“You speak Igbo, you drink palm wine, and you like highlife. Just take my heart… Open heart surgery.”
This is the character of Andy Okeke’s son Nnamdi Okeke, played by Swanky JKA (not a Kenyan with that name – he is Igbo and an actor who can be a local champion like Zubby Michael and a king of the posh streets like Mike Ezeruonye and he displayed all these shades in his sterling performance. Update: Swanky JKA was nominated for Best Actor in Drama at the 7th AMVCA) and controversially lost it. Nnamdi was talking to Kelly, played by Munachi Abii who was the most beautiful girl in Nigeria in 2007 and is still hot enough to win it in 2019 and who gave a strong performance.
This might not be the best way to start this review but there cannot be a way better than the way “Living in Bondage: Breaking Free” opened. It opened with the character of Enyinna Wigwe driving into the woods with his seven-year-old daughter seated in the back and singing a lullaby to her doll in soft, innocent Igbo that set the mood for the film. Enyinna asks his daughter to get down the car and in the cold Okonkwo-Ikemefuna fashion cuts the girl down.
“Living in Bondage: Breaking Free” is a film about affluence, influence, and money rituals with Andy Okeke, the hero of the 1992 version returning as a pastor while his son whom he didn’t know existed until now, Nnamdi Okeke serves as the central character and is caught in the web of the money, power, and glory that comes from selling his soul to the devil and the small humanity and love that remain in him.
The little issue I have with this movie is that Nnamdi Okeke was left off the hook too easily, and the fact that a story becoming a national trend would make the devil back out was a head-scratching moment. And the story didn’t demonstrate why the whistleblowing blogger was invisible to the powers of Richard Williams despite the harm he was doing to their cause. These asides, “Living in Bondage: Breaking Free” is a great movie.
Living in Bondage vs other Nollywood recent movies
Where does “Living In Bondage: Breaking Free” stand among the recent popular movies from Nigeria? “The Wedding Party” was a cinema sensation but it can be tagged “too much juice, too much sauce” but you cannot dismiss it because it was entertaining enough to forgive RMD‘s terrible speeches, Emma Oh My God’s stupidity, and the lack of a plot. The producers just gathered all the stars they could think of and asked them to go have fun, and they did at the expense of reality and normality. I will rate it 5.5/10.
“The Wedding Party 2” is a disaster. Thankfully, I didn’t watch it in a cinema and when I got it on my system and began to watch it, I just couldn’t finish it. It was like a strong eba served on an enticing plate but un-swallowable. For Genevieve’s “LionHeart”, it was enjoyable but there are so many plot holes, too much reliance on circumstances, and weak unnecessary antics and portrayals. I remember tweeting that I have a special love for “LionHeart” majorly because I live in Enugu, speak Igbo and missed Osuofia. I will say 6.5/10 for Obiagu.
Here’s a Review of Aladdin
“Chief Daddy” is a comedic film that wasn’t funny, it gathered an ensemble of stars that were not themselves, that were told to overdo things. 3/10. “Merry Men” with Nouah, Falz, Jim Iyke, and AY Makun, is really good and if you can forgive its unnecessary gun stunt towards the end and those cringe-worthy Ireti Doyle sex scenes, you will understand why I think it is a 6.5/10 movie. Kemi Adetiba’s “King of Boys” could have been shorter with a couple of unnecessary scenes and drawn out scenes left out or shortened. And the end robbed the viewer of what could have been a powerful catharsis if it had ended just after Gobir’s wife died and he released the character of Sola Sobowale. Still, it is an enjoyable movie to see. I rate it 7/10.
“Living in Bondage” is head and shoulder above these films. The sound is on point, the cinematography is lite, and the performances crown it all. Swanky JKA as Nnamdi is one of the best performances you will ever see from a non-veteran. As a struggling entrepreneur, he was relatable and believable; as a fish out of water when he joined the ranks of the rich, he was solid; as a brother to Tobe played by Shawn Faqua, as a wooer, and an imperfect lover, he was sublime. His “Igbotic” (what the hell does this even mean?) aspect, his posh aspect, his struggles with the devil, all, were excellent.
Nancy Isime has a small role in the film but she is part of one of the best scenes when she wonders aloud why Nnamdi doesn’t pursue her, her friend says that maybe Nnamdi is gay or looking for a wife. When I first saw Nancy in the movie, I was mildly surprised that she could stand and walk after singlehandedly carrying the 2019 Headies Award on her shoulders. I thought she would play Nnamdi’s lover. Munachi Abii played Nnamdi’s lover and killed it.
Kenneth Okonkwo as Andy Okeke was solid. You will be hard-pressed to come across one single actor who wasn’t on top of their game. But one performance killed it all. Ramsey Nouah.
Living in Bondage: Ramsey Nouah is a grandmaster in the game
I wouldn’t have thought Ramsey Nouah a director, but he wasn’t just one, he turned out to be a great one. He took his time and made this film. It helped a lot that the writing from Nicole Asinugo and C.J. Obasi was good but Nouah owns the glory of the performance of this film. He brought enough Igbo sauce, he showed us cultists in action amongst them oyingbo (everyone does juju), he spiced things up with humor without overdoing it, he gave the story an emotional backbone, and he made Rochas Okorocha’s statuses look cool before the Owerri scenes. The soundtracks from Flavour, Larry Gaaga, and co. added to the richness of the picture and that Styl Plus classic during a lovemaking scene between Munachi and Swanky stands out.
And it wasn’t just the directing, Ramsey Nouah’s acting is a joy to behold. He is a master of the art of acting. He played the main villain, the chief of the sixth with wide-ranging powers, the devil himself. And he played it with a brilliance that charmed viewers who should be hating him and he entertained us all. His attempts at Igbo were brave and endearing.
AMVCA just brought out their guidelines for the 2020 awards. Ramsey Nouah should bag at least two awards. For directing and acting. And there is no award for telling which film will be named Best Picture of the year. Update: True to my prediction, Ramsey Nouah is nominated for Best Supporting Actor and for directing this movie at the 7th AMVCA.
A middle finger at political correctness
You know how DSTV and M-net originals are trying to force political correctness down our throat and would never mention Jesus, God, and anything that has an overt religious sound to it? Ramsey Nouah was having none of these. This movie is punctuated with obara Jesus, Jesus, and bible passages. The peak of this was the clash between Andy Okeke and Richard Williams in which Richard wants to diabolically lift Okeke into the air and dash on the floor. But Okeke stands his ground declaring, “Blood of Jesus, blood of Jesus, blood of Chisos”.
Review of Angel Has Fallen
After William gives up, the audience in the cinema applauded. They must have missed the display of the power of God over principalities and powers in the cinema. Religion is a strong part of our cultural existence here and going extra miles to keep the slightest reference of it out of your movie will not make your movie a better movie. “Living in Bondage” shows that calling the name of Jesus is not a characteristic of cheap, Asaba movies.
At the end of the movie, I half-expected “To God be the glory” to appear just before the credits in order to infuriate the one percent whose wokeness doesn’t permit this sort of thing but it turns out Ramsey Nouah has run short of middle fingers.
Where does “Living in Bondage” sequel rank among Nigerian movies GOAT?
It is hard to say because there are dozens of powerful movies over the years. “October 1”, “The Figurine” and “The CEO” are some of the recent greats but I will still rate “Living in Bondage” sequel ahead of them. Other earlier greats such as “Igodo”, “Isakabba”, “My Love”, “Sacred Tradition”, “Aki na Ukwa” etc. could as well rival “Living in Bondage”, if not in cinematography, in the impact they have on their viewers, on Nollywood, and on popular culture.
I have to re-watch these movies with the eye of an adult, with the eye of a critic to be able to make a truer judgment, and I have to re-see “Living in Bondage” sequel again and look back at it after two to three years in order to make a judgment removed from the sentiment of watching something this good and judging it as e dey hot. My views might change but I will rate “Living” 8.5/10 and I daresay that “Living in Bondage: Breaking Free” is one of the two or three of the most outstanding movies to come out of Nigeria.
See the Joker movie review
Going forward, many filmmakers in Nigeria will find themselves weighing their performance with the yardstick of “Living in Bondage” sequel. And also many movie-goers. It is rather too early to begin talking about the legacies of this remaking of “Living in Bondage” but some things just stand out. Nigerians will watch Nigeria if it is an art of quality; films with voodoo can sell; films with Christain themes can sell; big stars can play small roles and small actors can cast giant shadows; a great plot will always beat a great cast without a plot.
Tweets to @Oke4chukwu
