Ishaya Bello, a young, driven, and talented artist from a poor family finds his desire to achieve his dream to be an established artist leads him into the world of the affluent. This poses so many challenges which he is determined to scale through. Unfortunately, his way out of one seems to open the door for another repeatedly. The plot is built around Ishaya making his way through the troubles that he faces and unintentionally exposes his loved ones to.
I’ll admit that when I saw the flier and trailer of this film, I thought and would be a Blood and Water ‘wanna-be’ but to my surprise, its storyline is quite independent of that of Blood and Water. Although, it is a typical elite high school story with the same ol’ “rich kids struggle” narrative, featuring drugs, social hierarchy, unnecessary beef, recklessness, and other similar themes, the execution of the film was mostly properly done.
Now let us talk about the acting.
Let me just say that everyone given a role in this film deserves a medal. No cap. It’s my first time seeing Mike Afolarin on the screen yet he totally killed the role of Ishaya Bello. His acting was definitely impressive, as with every other person. It was intelligent that younger actors and somewhat new faces took the spotlight in this film. Because although it revolves around Ishaya, Carmen, Rahila, Frank, Adufe, Atlas, Reggie, Zina, Nnenna, and Denrele, and should not be far-fetched that young people are at the forefront, Nollywood can easily bring in older actors and make them take the roles of the High school students. I like that this series bravely did the opposite and was successful. My favourite characters as you would guess are definitely Reggie and Zina. Why? I love love. They have so much respect for one another and are so loyal to their friends. Who wouldn’t love such a duo in the midst of betrayal and unnecessary troubles? My favourite scene was definitely how Reggie asked Zina to be his date to the Founder’s ball. And who else noticed how they held themselves at the end when they were speaking to the military guys after the intrusion of touts in their school? It is just lovely to see.
Ok, to more serious issues.
The cinematography was good! The costuming was also very spot-on.
However, amidst very impressive things, some inconsistencies existed.
For example, the school setting was somewhat confusing. Really, what type of institution is it? The character Ishaya should realistically be out of secondary school so having him enter a school that was not a university was confusing. Some light should have been shed on it, especially considering the standard of Nigerian educational levels. It seemed like an intentional move to sell the storyteller’s narrative without being held accountable by the audience for inconsistencies.
That is not all.
When Rambo’s guys raided Wilmer’s College, how did Carmen move from being carried on the hands by Ishaya to limping and holding her injured hands? I thought it was her leg that got hurt, especially with the wound from her previous accident. That part did not add up.
I still do not understand how the character Adufe became so vilified. In the beginning, she was a sweet young girl and soon she becomes the girlfriend of a dangerous cartel leader. I was also very confused as to why she was trying so hard to retrieve drugs that Joe stole from her, especially when she had a witness to that claim. Why couldn’t she just explain to Rambo and then have him deploy people to deal with Joe? Why did she have to compensate so much that she had to kidnap to cover up? That part just didn’t add up.
And most importantly, how was Ishaya free of everything? How did he report being an accomplice to crimes and not be under police custody or maybe juvenile justice? How come everyone moved on from his crimes?
Also, why did the police come to Rush with Ishaya when they tried to arrest Rambo? Isn’t that dangerous? Is that how it’s done?
And there is Frank. I understand that he felt the need to help Ishaya’s family because he loved his sister. But how did his mother go on with the plan? Or did she not know the whole story?
I have another question: what is the relevance of Dauda’s picture being at Frank’s house and why did his parents have to see it?
These are some questions out of the few inconsistencies I could identify. But overall, this was a good watch.
Thank you for staying till the end. See you next time!
