. Every child of God must embrace the Bible as our manual for living and ensure nothing takes that away from us. The prize is not for those who quit, but for them that endure to the end. Finally, I would say that on every watch, you would get more insight from Afaimo; it being an allusion ensures that there is more to it than meets the first viewing.

Alright, we’ve come to the end of this review. How many of you have seen it? How many of you will go watch it now? Please indicate in the comments section below. The links to the movie are https://youtu.be/tZz9gYW6R8s and https://youtu.be/5hTSns6cCq8 .

Till the next article, stay blessed!

“BURNING COLES” (PREMIERE) REVIEW

Hey folks! How are you all doing? You’re welcome to this spoiler-free review of the latest Mount Zion movie, Burning Coles, which was screened on the 2^nd of September, 2022 at the Drama Ministers’ Power Night. Pending its release on YouTube, I suggest you read the novel of the same title, which you can get here: ellaswritings.com

So, what’s my view of Burning Coles? One thing you can be certain of is that it is a quality production that is sure to bless individuals and families. The first thing that stood out for me is that the novel’s story written by Emmanuela Mike-Bamiloye was re-written as a screenplay not by one, but two talented screenwriters. The very thought of having drama ministers as Damilola Mike-Bamiloye and Goodness Adegbola writing the script for this movie has a gospel movie reviewer like me licking my lips at the prospect of such a combined effort. I discussed in my midyear review of 2022 gospel movies the benefits of more specialisations and collaborations; so, it’s an absolute delight to witness this first-of-its-kind partnership in gospel film production. Without giving away details, one major result of this is that there are multiple twists that make for a more interesting watch.

There is something this film does with its characters – it unveils and links them in ways that serve as callbacks, which make movies more immersive. There’s a character reveal done in Burning Coles for a cameo that I think gospel filmmakers can learn from. It was a casting choice and camera shot that elicited loud applause from the audience at the premiere. These are subtle elements that give a production that bit more lift. Likewise, for those of you familiar with movies from Free Gift International, you’ll be pleased to see a certain known actress feature here. The young actors in the movie also pulled their weight to make the movie engaging. As usual, the scores were on point, and I identified at least, two unique background tunes, one of which came in fully as a beautiful end credits soundtrack by Jay-Mikee.

Burning Coles is a family movie that does very well to address relatable issues that are not uncommon in this Computer Age, giving practical solutions to the ills that plague the marriage union. As my wife put it, God always places an intercessor in every family. If you’re a child of God, identify that other intercessor and team up. Don’t allow the devil destroy your family with bitterness, strife and envy. In the end, let Christ win.

Alright, we’ve come to the end of this review. I’ll probably do a more detailed discussion on Burning Coles when it comes to YouTube.

Till then, stay blessed.