With story written by Mo Abudu & two others, this mini series titled “BABY FARM” is directed by Walter Taylaur and Executively Produced by Mo Abudu herself. The 5-episode thriller which was initially only available on Netflix Naija upon its release, is now currently streaming on Netflix Global.

SYNOPSIS: (MAY contain spoilers) 

Adanna (Onyinye Odokoro) decides to leave for the city in search of her baby daddy as her parents are absolutely gutted and utterly disappointed in her for getting pregnant outside of wedlock. She is however in for a shocker as she is met with a rude awakening there in the city.

In a world where people relatively do not have it all, there’s Cherise (Rita Dominic) an international actress & her supportive husband Akin (Joseph Benjamin) who in spite of their success publicly are bedevilled by & laden with infertility struggles. 

Help seems to be underway as Doctor Oliver (Langley Kirkwood) & his wife Sister Barbara (Jenny Stead) run a clinic where they help bridge the gap between both worlds – (stranded pregnant young girls & desperately frustrated couples). But things aren’t as they seem.

STORY/PLOT:

This story highlights the illegal operations of baby farmers who exploit vulnerable young ladies in the society as well as couples who are giving up on hopes of ever having a child of their own. The story also sheds light although quite subtly on the dangers of harshly handling children when they rebel or go out of line in terms of the good home training the parents have tried to inculcate in them.

This series was as enjoyable as it was disturbing to watch to a certain degree. Although the organisers of the show attempted to tug at the heartstrings of viewers with themes as sensitive as the ones in here, they never quite hit the gold mine WOW-FACTOR for a viewer like myself.

While the series tries to capture or highlight several societal issues ranging from parents who put their kids in harm’s way resulting from an unbalanced religious & moral standings (as seen in Adanna’s case) to couples being shamed for their fertility status to prostitution to greed to bullying and a mother’s doggedness to fight for her kids, the overall outcome was not totally impressive.

A lot seemed to have been happening all at once so much so that some bits were missed while some other areas had unnecessary attention to them.

ROLE INTERPRETATION/DELIVERY:

Rita Dominic is an A-list actor but her performance in this series isn’t the best in her many years in the industry in my opinion. Shockingly, there were some off acting. 

There wasn’t a justifiable reason why Rita kept on swearing with the F-word here and there in almost all the scenes she appeared especially at the beginning. It felt forced, out of place and downright unnecessary and inappropriate. Is it because she played the role of an international actress in the series? 

This is an African story of exploitation and its style of storytelling should reflect just that and should have been handled with more originality and intentionality. I think the director subsequently tried to even it out by making Doctor Oliver use swear words too at some point later on in the series. It only came off as damage control rather than a planned part of the series.

Genovevah Umeh (as Ebun) who is also a phenomenal actress wasn’t particularly in her best suit here too. In the scene where Adanna fainted and Ebun called out for help, Genovevah  seemed to have overdone something there. 

Osereme Inegbenebor (Aishat) put up a strong performance but it appeared more like the organisers wanted desperately to give us a character to loathe than was necessary and they did just that. The question is on what basis was Aishat’s hatred for Adanna?

Onyinye’s facial expressions, body language and mannerisms were apt for her role as Adanna. However, her acting wasn’t anything particularly spectacular in my opinion. Notwithstanding, we can say she was the outstanding act in the series being that she was the lead actress.

The director of this series didn’t quite utilise the skill set of the actors as effectively as one would have expected.

CREW/TECNICAL ASPECT:

Location & costuming was natural. Cinematography was good. Hair and makeup was great and blended with the colour grading. Not sure there was any notable or unforgettable soundtrack – can’t think of one albeit audio quality was sound.

OBSERVATION/QUESTION:

  1. For a case of such magnitude, the presence of the press was weak in the series. I was expecting to see a handful of pressmen and women as opposed to the scanty lots. Then the only one we had to manage was JOY (portrayed by Folu Storms) from ‘joytotheworld dot come’ who by the way had no JOY herself and equally of no joy at all met her waterloo.
  2. We only saw Adanna’s parents and baby daddy ONCE in the series. It would have been more impactful to see them probably missing Adanna, regretting their action, looking for her or even later on hearing of how she turned out. At least something of that nature.
  3. There were unnecessary deaths occasioned by someone’s selfishness or maybe not. The nonverbal girl who was a point for a mindblowing plot twist didn’t have to end that way. I guess the writer wanted to draw emotions on viewers from there but it didn’t quite hit it for me.
  4. I would have loved to see the ladies reunite with their families
  5. The pen ultimate scenes too were not so impressive. The ending felt rushed. Can we say Barbara is innocent and consequently absorbed of all her husband did? Should we be clapping for her simply for what she did to her husband in the end? Does that justify her actions and cleanse or exonerate her from any wrongdoing? She was an accomplice and should be treated as such. But we never saw any arrest done
  6. The series showed how porous and corrupt some officers in the Nigerian police force can be but is this supposed to be generalised? Does that mean there are no good eggs in the basket? The series depicted Nigeria just the way many foreigners perceive the country as lawless, corrupt, morally bankrupt and beyond redemption.
  7. Why were the whites the ones at the helm of affairs? And No, this isn’t me being racist. Many of our Nollywood movies tend to glorify foreigners at the expense of her people. Also, the famous actress Cherise & her husband just had to be visiting the country for a movie shoot. Does that mean as far as this series is concerned, Nigeria is only good to be exploited and that her citizens are no-gooders?

CONCLUSION:

Overall, the series is interesting, certainly compelling, engaging and relatable but the sequencing from directing could have been a whole lot better. The ending was rushed and had some unanswered questions like: “Did Adanna’s parents look for her?” “What became of Adanna’s baby daddy?” etc For a film of this weight, unfortunately there wasn’t a performance that exceptionally stood out for me. Still doesn’t take away the fact that it was enjoyable and worth the while. A story different from many.

VERDICT: 6/10