With screenplay written by Omas Princess Benjamin, this film titled “ARIKE” is directed by Olubunmi Akingbola, produced by Olubunmi Dare and Executively Produced by Biodun Stephen (also starring as Bamidele’s mum). The faith-based family drama with a runtime of 1hour 59minutes is currently streaming on the latter’s YouTube channel with same name.
SYNOPSIS: (MAY contain spoilers)
Arike (Sonia Uche) is the only daughter of Mr. Boju (Femi Jacobs) a devout Christian and a Sunday School/Bible Study teacher. After the death of her mother, Arike’s father would do anything within his power to ensure that she lacks nothing; love, care and affection. Arike, overcome by grief over the loss of her mother, loves her father and promises to always make him proud. The duo of father and daughter are living a quiet life until a scandalous viral video about Arike threatens to shatter their once peaceful bond.
Story/Plot:
The story is different and unique. It highlights two different styles of parenting – the traditional African style of yelling, beäting and shouting for when a child falls short (as portrayed by Bamidele’s mum) and the unconventional one of how talks in calmness can be just as effective if not better (depicted by Arike’s dad).
The story also depicts the high-handedness of the Church towards her members/families when they’re faced with scandals. How they literally throw them into the lion’s den. It then goes further to show how a father can serve as a safe haven for his child shielding them from the fangs of the world.
Direction/Execution:
The sequencing of the plot for how the scenes play out is one challenge this movie faced. The pacing could EASILY be a bore for many. The movie could have been executed for half the time of the duration too. The Church scene where the pastor called both father and daughter into his office lasted for too long.
As if the slow-burn nature of the movie couldn’t be an issue of concern enough, the insertion of intermittent advertising of upcoming movies on same channel was even more of a distraction, annoyingly so. Who in this day and age still starts a movie with an ad of other movies before the main movie starts? And then somewhere in the middle of the movie, just when one is trying to get into rhythm, another intermission interrupts the viewing. Hey, this is 2025 and not 1995 or 2005!
Not many persons subscribe to YouTube premium services which is devoid of YouTube Ads. So, adding YouTube frequent ads on top of deliberate and intentional movie promotion/ads-placement by the producer in the course of the movie was as infuriating and frustrating as being stuck in a long Lagos traffic inside a molue bus on a hot sunny day on an empty stomach. See, there’s a time and place for everything. I was gutted the whole time!
Casting/Performance/Role Delivery:
While the actors are popular faces, their popularity and the story itself which hinges on parenting is what carries the film. This is so much so that if you replace all the actors with upcoming ones, given same sequencing and pacing as this one, many viewers may find themselves clicking away just after a few scenes in.
In as much as Sonia Uche is a good actress, in my opinion, casting her as a 16year old going on 17 was an absolute turnoff. Although she did manage to pull it off slightly given her cute baby face card, however, her overall outlook didn’t quite fit the role. I want to believe that there are a thousand and one 16year olds in the industry that could easily have interpreted that character of Arike more effectively. I mean no offence or disrespect to anyone, please.
Femi Jacobs did great with his role delivery as a cool, calm and collected dad. He depicted what I call the Hybrid style of parenting as he struck a balance between the African approach and the white man’s style of parenting. One scene that particularly stood out was the way he talked with Edafe (Kayode Juniour). That’s rare given the circumstances but I guess it works (depending on the person being talked to).
Technical Aspect:
The makeup and hair was apt for the genre; decent and good looking. The picture quality is good. However, the audio is poor.
Lessons:
- Evil communication corrupts good manners. Bamidele (Chiamaka Uzokwe) wasn’t so much of a good influence on Arike
- Others may be doing it and go scot free but then you could get caught the one time you try it. This has to be one of the biggest lessons I’ve held onto for the longest.
Observations/Questions:
- Was Arike truly remorseful or she was only sorry she got caught?
- The part where father and daughter were told to stop attending the Church due to causing a stir during Church service as a result of the scandal, to me is unbelievable.
- Bamidele and Arike leaving for Uni looks like disaster waiting to happen. Those two appear like they could do with more exploration even though they had learnt the hard way. I think the only lesson they learned was DO NOT RECORD WHILE AT IT and not necessarily DO NOT DO IT.
- The two friends didn’t appear to be deeply grounded in the religion their parents practiced. They depicted children who were just following for the sake of it.
- How many African dads will handle things the way Boju did? And how effective is that approach?
- The scene where Bamidele’s mum was shouting and almost breaking down Arike’s door was excessive.
- Some of the dialogues or lines have grammatical errors. For instance, “Happy belated birthday” which should be BELATED HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Conclusion:
The movie serves as a great lesson for both parents and teenagers. It is interesting in a way but the pacing made it seem like a chore to watch as it was a bore almost throughout. It’s a movie to watch for its moral impact but not necessarily for how well it was executed. To me, it wasn’t as engaging, entertaining nor as captivating as I had hoped.
Verdict: 4/10
