Witness Gospel Movie Reviews

ABATTOIR EPISODE 5 REVIEW

You’re welcome to the review of Abattoir Episode 5. It was a loaded episode. For me, the hero of this episode is Baba Gbenro. His wife, played by Nike Owah, is given a voice here, having been more or less silent so far. Her role as a helpmeet is put on display again; she encourages her husband when he’s disturbed and takes the bull by the horns by leading prayers, talking to God about what is bothering them. The music, as always, is on point. There was a new tune used in the first scene of this episode; it was just appropriate.

Holding on to the manipulative information he was given by Gbade, Martins is disillusioned in Baba Gbenro and everything he represents, particularly God. I think if only Martins had given the matter a little more thought, he’d have discovered that there was something wrong about his handling of it. Was he being wise about it? The Scriptures say that God’s wisdom is first of all pure, then peaceable, but Martins’ approach is questionable. He shuts out the authority figures in his life – his pastor and Baba Gbenro – trying to burn his bridges behind him, not minding whose ox is gored. For me, his disrespectful attitude towards Baba Gbenro is inexcusable. Everyone deserves their respect; even Mr Adegbola listens to Dele respectfully. Speaking of which, all the scenes between Dele and his Dad were very good.

*Dele and Mr Adegbola in excellent role interpretation*

A highlight of this episode was the performance of Tolu Adegboyega as Flora. I learnt that she’s the one who played Funmilola Obembe in “The Train”; that’s awesome. She did very well here and was an outlet of humour, particularly because of her hilarious mantra: “We give maximum satisfaction and enjoyment.” She displays something remarkable in the scene where Gbade takes her to Martins’ workplace. She, a “daughter of Jezebel” knows her worth and Gbade eventually bows to her mantra and apologizes. We, sons and daughters of the Most High God, must know our value in Jesus and live as such.

We still have to talk about Martins because he does a lot of things and a lot happens to him too. He blatantly states he’s lost faith in God; he is mean and tells the students to go to hell. That’s what happens when we don’t deal with past pains or bitterness; hurting people hurt other people when they don’t allow themselves to be healed of the hurt.

*The devil gets Martins isolated from the authority figures in his life.*

The movie embarks on quite a tough task of showing us how far Martins has declined. It looked as though everything happened in a day but it maybe happens in a few days. So, it was not really clear or at least, the portrayal of the timeline wasn’t the smoothest.

Now, Dele is the only one who seemed to be getting through to Martins. I like the way this episode shows that they’ve had an existing relationship. Dele speaks to Martins as he would his father and respectfully asks a vital question: If you’re not standing, then, what are you built on? I think that’s a question we’ll all have to ask at one point in our lives or the other – the question of our foundations. Did we fully accept the message that Jesus saves when we believed? Have we actually received God’s love or it is only the fear of hell? Was our salvation genuine or we only did it because it was fashionable? Did we really surrender all? For Martins, he still held on to his hatred for his father rather than releasing it to Jesus to be healed and see just how much damage it’s causing. Imagine, the table was set, the harvest was ripe, but Martins didn’t show up because he believed a misrepresentation of the truth that Gbade was the one who orchestrated every single thing that had happened to him, including his salvation. He went around with a chip on his shoulder and that burden of resentment continued to be his to bear. His negative emotions directed the ship of his life and that’s why like I said last week, we mustn’t allow our emotions to rule us, especially the negative ones. He missed out on what God had been building through him in that school. In retrospect, I think these things test what level we are because God prepares us for the heights He’s taking for us. I believe there’s still hope for Martins but take a look at how he handles the little God committed to his hands! Imagine if he had been invited for an international programme or something and he decided not to show up for some reason; that would have been a scandal. So, we have to be faithful with the “little” God has given us before He gives us greater tasks.

I observed a bit of the spiritual battles that go on in this episode. Just when Dele seemed to be getting through to Martins; just as Dele had asked Martins a question he would struggle to give an answer to, Flora walks in and it’s clear that Martins sees her coming as a way to escape the light of Christ that Dele was beaming on him. The devil created a false door of escape, an escape from the truth that would save him; I wondered to myself how many times we take such fake opportunities of escape when it’s actually the devil trying to make us deviate from God’s plans for our lives.

Martins then becomes a motivational speaker of some kind. The children had been coming to listen to God through him, but once he disconnects himself from that God, he becomes an encourager with no real power to back up his words.

One thing I love about gospel movies is that we tend to see ourselves and others in these characters and the expectation is that we’ll learn from them and get better, growing in every way more and more like Christ.

The last scene was the climax of Episode 5. Just when it seems Flora has cornered Martins, Baba Gbenro shows up; nonetheless, with evidence staring him in the face, Martins still doesn’t know what God has just saved him from. How many times does God save us from dangers that we don’t even see? How many times does He create a way of escape that we sometimes don’t take?

And then Martins said, “I hate you” but Baba Gbenro said, “I love you”. Every time I think about it, I just end up asking: “But Martins, why?” In the season finale, we’ll see what happens next.

Till the next article, stay blessed!

“ABATTOIR” EPISODE 4 REVIEW

You’re welcome to the review of “Abattoir” Episode 4. So, after some hours of unprecedented delay, it was eventually released and after watching it, I realised that perhaps, this was the reason the entire series spent so long in post-production: “Abattoir” is a big project whose episodes have increased in duration each time. And then, the end of each one is always on-point; we’re left in awe of what we’ve just seen and looking forward to the next episode. Despite the fact that this is a movie that was probably shot before big YouTube hits as “Abejoye Season 3” last year and “The Train” this year, it has still comfortably captured audiences all over. I’m marveled and I must say that the long period of waiting for the Abattoir series was well worth it.

Episode 4 starts with Baba Gbenro whom we see being a father to Martins and his wife, whom despite not knowing what the prayer was about, played Martins’ mother and a real helpmate for Baba Gbenro, not one who “brings your life to an abrupt end”. I’d like to commend the makeup done by Nike Owah in this episode. Her own character’s makeup made her look really old. When I saw there would be a flashback for Baba Gbenro, I wondered how he would be made to look significantly younger, given the fact that his real life age was probably similar to his age in this film, but she pulled it off remarkably.

In a burning scene reminiscent of Awonbiwonninu’s in “Abejoye” Season 3, the attempt to call Martins back home backfires; Dr Alabelewe is burnt to death and Durosanya sustains only mild burns on his arms.

I think that God was really merciful to Martins because though he was yet to forgive his father, he still enjoyed the covering of the Almighty when evil came knocking. Unlike the way things were before Baba Gbenro led him in that prayer about God healing his past, renewing his present and restoring his future, things began to take a positive turn for him. He became a celebrity – his students loved him, he was making a difference, and even won the Staff of the Year award.

*A tactical planner*, Chief Durosanya is.

Chief Durosanya seems to surprise me with each new episode. Maybe I’m still viewing him through the goggles of “The Accountant” and “The Counsellor”. Here, he’s so ungrateful and despises Gbade anytime things don’t go as planned. This episode then brilliantly I must say, shows us that Durosanya’s criticism of Gbade’s plans were quite justifiable. Initially, I thought the Trent University Scholarship offered to Martins was a ploy by Chief Durosanya, but no; that was nothing compared to the destructive plan concocted by him. Gbade’s plans were all action, exhibiting brute strength while Chief Durosanya’s displayed manipulation at its best, showcasing tactics and subtlety. Also, we see that he’s good at making threats and categorically calls himself the devil.

I was surprised to see Dele’s story continue in this episode but I’m glad the movie goes further to show us that Dele still had to deal with the memories and trauma of years of molestation and he did it the right way, fighting in the battlefield of his mind with the word of God. The same can’t be said of his father, Mr Adegbola, who wanted to commit suicide; I had to ask myself who had been molested. If he had killed himself, who would take care of Dele? He was just being selfish and spared no thought for his son. The depression really got a hold of him but thank God for Dele who is fast becoming something of a favourite character, warming up his way in our hearts. The arrangements of those scenes though was a bit wrong because we saw two nights pass between Mr Adegbola’s suicide letter where he’d stated he would be taking his life that day and when Dele eventually met him drunk to stupor. I was all smiles as Martins was, when Dele was sharing his testimonies. It was heart-touching; it was beautiful. He’s gradually rebuilding his life and I loved that sincere performance of repentance from Victor Olukoju.

A highlight of this episode was seeing Joshua Mike-Bamiloye (Jay-Mikee) play the role of Frank, Chief Durosanya’s associate. I’m pretty sure that many viewers were reminded of his Jay&Josh skits as he provided some nice humour. Another humorous scene was when Martins hosted Gbade. I loved the hilarious interchange between two masters of witty dialogue in this series.

Back to Martins: while he seems to be doing well in life, anytime his father is mentioned, he becomes someone else. He basically acts like a jerk as he refuses Mama Gbenro’s meal. The lighting in that scene could have been done better to reflect daytime because a similar lighting was done to reflect probably evening a couple of scenes before. I think Martins is a very emotional guy, and we understand that because of where he’s been but as a new creature in Christ, we should let our knowledge of who we are in the spirit trump our natural feelings, which is what Dele does when he’s confronted with his past. The Bible says that we capture every thought and teach them to obey Christ. It’s easier said than done, but I learnt very importantly, that we shouldn’t let our pain rule us. Even if Baba Gbenro had bought him, I think that should have made him see how quickly circumstances can paint different pictures; so, he should have just calmed down and listened.

At the end of the episode, we find out the Chief’s plan is in stages and the next phase of Operation Martins Must Return involves a lady posing as a student in Martins’ workplace. Now that the devil has succeeded in isolating him from Baba Gbenro, we’ll see what becomes of Martins in Episode 5 coming out on Sunday, August 2, 2020 at 12pm on Damilola Mike-Bamiloye’s YouTube channel. There were a lot of fake Episode 4’s last week and there are already a few fake Episode 5’s. Please don’t be deceived by those; subscribe to the director’s channel. That’s where you’ll get the original episodes you want.

Till the next article, stay blessed!

Link to the movie below:

ABATTOIR EPISODE 3 REVIEW

Hey folks! You’re welcome to the review of Abattoir Episode 3. I think this is the funniest episode so far. It was a bit of a diversion into subplots which slowed down the pace of the main plot a bit for us to catch our breath. Nonetheless, there’s a lot to enjoy in this episode.

We get more of Chief Durosanya who sports his goggles for the first time in this series. His nature is clearer here – he’s manipulative, a chronic liar, and constantly engages in self-deceit whenever reference is made to his murder of his wife. Perhaps, he did consider it necessary to reconcile with Martins, but after consulting the Grandmaster played by Yemi Adepoju, he discovers that Martins MUST return home.
His friendship with Gbade gets more interesting for me because he literally blames Gbade for his present predicament, yet, Gbade doesn’t take offence and stays faithful to him. Strangely enough, the Chief knew he needed Gbade’s counsel despite the fact that they were devoid of “the beauty of reason and common sense”. Gbade provided some of the humour in this episode.

Another comical character was Dr Alabelewe played by Kunle Popoola who featured in Abejoye Season 3 (2019); he shone in his scenes and provided much laughter. I observed that in his debut scene, the young man who wanted to do money rituals had a foundational problem of patience. The same patience he lacked to get wealth through honest means is the same patience he lacked to follow instructions and complete the rituals.

I like an angle that this Abattoir series has brought out so far – giving a voice to the voiceless. Dele, a 16-year old boy, was being molested by his step-mother and he took a step I don’t think has been explored many times in real life, that is, reporting such cases to the police with adequate evidence. The film reiterates that sexual assault is an indictable offence. I hope this episode gets victims out of the dark and into the light where they’ll get help.
For those who might have felt a bit confused at the five years mentioned in most scenes and six years in another, I think the clarification is that Dele’s mom had died six years before. His father married his step-mother a year after and that was when the molestation began. So, Dele had been molested for five years.

The theme of bitterness is getting more pronounced; I hadn’t thought too much of it until this episode. Martins is someone some children look up to; he offers them counsel and is willing to take action if necessary. We see this in the help he offered to Dele. However, Martins is yet to deal with the root of anger, hatred and bitterness in his heart towards his father, and that has so corrupted him to the extent that he suggests that his spiritual father, Baba Gbenro, the one who loves him so much, is under the influence of his father. This is the same man that God gave that revelation at the beginning of Episode 3: a dream of Chief Durosanya in bondage. This means that Martins has a special place in Baba Gbenro’s heart, and he constantly intercedes for Martins.
The bitterness in Martins’ heart painted everything he saw; he couldn’t even see the truth of God’s word that basically says that whatever we do that isn’t motivated by love counts for nothing before God.

This shows us that many people still do not understand the totality of the love of God. Martins wondered how God could ever forgive his father if he became repentant, despite having murdered his wife. It reminded me of a film Awo Jesu 2 (2008) by Ore-Ofe Williams, where a regenerated king wondered how God could forgive a witch who had done many despicable things. However, that’s what makes the gospel so special: the Bible says in Ephesians 3 that this salvation plan was so special that God had kept it secret from the beginning and then, He revealed it through Jesus. He did it that way to put His wisdom on display through us to all unseen rulers in heavenly places. The average person would say, “It just doesn’t make sense”, but the Bible does say that what seems like God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. To me, it’s like God saw that man could not obey every single one of His laws, but because He loves us, He simplified the whole process so that through faith in Jesus, reconciliation was made possible by the death and resurrection of His Son, and this has made us holy in his eyes. So, when He sees us, it’s not our flaws He sees, it’s not our past sins, but the righteousness of Christ. This beats anyone’s imagination, especially those of us who have received that salvation; we don’t really understand how much God has done for us through this salvation. Being saved is THE most special thing in the world.

For a while, I imagined what it must have felt for Martins and I know how deeply hurtful and painful it must have been for him; it’s a pain I think words can’t adequately describe but we see the negative effect that past is having on his present. What God says is that if we don’t forgive, He won’t forgive us. Apart from the fact that it’s your choice to accept His gift of salvation, the only other thing that could really stand in your way is unforgiveness. If your sins are not forgiven, that means you’ll be condemned; you’ll die in your sins and lose eternity with God. I pray that God will help us all to forgive everyone who’s hurt us and to let go of all bitterness. It might not be easy but God helps us through it – I’ve experienced that help – and at the end of the day, we feel joy, peace, and we’re able to focus on the glorious future God has for us.

Episode 4 will be out on Sunday, July 26th, 2020 and my review of it will be out next Tuesday; so, watch out for it.

Till the next article, stay blessed!

Link to the movie https://youtu.be/A0hwNbfq59Y

“MARY’S OPTION” REVIEW

Hey folks! You’re welcome to another gospel movie review. Today, we’ll be taking a look at “Mary’s Option”, written and produced by Oluwaseun Adejumobi, from the stables of Furit Bearers’ Films and Glory Land Outreach.

The opening tune was quite in line with the tone of the film. The title font and opening credits were nice. Its original soundtrack was nice although the transition from track to track was a bit choppy. It was good directing here by John Oguntuase; the makeup and costuming too were good. I think one of the things that make this movie stand out is the dynamic camera movements. This was classic Kunle Adepoju; it was top-notch.

The actors all played their roles well. When David Adeyemi first appeared as Rufus, it looked like he was reciting his lines but he later settled into the role and I liked his mature performance as an adult last child and brother to two elder sisters. Lara Ayoola, whose performance in “Akobi Laaroye” won the Best Actress award at Gospel Film Festival 2019, was at it again here. Ayobami Olakunle, who is now Ayobami Abraham, also played Mary fantastically. Kayode Owojori, who plays Chief Durosanya in the ongoing series from the Mount Zion Film Productions – Abattoir, was Daddy Amos here and he put in a remarkable performance. Other cast also did very well.

If you ask me, I’d say that my favourite character was Laura, played by Lara Ayoola. I think she was the best developed character in “Mary’s Option”. Let’s examine the source material: the Bible talks about Martha on only a few occasions, that is, when she hosted Jesus as a guest in her house, when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, and when she served at a dinner in honour of Jesus. That’s not too much to work on, yet the writer fleshes out a Laura character that has a solid back-story. She’s a go-getter, self-motivated, a busy lady that has no time for frivolities. What I like the most about her character is the consistency she displays in her thoughts, words and actions.

However, the subtitles had a lot of errors. Then, I think that the attempt to input the alabaster box story by having Laura dream about Mary giving the perfume to Daddy Amos didn’t really work. The scene had some thoughtful dialogue but for me, if the movie had ended where the Douglas children were reflecting on the resurrection of Rufus, it would have been perfect and the movie would have ended on a high of profoundness. Also, the soundtrack played at the closing credits that sounded quite dull because it didn’t have instrumentals made it feel a bit like an anti-climax.

The message of “Mary’s Option” is powerful and I believe that we constantly need reminders like this that help us examine ourselves amidst the hustle and bustle of life. The core question I took from it was: “God, what would You have me do?” I like the fact that this wasn’t a movie that painted Mary as the one who always knew what was important and Laura as the one who placed other things above sitting at the feet of Christ. Come to think of it, the Bible doesn’t categorically state what Jesus and Mary were talking about but the topic chosen for it in “Mary’s Option” was perfect and in line with what the original story teaches. It’s a message for everyone and makes us see that Jesus is the reason for our living. Acts 17:28 says that in Him, we live, move and have our being. In five years, Mary had been into office work, fashion designing and events planning; three professions in five years. It was rather worse for Laura who had been in three courtships in a single year. Daddy Amos’ message is the same to us all: “…whatever we do on earth that has no eternal value or everlasting impact on humanity; it’s like fetching drums of water and pouring it right in the basket. Waste, it is.”

Initially, after watching Mary’s Option, I felt I would have loved if we’d seen what God eventually told Mary to do, but I saw that the first thing God did for her was to cause her to be. She’d done different things but didn’t find fulfillment in them. When she began to ask God what He would have her do, He gave her peace and rest. She said so herself: “…that’s the needful thing – to come to God for rest and I’ve chosen that option.” So, I realized that this movie is not merely saying that we should seek God for what to DO as a profession, but is placing first, for us to BE with Him. Mark 3:14 says that Jesus appointed His disciples to first of all, BE with Him, after which He would send them to preach, to DO something. So, I’d say that this is a time for us to sit at the feet of Jesus, to be with Him, to know Him more, growing in love and becoming more like Him. I think the past four months of lockdown would have revealed where our priorities lie in life. I pray that we will become all God wills for us and also do what He’s called us to do, in Jesus’ name.

Alright, we’ve come to the end of the review of “Mary’s Option”. My review for “Abattoir” Episode 3 will be out next Tuesday; so, watch out for it.

Till that article, stay blessed!

Link to the movie https://youtu.be/Spk6LaghiCY

ABATTOIR EPISODE 2 – SNAP REVIEW

Hey folks! You’re welcome to this series of Abattoir snap reviews. So, Episode 2 was released yesterday and seriously, at the end, the hunger I have for Episode 3 is more than what I had for Episode 2. Everything that we’ve seen from the teaser trailer, the behind-the-scenes clip and the theatrical trailer has happened in the first two episodes; yet, there are four episodes left. This means that, like I said last week, there’s still an awful lot to come from this Abattoir series. Alright, let’s talk about Episode 2.

The recap of Episode 1 was on-point. It was skillfully done and was so much better than the one done in Shackles 2: Fetters of Iron. This one captured the major events of Episode 1 while also building your anticipation for Episode 2.

This movie so far has been full of very good acting. Goodness Adegbola, I’m sure, is many people’s favourite character and he’s excelled in every scene he’s played in. So, he and Victor go to the club and after taking the substance, they get high! This was followed by two hilarious scenes where Martins and Victor wake up in 5-star hotels; if you’ve watched it, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Then, I’m not really clear about the events that followed because, did Martins go home from there or he went to school? If he went home, does that mean that his father didn’t notice that Martins was not in bed that morning? Then, I didn’t like the use of “found in the gutter” by his principal because the movie doesn’t portray that to us. We saw Martins get up by himself and leave.

Then, we see Jumoke, a wayward lady who ends up being used as Gbade’s sacrifice despite warnings from her roommate whom she’s labeled as Mummy G.O. and Aunty S.U. That scene where she’s killed had some really good sound composition. It had an ominous song “You are mine at last”, playing in the background of that setting, and the tense soundtrack of the movie itself playing on top of that. Both tunes synced perfectly; the layering of those tracks was highly impressive.

There’s something of a parallel between Victor and Jumoke. It’s a tough job if we’re trying to look for where Victor’s parents might have gone wrong in raising him. They seem to be in agreement on everything, yet, it is clear right from Episode 1 that he is just a religious person. He seems to honour God with his words but his heart is far away from Him. Jumoke’s parents have also tried to put her on the right path but she’s made the wrong decisions and she loses her life at the end. Both Victor and Jumoke show that as much as parents bring up their children in God’s way, at some point or the other, the child would still have to decide whether he/she would choose the path of life or death. I hope we’ll find out what becomes of Victor when this series ends; we’ll see whether his parents were really Christians or they were just hypocrites.

We see more of the friendship between Gbade and Durosanya in Episode 2; it’s a partnership in evil. Generally speaking, the dialogue all through this movie achieves the right balance of reason and humour, and that’s seen when these two discuss. I observed two profound things about them. Chief Durosanya is by some standards, a good father, but what Martins needed was a godly one. So, you can be good, but not godly? That’s worth a lot of meditation. Next, when the Chief seems overwhelmed by the challenges Martins poses, Gbade is quick to instill confidence in him by reminding him “You are Durosanya, first in rank, holder of the secret seer. Whatever you decree comes to pass.” I realized that this is even more so for Christians who have to be reminded of who they are in Christ in order to come to terms with the new life they have in Him. Something similar is what we find in Overcomer (2019), where we’re made to see that your identity will be tied to whatever you give your heart to. We can only really be effective in our faith by acknowledging every good thing that is in us in Christ (Philemon 1:6).

There were certain intense scenes in this episode, both involving Martins and his dad, seriously engaging dialogue there. When Martins was being taken away on the instruction of Chief Durosanya, I was almost moved to tears; but then, it took us to how Martins met Baba Gbenro, which brought us back to the movie’s present, where Baba Gbenro prays for him.

In the outline of Episode 3, contrary to what many of us thought that Chief Durosanya was calling Martins to make reconciliation, it seems that truly, that house is an abattoir, a correct slaughterhouse and the Chief is the butcher. Episode 3 comes up next Sunday, July 19, at 12pm, on Damilola Mike-Bamiloye’s YouTube channel.

Our review for Episode 3 will be out Monday or Tuesday next week by God’s grace; so, watch out for it.

Till the next post, stay blessed!

Link to the movie https://youtu.be/_LKnoclQups

ABATTOIR EPISODE 1 SNAP REVIEW

You’re welcome to another gospel movie review. So, Abattoir was shown on YouTube for the first time on July 5 and it was an awesome experience.

I liked the new prelude to the channel where Jay and Josh talked. It was funny and for me, it gave a feeling of something new, and new it was. The opening credits were blood-themed and accompanied by “The Rising of a New Dawn” soundtrack; that’s my title for it by the way. I observed that Ruth Adepoju has been credited with the editing of recent Mount Zion films and I must say she’s doing very well. Something that excites me a lot is that Jay-Mikee is the DOP for Abattoir, which is not a portfolio he often occupies, except maybe for his Jay&Josh skits.

I felt for the Bassey character from the beginning; that was a sincere performance, although I didn’t really understand the portrayal of his fluency in English language. Even though it already seems like the major mystery has been resolved, that is, the question of who killed Mrs Durosanya, I feel there are mysteries subsequent episodes will reveal and resolve. I also think that if the Chief is really the killer, it means that the core of this story is still something we’ll discover down the line. I mean, we have a good 15 years of the past to catch up with. The scripting, shooting and editing of Episode 1 may want us to believe Chief Durosanya is the culprit but I’m not going to go with that just yet; I’ll hold my horses and see what might yet happen.

Speaking of which, you know, I’d pondered just how long one episode would be; I contemplated if it’s 20 – 25 minutes, 6 episodes would be about 2.5 hours. I thought to myself that I’d rather just have the whole movie at once; however, I found out that Episode 1 is 46 minutes. That’s very impressive. So, there’s still a whole lot to come from this series and the episode format is just appropriate for it. Most of the scenes from the trailer are from this first episode. If we go back to the behind the scenes clip uploaded last year, we’d observe that we still have the scene between Omowunmi Olatunde and Darasimi Mike-Bamiloye, though it mightn’t be central to the plot.

I’ve always been an admirer of dialogue written by Damilola Mike-Bamiloye and that skill was also on show here. I liked the exchange between Inspector Gbade and the teenage Martins. And then later on, Chief Durosanya was like “Martins, have I given you your answer?” and Martins was like “No dad, you’ve given me more questions.” I loved that. His dialogues are usually very intelligent and engaging.

I love the camera shots used in Abattoir and I think the shot with Chief Durosanya in the centre of the frame (after Inspector Gbade had left the house) has the potential for being iconic. It’s a simple dolly shot but the way it’s used with a wide shot which places Chief Durosanya in the centre of the shot while still showing the large room with a high ceiling, accompanied with the background music gave a cool, maybe even surreal feeling.

A major discovery for me in this first episode is that it turns out that Goodness Adegbola and Damilola Mike-Bamiloye are the same character, Martins, one a teenager, the other in his late 20’s or early 30’s. You know, it took me a little while before I realized this. So, this movie oscillates between Martins’ present and past. At first, I feared that one was going to take the shine off the other but I found out that as much as I enjoyed watching the present of the story, the past is just as, if not more interesting. So, I think the pacing makes us retain interest in both periods.

It was very nice for me to see D-Baba play a major role in this movie. We know him for his excellent scriptwriting and camera handling but he’s also a fantastic actor. Remember The Ignition, Killing Death, Late Work, Gbemi…very good performances, and he’s doing it here again. It was also nice seeing Kayode Owojori’s take on the bad guy; it was convincing. Religious Victor played by Samuel Owojori was a funny character and it didn’t even look like he was trying to be; did you listen to his perception of what a life crisis is?

Now, that reminds me of that scene in the classroom and the things Layomi Adebayo’s character discussed with Martins. They made me see that some children are going through a lot at home that they might not be able to speak freely about. They keep all that within themselves and of course, that affects their academics. I think this just tells teachers to try being understanding of students and try to see how they can help them. Every child is an individual and they all need help in one way or another.

So, that’s that about the first episode of Abattoir. Episode 2 will be released on Sunday, July 12, 2020. Have a swell time watching it.
Till the next post, stay blessed!

Link to the movie

Link to the video version of this post

ABATTOIR – FANTALK II

You’re welcome to another Fantalk episode. Really, I didn’t think that I would be writing this article because we already have a sneak peek article (https://witnessgospelreviews.movie.blog/2019/03/26/latest-mount-zion-film-abbatoir-sneak-peek/) and a review of the making of Abattoir (https://witnessgospelreviews.movie.blog/2019/06/06/a-review-of-abattoir-the-making/) published last year. You can click the links to read both articles.

So, I’d seen the poster picture uploaded online last Wednesday but you know, when I saw the trailer, I knew I had to write a more recent piece on it.

What makes this trailer more important is that it offers us more than what we thought Abattoir was about before. First, it has been stated that it would be a weekly episodic movie which would start showing from Sunday, July 5, and would continue for five Sundays after it – six parts in all. So, it’s not a single movie which we’ll watch at one sitting but something we’ll enjoy over a period of time.

Also, when I saw the movie poster, I fell in love with it. Three main characters are on it – Moses Korede Are, Kayode Owojori and Damilola Mike-Bamiloye, but guess who’s most prominent? Kayode Owojori. From the teaser released last year, it had looked as though it would mainly be about Damilola’s character but this poster suggests that their stories are intertwined and Abattoir may be about Kayode Owojori’s The Chief’s character as much as Damilola’s character. And then, look at the design of his portrait; it was kind of a live picture embellished with digital portraiture. More impressive was the fact that the shot in the trailer looks the same way.

And then on the side, we see Daramola Kayode Bablola’s Big Daddy and he seems to be in a certain cult with The Chief. We see him a couple of times in the trailer which shows he’s not merely a bit-part character. We also see that Folashade Airebamen is in this movie, probably as the wife of The Chief.

Lastly, the theatrical trailer reveals a definite tonal shift from the teaser released online last year. That one was so light-hearted but this one, dark, even scary. This just shows that there’s a lot to the Abattoir series. I’m really excited because it’s been a year or so that we first saw the teaser trailer; thank God, it’s finally here.
So, ensure you subscribe to Damilola Mike-Bamiloye YouTube channel to watch all the episodes.

Till the next article, stay blessed.

“THE WONDERFUL NAME” REVIEW

You’re welcome to another gospel movie review. Today, we’ll be taking a look at “The Wonderful Name”. I’d sum up this short as making quite a lot out of the little available. I appreciate the effort that was put into this project and I’m quite pleased with what The Wonderful Name turned out to be.

This is a film where six or seven individuals, some of them veterans, and whom we know mainly to be actors, had to take on crew work and I’m pretty sure that they had to interchange at times. For example, Ayobami Adegboyega was labeled as the DOP, but someone else definitely had to handle the camera whenever he played the role of Plato. So, I find it remarkable that these few individuals all pulled their weights and put in shifts to make this production a success.

That didn’t come without its challenges though because on two or three occasions, the focus of the shot was off; that is, rather than being on the character, the focus was on the background instead. Also, The Wonderful Name was shot in just a few days with a possible limitation in sets. So, I observed that the room shot as a bedroom in Gitonga’s house was the same place referred to as a secluded room where Plato was being kept.

For me, what stands out most in The Wonderful Name is the film score. There wasn’t any song but the tunes recorded were quite pleasurable to the ears and worked well with the footage from Israel, Auckland and Kenya.

The story itself is about Professor Marcus Gitonga, a Kenyan medical doctor who does not believe in the existence of God and despite a Nigerian colleague Dr Bernard, preaching the gospel to him, he maintains his atheist stance. Gitonga’s son, Plato comes down with Cancer of the Bone and Muscular Dystrophy, as well as AIDS. Rather than let him be prayed for, Gitonga would rather Plato died. Eventually, without his knowledge, Gitonga’s wife gets some Christians to pray for Plato and he is healed. Gitonga is shocked and he wonders if God truly exists. He finds out more by studying the scriptures and his eyes are open to see that God is the Almighty and that there is no name greater than the name of Jesus.

The most interesting aspect of the acting was the takes on Bantu-speaking Kenyans vocalizing the English Language. This movie was written and directed by Shola Mike-Agboola and it reminded me of one of his old films Once Upon A Time, where there were certain characters from Accra, Ghana who did quite a good job speaking English like Ghanaians would. Interestingly, four out of the cast in that film feature in The Wonderful Name, so they must have had a good idea of what the director would require of them. To be candid, the accent sometimes sounded funny but I liked the fact that when Nigerians in the movie spoke English, you knew that it was Nigerian English and it was different when Kenyans as played by Kolade Segun Okeowo, Feyi Adepoju, Nike Aderemi-Fashikun and Shola Mike-Agboola spoke it. Also, I think it seemed a bit unusual seeing Ayobami Adegboyega play a son who was probably scripted to be someone very young but of course, they had to make use of what they had. So, it was okay.

There are a few things that stayed with me in The Wonderful Name. When Dr Bernard was introducing Prof Marcus Gitonga to the group of pilgrims, he reeled out an impressive resume of a genius, and he capped off the introduction by saying “but he did not know God”. I paused the film at that point and realized that no matter what we become in the flesh, if we don’t know God, if we don’t have eternal life, we’re not really living yet. The Bible says that the same power that raised Christ from the dead has also raised us from death in sin to life IN CHRIST. So, outside Christ, we’re dead. This means that anyone who is not alive in Christ has not started living at all. Those who accept God’s amazing offer of salvation are now new creatures, like new species, holy in God’s sight and have been adopted into God’s family.

In the movie, we see different perceptions of Christ – a historical personage, a deified human hero – and religion is seen as opium of the people. Some known atheists and free thinkers are mentioned, reflecting the reality of the world we now live in. Prof Marcus Gitonga also was anti-God but when his son was healed, it was a golden moment hearing the atheist say “O my God”. Coming from a self-acclaimed atheist, that must have spoken volumes of the revelation he’d come into.

I also observed that despite Gitonga’s superstar status, Dr Bernard wasn’t intimidated and he shared the good news that God saves humans. Similarly, Gitonga’s colleagues at work gave the glory to God for his rapid rise to the post of Chief Medical Director even though they knew of his averseness to religion or anything of the sort. That got me wondering how often we share the gospel with people in our workplaces; I’m challenged. Actually, what we sometimes fear is what happened to Bernard: after preaching the gospel to Gitonga, his status changed from friend to foe. We don’t want to offend people but really, this good news, actually, this too-good-to-be-true news, is not something that should be hidden but spread. I mean, it’s like when most of us were in primary or secondary school and we might have been asked whether we had paid our school fees, we’d say “I’ve paid”, wouldn’t we? Yet, it wasn’t really us who paid but our parents or guardians. That’s really what Jesus has done for us: He paid the price for our sins, so the very thing that kept us away from God has been punished. Jesus took that punishment and now, we’re reconciled to God and set free. We’re free not to do whatever we want, not free to sin, but free from sin and free to do all the good things God planned for us to do long ago.

Alright, we’ve come to the end of the review of The Wonderful Name. Have you watched it? What did you think about it? You can let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.

Till the next post, stay blessed.

Link to the movie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RZIb3lUjmo

“MARY’S OPTION” – FANTALK

You’re welcome to another episode of Fantalk. Today, we’re taking a look at an upcoming movie – Mary’s Option. It’s gonna be released on YouTube on Sunday, June 21, 2020 on Damilola Mike-Bamiloye’s channel. As usual, we’ll be examining production pictures and a trailer to make cast, crew and plot guesses. So, let’s do just that.

1. THE CAST

This movie stars actors like Lara Ayoola (Laide’s Note 2019; The Prime Suspect 2020), Ayobami Olakunle (Gone Back Home 2012; The Prime Suspect 2020), Kayode Owojori (The Final Contest 2017; The Counsellor 2018), Oluwaseun Adejumobi (The Boomerang 2017; The Train 2020), Orogunle Funmilayo (The Boomerang), Morolayo Idowu (Dire 2019), Oguma Matha (My Mother-in-Law 2020), Remilekun Mosiko (The Stalker), Ayodeji Olaleye (Block 10 2018) and a host of others.

2. THE CREW

Mary’s Option was written and produced by Seun Adejumobi while it was directed by John Oguntuase. The DOP is Kunle Adepoju, Continuity is Ayo Olaleye, the Soundman is Raphael Oluwaseun, Lightman is Mark Olalekan, Make up was done by Dare Norman, the Production Manager is Kenny Olowolafe, and the Executive Producer is Pastor Mrs Cole.

3. THE PLOT

According to the producer, Mary’s Option is an adaptation of the popular Martha, Mary, Lazarus story with Jesus told in a contemporary way. With that knowledge, we can deduce that Omolara Ayoola plays the Martha role as she is seen to be mad at her servants who seem not to have made adequate preparations for a visitor or a party. She’s apparently a boss and sets high standards for herself and those who work for her. Then, we see Ayobami Olakunle who we know almost certainly is Mary Douglas and she has a business outfit that designs and sells women’s clothes – Mary Douglas Couture. It seems like she’s making some plans in an apartment that is partly furnished. It seems like she’s going to quit her current job because she feels she’s in the wrong place and that there’s something better out there for her. I can guess that she’s related to Ayoola’s character; we can safely assume that they are sisters and Ayobami’s character has moved in with her sister, who warns her not to come to her for any money. Mosiko is likely Ayoola’s right hand man.

Kayode Owojori is a pastor who offers someone deep counsel about purpose in life. It seems like even Martha has challenges and they come to the fore when she’s alone or on her own. Rufus, the Lazarus character, here is seen losing his life and then later dies and is about to be buried, already in the coffin when Owojori’s character declares those words of life.

I think the trailer is really like two-in-one because Mary and Martha have been prominent so far and then it ends with the doctor losing Rufus, till he’s about to give up the ghost. But then there’s more, and it gives us more insight into this story.

My guess is that Mary, Martha and Rufus have a successful father in whose company they all work, at least initially, and he has declared his intentions to step back from the running of the company and well, someone is excited about it – John Oguntuase’s character – he probably has ulterior motives to that joy, but then, I think that this presents Martha with the opportunity to step up to the plate and in case anyone was thinking she couldn’t do it because of her gender, she is bent on proving herself and she regards it as something to be fought for. Due to a chain of events, she’s forced to ask herself the meaning of life; she wonders why it seems that nothing bothers Mary.

Rufus is dead here and the last scene of the trailer features something only God can do, for it seems he rises up from the dead.

Something I really like about this trailer is that there is a contrast between the last shots of the two halves of the trailer. While a natural man can only say “Stay with me”, a child of God can declare a thing and it is established.

To watch the trailer, click below:

“THE WONDERFUL NAME” – FANTALK

You’re welcome to another Fantalk episode. Today, we’ll be taking a look at an upcoming movie – The Wonderful Name. It’s an ANCEDRAM production and let me say here that ANCEDRAM stands for All Nigeria Conference of Evangelical Drama Ministers; so, they are the largest conglomeration of drama ministers and gospel film makers not only in Nigeria, but in Africa and beyond. They have produced this movie in conjunction with the travel agency Absolute Success Tours and Travels, popularly known as UfitFly. A very interesting fact about The Wonderful Name is that it was shot in Israel, so, that’s something to really look forward to.

The movie is set for release on Friday, June 19, so, we’re gonna examine some production pictures and a one-minute trailer. As usual, we’re going to make cast, crew and plot guesses. So, let’s do just that.

PRODUCTION TIMELINE

In March 2019, UfitFly organised a pilgrimage to Israel for drama ministers and gospel filmmakers and anyone who wanted to join them. The pilgrimage was billed to hold from September 16 to 24, 2019 with Yemi Adepoju, Kolade Segun-Okeowo, Shola Mike-Agboola, Feyi Adepoju confirmed for the trip, all of them evangelists.

In early September, it was reported that these drama ministers were planning to shoot a movie on that pilgrimage to Israel and from the outset, it had been noted that the title would be The Wonderful Name and that it would be written and directed by Shola Mike-Agboola, the president of EVOM World Network.

The drama ministers arrived Israel on 12th September and we see that the group included other drama ministers such as Ayobami Adegboyega, Kehinde Adebayo and Adenike Aderemi-Fashikun. By the 20^th of September 2019, the ministers had featured in a live stage drama and had begun shooting.

THE CAST

The only way to make accurate guesses here is to consider those in the trailer, and so, it is certain that the movie features Kolade Segun-Okeowo, Feyi Adepoju, Shola Mike-Agboola, Adenike Aderemi-Fashikun, Yemi Adepoju, and Kehinde Adebayo, and definitely a host of others.

THE CREW

From the production pictures and trailer, the writer and director is Shola Mike-Agboola, the director of photography is Ayobami Adegboyega, make up was handled by Feyi Adepoju, the project coordinator is Yemi Adepoju and the movie was produced by ANCEDRAM and UfitFly.

THE PLOT

There isn’t too much information to work on here but from the trailer, it seems Kolade Segun-Okeowo’s character is the protagonist and his wife is played by Feyi Adepoju. His voice is heard all through the trailer and there seems to be some conflict in his life, a choice he has to make and it seems his disposition is towards letting a certain boy die than embark on a certain journey. He is seen with a cigarette in his hand in a scene that supposes that he’s a renegade Christian and also has a certain last straw that has broken his camel’s back. Yemi Adepoju seems to be a long-lost friend of his. The movie also casts Shola Mike-Agboola and Adenike Aderemi-Fashikun possibly as a couple, maybe a pastor and his wife.

With Kolade Segun-Okeowo shown to be a strong-willed character, it seems the core of this story would revolve around him. From this, it seems that The Wonderful Name will not be a very long film, but then, who knows, maybe what we’ve seen in the trailer is just a very small fraction of what the movie is about.

Next, we’ll be Fantalking Mary’s Option from Seun Adejumobi.