Excited would be an understatement trying to describe my feelings when I heard a sequel of Living in Bondage was in the works. I consider the movie a gift to the generation that saw the first film in 1992. I will like to start by congratulating the Production team for a good movie; it was indeed a gift. Watching this movie was nostalgic. I smiled almost all through the film; except the first scene, don’t ask me what happened there, you can watch the movie yourself.
The production quality was superb; cinematography, sound and the dialogue were a wonderful experience. Given that it was Ramsey Noah’s directorial debut, I would say he did a fantastic job getting every actor to take up their characters and seem so natural in their delivery.
I particularly liked the character Nnamdi Okeke, played by Swanky JKA, who’s journey the audience had to follow. He seemed so natural in his character that I felt his pain, his joy and in his time of tribulation, I could relate with the emotions.
At some point I was wondering if the character Andy from the first film was not included in the sequel, I was later appreciative of the plot and how he was introduced; kudos to the screenwriters, they did a wonderful job.
My best scene was the establishment shots for Owerri in Imo State; it was hilarious. This production team found a way to use the statues erected by the previous Governor and it worked. We did not need to see ‘Welcome to Owerri’, just like you do not need to see ‘Welcome to Lagos’ but know it is the city when the Lekki-Ikoyi link bridge or National Theatre is shown.
I enjoyed watching Living in Bondage: Breaking Free; in fact the audience I watched with gave a rousing applaud at the end of the movie, quite rare in Nigerian cinemas even for Hollywood films. That’s a testament that Nollywood is making progress.
