The movie Caged premiered at the Cineworld Cinema Canary
Wharf on Saturday 23rd January 2016.
Storyline: Libby an opinionated, feisty young girl from a single parent
meets the perfect American rich Doctor online and starts a budding romance. Libby is desperate
to hang on to her new love despite warnings from her friend and her mother. The
gifys she kept on receiving from her online lover did not help matters. But
what is love when
you can't be together? So Libby travels all the way to meet Mr right in the land of opportunity. However, will all be right with Mr
right?
CAGED
MOVIE is a contemporary story that attempts to address issues around online
dating and the possible risk. It also encourages parents on the power of prayer
and how to handle wayward children. The
movie was written and directed by Bola Akande and filmed
on locations in Houston Texas,
USA and Manchester, UK.
I
must start by commending Bola for her boldness to write such a script and bring
it to the cinemas. This was a Christian movie that
not only aims to propagate the gospel of Jesus Christ, but also brings to life
real life issues and adds comedy to the package so it is a whole package. As a
Christian myself, I am excited to see Christians writing and Directing scripts
and bringing them to the cinemas to be premiered.
This
particular storyline is very relevant. In the diaspora, unlike in places like
Africa where most of the
audience grew up, parents do not have much say about what their children do
when they get to a particular age. In spite of the
Christian doctrinal teaching of spare the rod and spoil the child, the society
teaches otherwise and calls it child abuse. While I am not in support of
battering children as some of us experienced, parents
should be responsible for the discipline in love of
their children. In these countries as early as 16 years children are given
houses of their own because they complain of the discipline of their parents,
whereas growing up most of the viewers never left home as females till they
were getting married.
That
is the picture that Bola is trying to get across in this film and the
conclusion is that with the society not helping, there is only one answer that
parents have when their children are trying to be wayward, the power of PRAYER.
While this is not the forum to begin to elaborate,
there are loads of testimonies and examples of the effects the power of a
praying mother in particular have had on their children. There were moments of laughter and moments of sober reflection in the
movie, Would not give away anything but I have not
told the story in this review. I sat next to Bola and asked her what was going
to happen at a stage and she said watch on and the story took a twist I did not
expect, so if you want to know what happened, go and watch the movie. Selah!!
Cast: The movie Showcased new faces on the Nollywood block which
included Adedoyin Akande as Libby
and Yemi Abubakare as Tom the
boyfriend in the USA.
As I said
earlier, most of the cast are not well known and experienced. In fact although
I did not discuss this matter with the Director, I am of the opinion that they
were auditioned from a church environment. This was evident as there was a lot
of scripted acting from most of the characters. Scripted acting simply means
cramming lines and reciting them back. As a reviewer and critic, I am
fastidious and look at things people would rather overlook. There was also the
issue of diction. To me, the Director should have auditioned properly and
brought in characters that would sell the story to any audience. In this
premiere, there was a mixed audience of Africans and non-Africans so if this
movie or any further movies by Bola is to become universal, the truth be told,
the right cast would need to be used even if it costs more money.
Having said that,
although there were one or two slips (again I saw those wearing my critic hat),
Libby and Tom the main characters in the movie made up for any lapses. They
sold the story and made it look realistic, Libby being the spoilt London girl
and Tom being the typical African American man. With more roles under their
belts and constant practice to make themselves even better, I see them getting
lead roles not only in Christian movies but in any movie they may want to act.
However, my counsel to both of them if they choose they want to go into acting
is that they should pick role models in t he movie industry and study what they
do, bring some of these things into their own acting and above all ask God for
wisdom to act and then doors would fling open for them. Well done Do Doyin and
Yemi!!
Picture
Quality: I do not have much to say about the picture quality. The picture
quality was of a good standard. However, that said, in some scenes, there were
places where the picture quality could have been better. I did not see any
blurred pictures (I stand to be corrected).
Sound
Quality: Again the sound quality was of a good standard. There was no
interference with the sound and everything the cast said were very clear. (Again
I stand to be corrected).
Overall
performance: Like I said earlier, I am
proud of Bola and her resilience in bringing out such a production in spite of
all odds. The message was clear and was well received, people did not even want
to leave the cinema.
As stated earlier, for such a movie with a message, I would
recommend in future that the correct cast needs to help add that added touch to
the movie. It has to be one that can easily be received by Hispanic, African,
European or whatever ethnic background.
The question remains if I would recommend this movie. The
truth needs to be told no matter how bitter it is. Parents need to see it,
children need to learn from it, The message is balanced. Although this is a
Christian movie, I would not hesitate to recommend it.
Watch
the trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OArzEiY_fuM
