God of Shiloh

I had mentioned back in “The Advocate” review that one thing that irks me about Zion movies (aka Nollywood Christian movies) is the approach. For some reason it seems that directors/producers/whoever is involved in the process feels like because he or she is making a movie for God then they can do whatever they want, put in no research and pray that God will somehow save the movie.

False! I know it’s not in the Bible per-say but I’m a firm believer in the principle of “God helps those who help themselves”

So it was not without reason that I had my reservations about this movie after discovering that it was a Christian movie. My reservations, however, did not last very long.

Why? (Not that the early soundtrack helped but…) First of all the director, Pascal Amanfor might not be known for too many ‘original’ scripts (or whatever his fault is – I don’t remember right now) but it is yet to be said that he was involved in a mediocre/nonsensical production.

Secondly, the narrator – Bukky Ajayi. First of all, let me point out that I don’t watch Yoruba movies so in truth I don’t see much of Bukky Ajayi. But whenever I’ve seen her in an English movie it has been splendid, from Widows Cot till now.

And finally the cast. For most, there is not much attractive about the cast. What with no Genevieve, no Omosexy, no Ramsey, no eye-candy. True! There is no eye-candy but when you’re done looking for aesthetics and start looking for things of real value, you’ll realize that this movie does not lack.

Starting with Solomon Akiyesi, an actor that has acted oh so many diverse roles and is yet to fall short. Mr. Akiyesi had a splendid rendition of the character and was definitely believable (dare I say, he almost resembles Pastor Oyedepo). And then unto Aunty UK. She has played the witch oh so many times that some people have developed a natural abhorrence for her – understandable. But to me, no matter how typecast her screen career has become, I can’t but love her. I don’t know what it is about her, be it her demenour or her talent or maybe it’s that diction of hers. Whatever the case might be, Eucharia Anunobi is an amazing actress. And it was great to see her in a different role which she carried out to the tee.

And then we have Clem Ohameze, Ngozi Ezeonu and every other member of the cast who all did well with their characters, exempting a few of the extras. A couple extras here and there were weak and had room for improvement, for example the young Daniel.

It’s probably one of the only Nollywood Christian movies that I’ve seen that was entirely watchable, even in its four-partology. It was entertaining, and almost nearly made me teary eyed.