By Amadi Chimaobi Kingsley
WE’ve seen this story before. It’s another one about a woman that wanted a child so badly that she made a horrible deal with a ritual priest. Conflict set in when the priest realized he was duped and then became adamant about reaping his share of the deal.
Adding to the friction was that Tatuma was unaware of the circumstances surrounding her life. She had been experiencing nightmares and she often heard a voice she thought was her mother’s, but this was just a prequel to what she was about to face.
So, in essence this is a recycled story of good versus evil. It ultimately came down to a church priest going head-to-head with a ritual leader. It has similarities to 2013’s Bleeding Tree where “Ugomma” was also unaware of the deal her mother made with a deity. Stolen Pregnancy (2003) also had a related premise right down to the dwarfs that surrounded the ritual priest. These are all movies that featured entanglements with ritual cults all in the name of having a baby.
You know that common Nollywood syndrome of being unable to deliver one hundred per cent of the time? That was ever present in this movie.
The movie starts off without any sound for the first two minutes; and I can’t tell whether that’s on the movie or the tv screen but that’s beside the point. In those silent two minutes your eyes are introduced to the visual feast that is the cinematography of the film.
Then this scene is followed by possibly the most beautiful scene in the entire movie (and the number one reason to see the movie), the childbirth scene. The choreography of this scene was truly amazing. Against my better judgement, this scene sky-rocketed my expectations so imagine my shock when I find myself struggling to pay attention halfway through the movie.
Tatu isn’t a terrible film.
It isn’t even a bad one. It just is very underwhelming considering all the effort put into making it visually appealing. The stakes are very underwhelming, plot is meth and the action elements, considering mostly of Kamani (Sambasa Nzeribe) pursuing Tatu (Rahama Sadau) and her paramour (Gabriel Afolayan) through the streets are unexciting. The entire film is really a big build up to a giant nothingness, marked by ill-advised changes in tone and mood.
But let’s talk about the performances. The second most important reason why anyone should watch this movie is for Gabriel Afolayan. If not for anything, the scene near the end where is running and screaming cusses while being chased by the little men, is worth multiple views. In one scene early in the movie, Hafiz Oyetoro has a cameo alongside Frank Dunga. The less informed viewer might have thought this would be all the comic relief there was, but he/she would be wrong because Gabriel is coming. His comic timing and delivery in this movie is perfect and is the only thing that keeps us going as the second half of the film drags to an unexciting end.
The performances by everyone else are also strong. Toyin Abraham was good a bit, but she did not waste any time falling into the lazy, overacting mode that betrays been in an occult background.
Even Stephen Damien was far from underwhelming in this movie and managed to convince in his role from start to finish.
Also, I think the movie was poorly researched. I was thrown off by the fact that, a movie that shows the life of nuns in training, depict the nuns making the sign of the cross in the wrong way. Even five-year-old Catholics know how to do this. The priest and the Mother Superior had long rosary beads hanging from their necks, which is not the norm. Do we even talk about the costumes for the nuns and the Mother Superior? The mother superior had a bright sequined outfit for all the scenes in the movie and acrylic nails seen in one of the scenes. It was terrible and took away from the beauty of the movie.
Then there was Funlola Aofiyebi-Raimi as the aptly named Mother Superior. She executes her role with such ease, unfettered by the ridiculousness of the costume she is clad in.
Sambasa Nzeribe who was deliciously volatile in Slow Country is wasted here as he had nonspeaking role and made repetitive weird facial contortions that only drag down the pacing.
Segun Arinze looks the part and makes all the right noises but his dense theatrics and the overbearing dialogue he is saddled with soon entrap him.
The climactic scene which could have salvaged Tatu and rewarded audiences who have stuck around is a giant let down. Don Omope who had previously cheated his way through a scene that has two characters escape heroically through an opening in the window, – he does not show details of the escape, – does so again at the end with a confrontation that is an epic mishap, not to mention inconsistent with characterization and previous happenings.
The finished film feels less like an inspired adventure than a calculated ploy to grab money, assemble a young sexy cast, old reliable hands for support, new school humor merchants (people really need to laugh), and crisp pictures. All well and good but when all these elements are put together without a soul, the result is a film as limp as Tatu.
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