MWP - Amnesty: A movie review by Nollywood Reinvented

Some of you may know that I love Nollywood movies, like YankeeNaijababe who makes some very good recommendations on her blog. I also hope that one day, my stories and books will become feature-length movies for people to watch. So I keep an eye on the industry, and check the review sites out there. Today, I present to you a movie review website and one of their reviews.

Nollywood Reinvented is a website formed in the beginning of the year 2011 by an avid african movie viewer with a desire to promote the African Movie Industry. Many argue that all the movies out of Africa are not up to par and in essence, not worth their while. Well, they started this website to challenge that view by promoting the good, exposing the bad and critiquing the ugly. They wanted to start a review site in which the ratings don't just come from a random number concocted by the reviewer but by a systematic analysis of the elements that make a good movie. You can follow the blog on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, LinkedIn and on their SITE.

Enjoy the review by Nollywood Reinvented below....

AMNESTY

Art is a medium of self expression. That is, it's a method of expressing one's opinions, or an arena through which people relay messages to the world (or whoever cares to listen). Like music, photography and painting, I do consider movie-making an art (even though a majority of the movie makers in Nollywood are yet to realize it). Therefore, I believe that if one is to make a movie, then that person must be attempting to convey a message. Either that or the person is using it as a means of self-expression.

A couple posts ago, I was talking about how most African movies are yet to actually touch on the issues that are dear to the heart in Africa. I said that there were many things within not even our continent as a whole but our own individual nations. Africa has more problems besides the corruption of her people and the overwhelming number of individuals suffering from greed, jealousy, envy and despondence; yet a majority of our movies revolve around these themes. Over and over again, we produce the same sort of movies, hence, it is no surprise that everytime I see a movie, like Amnesty, which is centered around a theme that is not commonplace in the industry, I run to it. One reason for which I classify the movie, Amnesty, as a good movie is its uniqueness. The focus of the movie is the Niger-Delta and the "Oil Wars" (the same subject that Jeta Amata's "Black Gold" is focused on). Now before I bore you with what I think, what I like and what I believe.... let's proceed to the review.

NOTE: The sequel to this movie is called "End of Amnesty". The movie is divided into four parts namely Amnesty 1 & 2, then End of Amnesty 1 & 2 respectively.

Cast: Sam Dede, Van Vicker, Mercy Johnson, Gentle Jack, Hanks Anuku, Olu Jacobs, Ebele Okaro, Jibola Dabor, Olisadebe Chike, Nuella Njubigbo, Junior Pope, Eve Esin

An Executive Image Movie

Director: Ikenna Emma Aniekwe
Screenplay: Ikenna Emma Aniekwe and Ugezu J. Ugezu
Music: Stanley Okorie
Producer: Ossy Okeke Jr.
Associate Producer: Solomon Apete
Location: Chinedu Arinze

An Ossy Affason Production

Genre: Military/Government based Drama

Rating: ...7.75 out of 10

-Story: [4 out of 5] A good story is one that is not only truly intriguing and capable of keeping you at the edge of your seat but also one that you actually care to see, and I have to say this movie was a good story. Not much on keeping you at the edge of the seat but it had a very not-very publicized subject matter (haha...that's not proper grammar, but shoot me)

-Originality: [5 out of 5] Very original being that besides this movie and "Black Gold" there aren't many movies about the Niger-Delta area.

-Predictability: [4 out of 5] Somethings here and there were a bit predictable. The usuals were a given and by the usuals I mean, "who is going to fall in love with who" "who is going to die" "who is going to fail" yadi yadi ya. But being that this is a new kind of story, it was not very predictable. Something new now and then is always good.

-Directing/Editing: [5 out of 5] No major flops oh! What can I say, Mr. Aniekwe got lucky...lol jk.

-Acting quality: [3 out of 5] A couple problems when it comes to acting. First of all, Olisadebe Chike was in this movie again, and even though his acting got a tenth better the fact still remains that I do not believe he can act. Secondly, Van Vicker played the role of a militant in this movie, not just any militant but a Niger-Delta militant and he was expected to speak pidgin language. Come see our ajebutter at work! His pidgin language was not convincing at all, chacha. His role should have been recasted I guess they put him there for the affiliation with Mercy Johnson in the third part of the movie. Thirdly, Hanks Anuku. Enough said.... wait No! That is not enough. This guy's voice gets me all the time I mean, is that even natural? Well his voice was almost annoying in this movie but then again I presume that it was part of his role considering that he was supposed to be a Warri tout! So all is forgiven? I think so.

-Setting and Costume: [2 out of 5] In the beginning of the movie, the setting of the movie really irritated me. I couldn't tell if it was because of the mediocre video quality or because of Ebele Okaro's office. Her office just looked too small, too choky and too clustered for one that belongs to a whole Minister of Information. Another thing that I can not accept is wearing shades indoors something that I usually associate with Junior Pope but in this movie, Van Vicker was the culprit. Is wearing shades indoors supposed to be a symbol of bad-boyism because it seems to have become a recurring motif in Nollywood movies. Finally, all I have to say is that the president's supposed office was not very uhm.... PRESIDENTIAL. Ghanaians seem to be a lot better at making a suitable setting than Nigerians, we should probably go and take lessons.

-Video and Audio Quality [3 out of 5] The video quality is not very great. It was not a very executive image is all I have to say.... all pun intended (if you do not get it then never mind)

-Soundtrack [5 out of 5] I really liked the soundtrack plus it was also catchy, Stanley Okorie did his thing.


Notes:
There is this saying that goes that every person is innocent until proven guilty. Do you agree? Well in this movie I noticed something that I have noticed in more than one movie before which is the brutalization of a prisoner even before he or she has been proven guilty. I wonder does this really happen in Nigerian police? or is this just another creation of the movie industry? Please leave your replies. Thank you