Ramsey Nouah’s directorial debut Living In Bondage: Breaking Free hit theatres on November 8, 2019 after years of groundwork and months of hype and teasing. The sequel to the 1992 Nollywood classic was a huge hit at the box office, raking in ₦168.7million. It recorded the highest opening weekend for a Nigerian film for 2019, grossing ₦25.8 million, and the highest collection in a single day for a Nollywood film in 2019.
Never buying into the hype, I put off watching the movie at the cinema to avoid a stampede by the enormous crowds flocking in to see it. When it finally joined the Netflix Naija catalogue, I did not miss a beat checking it out. Let’s get into it.
Plot
Living In Bondage: Breaking Free picks up like real time, over two decades after the original movie; where Nnamdi Okeke, the estranged son of Andy Okeke finds himself unwittingly drawn to his father’s vices.
After the betrayal at work with his career in shambles, Nnamdi decides to meet with his father’s former liason, Chief Emeka Omego (Kanayo O. Kanayo). He connects with Omego’s son Obinna (Enyinna Nwigwe) and business mogul Richard Williams (Ramsey Nouah) and joins a satanic cult that promises wealth in exchange for the lives of loved ones.
Nnamdi willfully enters into the cult and enjoys all the perks that come along with it. But when it comes time to pay up, combined with Obinna’s suicide, Nnamdi suddenly realizes the gravity of this contract and like his father, decides to back out. Richard Williams continuously torments him to kill either his girlfriend Kelly (Munachi Abii) or his foster brother Toby (Shawn Faqua).
In an act of God, his father Andy, girlfriend Kelly, and an investigative reporter Uzo burst into a scene where Richard is using mind control to get Nnamdi to sacrifice his brother. Nnamdi breaks free of Richard’s hold, but the story is far from over; as Richard is still at large and determined to collect what The Six is owed.
Cast
This movie stars the OGs from the 1992 original movie, Kenneth Okonkwo, Knayo O. Kanayo, Bob Manuel Udokwu; but they take a back seat for the younger generation. Swanky JKA, Enyinna Nwigwe, and Ramsey Nouah take the lead as the fresher members of the new and improved cult “The Six”.
Also starring in the movie are Munachi Abii, Shawn Faqua, David Jones, and Nancy Isime.
Accolades
Living in Bondage: Breaking Free has a lot going for it. First, there are amazing actors. Unlike many Nollywood films, it wasn’t just one or two characters carrying the whole movie. Each character was amazing in their own right.
Swanky JKA’s acting convinced us to root for him even at his lowest points; and there has never been a more enigmatic bad guy than Richard Williams. Enyinna Nwigwe played the role of the tortured soul perfectly. Even the minor characters like Nnamdi’s uncle Zulu Adigwe and his girlfriend Munachi Abii gave convincing performances that are worthy of notice.
Another strong point was the set-up of the Living in Bondage universe, expansive enough to accomodate multiple sequels and maybe even a series by leaving the final scene open-ended. A million kudos to the screenwriters for that.
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Living in Bondage 2 becomes a lot more powerful, as they have now expanded the characters of The Six; so much so that so many stories can spin-off from this sequel.
Another point to note was that Nnamdi and Kelly’s meeting was awkward and believable like a regular meet-cute; and him falling for her when he only approached her as an easy target is the perfect example of life just happening.
I also find it amazing how Kelly dated two members of The Six and went unscathed; as well as how both Andy and Nnamdi narrowly escaped paying their debts. Chop and clean mouth crew; impressive.
In addition to that, the amount of focus the movie gave to the younger budding characters is something we do not get a lot of in Nollywood. They took the bold move of starring a relatively new face as the lead character and that move definitely paid off; drawing younger Nigerians who were either toddlers or unborn at the time the original movie’s release, giving them hope.
Moreover, the story was true to the times and the mounting pressures of society on young people to be and live a certain way without giving them the tools or opportunities to do so; thereby driving them into crime.
Dragging time
Speaking of dragging, the run time for this movie was longer than necessary. They could have wrapped it all up in 100 minutes; but there were unnecessary filler scenes that dragged the movie on for long.
And although we understood the plot of the movie, the hero’s motives seemed shallow and poorly executed. The way he handled his dilemmas made it seem as though the stakes were just not that high; and there was a bit of conflict in how Swanky JKA interpreted his role at different points in the movie.
Also, the supporting characters suffered a lack of screen time and were severely underused. They could have had more defining roles to push the plot forward. There was a bit of sloppiness in the execution of the various character arcs. A good example is the aunt and uncle in the village that the script completely ignored after the first act.
Uzo Adibe’s character was also very lazy and his storyline seemed disjointed from the whole movie. For an organization as esoteric as The Six; it was too easy for a mere disgruntled reporter to connect the dots and topple the cult.
Also, the switch between the themes of romance and ambition made it appear at some point like they were two completely different stories, not part of a whole.
All in all, apart from a few blotchy spots, Living in Bondage: Breaking Free was an amazing movie that smoothly transitioned from a story from the past to a cautionary tale for the present.