Anikulapo: Good movie, bad plots, poor ending
This brief review of the new movie by Kunle Afolayan takes a look at certain scenes and how they should have been portrayed by the directors of the movie.
This review is in no way an attempt to rubbish the hard work of the makers but a honest criticism.
1. The first scene that startled me was the one involving the lead character Saro and Queen Arolake in bed together. The nude display by both characters was an unnecessary attempt to imitate foreign movies. It also felt awkward due to the fact that Saro had earlier been in bed with an older woman, Awarun, with no such display.
2. I doubt there was any need for the character played by comedian Mr Macaroni other than to throw viewers off and call them back from the direction they were sent to by the movie’s directors. To briefly explain, Macaroni walked up to Saro and warned him about Awarun, saying the older woman destroys the destiny of young guys after sleeping with them. If the directors had made Macaroni appear jealous of Saro’s affair with Awarun, the warning by Macaroni would have been seen as issued out of jealousy. However, nothing close to what Macaroni warned about was perceived with Awarun. As a matter of fact, Awarun cared for the life of Saro by warning against the in and out between him and the Queen. So, what was the essence of Macaroni’s warning other than leaving viewers anticipating a doom from Awarun which never came? It was a weak plot at creating intrigue.
3. The first resurrection done by Saro had some good acting and bad acting. It was quite awkward that Queen Arolake immediately believed Saro could use the gourd dropped by a black bird to bring back a dead person to life. The directors ought to have allowed her to reveal her suspicion of the gourd when Saro suspected that she was hiding something(the gourd). If it had happened that way, then it would have made sense when she gave Saro the confidence to try to exercise what she suspected by raising the dead with it. Her coming up with the resurrection idea when they saw people wailing about a dead child seemed too sudden. Also, the wailing crowd overacted. Was the dead child the breadwinner of the entire crowd that the directors had to make them wail uncontrollably? Why couldn’t the directors just allow a few people do the crying while the majority look worried or curious?
4. Saro getting married to more wives is a thing that was common with people of old. It is understood that Queen Arolake had issues conceiving. However, making Saro’s other fruitful wives mock Queen Arolake while their husband looked away is something that we’ve seen too many times in Nigerian movies. It’s just played out. If the directors’ didn’t care about using played out styles, then the movie should have ended the way I explained below.
5. How did the movie end? It ended when no one expected, thereby leaving viewers hanging. To briefly explain, the king of the town Saro found sojourn lost his son, the heir to the throne. For him to have called for Saro’s intervention showed desperation which means he would be willing to do anything to have his son back to life. Sadly, the directors of the movie made him put up a resistance to Saro’s request for his daughter’s hand in marriage as payment for the work he was about to do(resurrect the dead prince). Since my childhood days, African stories have been about kings promising half of their kingdom and their daughter’s hand in marriage to any brave man that could solve their kingdom’s problems. It was quite awkward seeing a king rejecting Saro’s proposal.
6. How should the movie have ended? Instead of the movie ending at the scene where Queen Arolake switched the content of the powerful gourd and left Saro in failure while trying to resurrect the dead prince, the movie should have ended differently. My suggestion is this – The king should have accepted Saro’s proposal and given him his daughter’s hand in marriage. That would have set up the next plot which will see Saro grow extremely rich and influential with a large following due to his powers. With Saro married to a princess, access to the palace would be easy for him, leaving him eyeing the throne and eventual killing the king to install himself on the throne. His next move would see him head to the Oyo empire to take revenge for what they did to him. Definitely, many people would love to be his soldiers because of his possession of the power to raise the dead. However, after several days of trying to breach Oyo kingdom’s defence, Saro would meet his doom as he discovered that his powerful gourd had been switched by his wife, the princess and daughter of the king he killed and usurped. She did that to avenge her father. Her action would leave Saro’s soldiers fleeing after it became obvious that they won’t be able to resurrect if killed in battle. The ones who stayed eventually handed him over to the Oyo empire in order to receive pardon.
13 Comments
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Sam
October 5, 2022 at 3:14 pm
Blah blah blah…Apegg Adeneyo…Which movie(s) have you written or directed? Sit don…mumu.
Funky Bee
October 5, 2022 at 4:58 pm
Pls write and produce your own movie.
Anonymous
October 6, 2022 at 10:40 am
It is good movie, pictures are great, nice settings, and awesome costumes. This is constructive critique of the movie. It’s a good but the way it ended got me thinking too
Anonymous
October 7, 2022 at 1:17 am
Wahala no go finish oo..see person write up or Advice oo.you have this talent and you ain’t producing movie
Femi
October 6, 2022 at 1:30 pm
It’s better u put up ur own movie and stop editing another person’s story pls
Abidex22
October 7, 2022 at 1:18 am
Adviser, please write or direct a movie let’s see
Anonymous
October 11, 2022 at 11:01 am
U r not a reviewer but bad belle. That movie was the creativity of the director n depicted the way he wanted it. It’s either u like it or drop it . All ur point are far fetch. Mayb u did this crappy review for clot chasing or u r not a fan of kunle. Either way he his goin places n u continue this crappy thing u can constructive criticism
Olaoluwa
October 9, 2022 at 11:24 pm
For me, the directors really followed the real story to it core. If you are not aware, the film is an account of a story in one of odù-ifá. A deviation from the original story will water-wash the intented moral lessons of the story account in the odu-ifa. But I am in very support of your stand against the nudity. Kunle’s films are not known to that. I guess it Netflix influence.
Maureen Godwin
October 10, 2022 at 8:56 am
I don’t see anything wrong with the plot or the ending of the movie. How you think the movie should have ended is your opinion. You’re entitled to it. If you want to be a critic sand do a book review have good points. You can’t go about clamouring about the nude scene when you’ve seen all the episodes of 365 days. This is nollywood breaking out of the norms and basics of what people think a movie should be. The loss of the child whether bread winner or not would always bring about huge mourning. In those days it was more dramatic, there were professional mourners to do the job.
The plot kept unravelling. We never knew what to expect at each turn. Did we ever think Saro would cheat on Arolake? I for one was shocked. Typical story of biting the finger that fed you.
And why do you think the King should have given his daughter to Saro? He was a nobody, no titles, no money and a womaniser. It was common news in the village.
So please don’t go about posting stuff you have no business meddling with. Your level of ignorance on drama, directing and playwriting is glaring.
Anonymous
October 11, 2022 at 6:35 am
I love your honest review and critique. Keep it up!
Abdulrasheed Toyeeb
October 14, 2022 at 9:27 pm
Abeg shut up. Produce your own, to know how easy it is to plot a film.
Abibat
October 21, 2022 at 9:42 am
I honestly agree with this. It’s is her point of view which doesn’t need to calls for alarm . Nigerians just don’t want the truth what’s bad in saying her mind. If this information was considered at first I think for me would have been the best Nollywood for me this year.
Israel Ajake
October 21, 2022 at 2:16 pm
I don’t quite agree with how you said the movie – Anikulapo should have ended. Your own ending of the movie begs more questions than the original ending. The questions are:
1. Why will a stranger become a king after committing a crime – murder? It is just an assumption that Saro will kill the king and then the people and chiefs will reward him by making him a king. Huh? The King in question wasn’t a tyrant, the way the movie portrayed him was nice, why will people rejoice over his death and reward his murderer as such?
2. You said the princess will be the one to pour the content of the Ado, not Arolake. How will that happen? when Saro warns that anyone except him who touches the “ado” will die. Of course, it makes sense that only Arolake will have the temerity to pour the content, because she knows the dying part is a bluff, and she was the only one who knows.
And as for the nude part, you really didn’t state any other reason other than the fact that Sola sobowale’s activity with Saro didn’t expose any nude, that it is then inconsistent to expose nudes later in the play. This is just ignorant of the fact that nude scenes in movies are dependent on cast’s consent not because it is inherently wrong for it to happen. If Sola Sobowale consented to a nude scene, why not? it will take a very rare fetish for people to want to see her old saggy breast anyway LOL.
The other things you said are pretty much a stalemate, for instance, many people in a compound could mourn for a child, maybe because the owner of the child is beneficial to all, or the child could be everyone’s favorite, it could also be true that no one mourns or few mourns. These instances along with the one displayed in the movie are valid portrayals of reality I didn’t see your metric of criticism here.
Lastly, about Arolake giving out the Ado information at the time she did, also makes sense. She witness how Akani used it to resurrect Saro, so she knew what the Ado can do. About her giving the information the time she did, if you noticed the relationship between them, she loved Saro, yeah, but she had some doubts, for instance, when Saro said he wants to go and source for food, Arolake started begging him to forsake her, so it makes sense that the doubts could have played out when he asked her what she was hiding.
I like your constructive feedback, it is in that excitement of literary appreciation that I offer this rebuttal.
_Ajake