FILM REVIEW: Abbatoir Episode 2 produced by Mount Zion
By Ajibare Abioye
Hey folks! You’re welcome to this series of Abattoir snap reviews. So, Episode 2 was released yesterday and seriously, at the end, the hunger I have for Episode 3 is more than what I had for Episode 2. Everything that we’ve seen from the teaser trailer, the behind-the-scenes clip and the theatrical trailer has happened in the first two episodes; yet, there are four episodes left. This means that, like I said last week, there’s still an awful lot to come from this Abattoir series. Alright, let’s talk about Episode 2.
The recap of Episode 1 was on-point. It was skillfully done and was so much better than the one done in Shackles 2: Fetters of Iron. This one captured the major events of Episode 1 while also building your anticipation for Episode 2.
This movie so far has been full of very good acting. Goodness Adegbola, I’m sure, is many people’s favourite character and he’s excelled in every scene he’s played in. So, he and Victor go to the club and after taking the substance, they get high! This was followed by two hilarious scenes where Martins and Victor wake up in 5-star hotels; if you’ve watched it, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Then, I’m not really clear about the events that followed because, did Martins go home from there or he went to school? If he went home, does that mean that his father didn’t notice that Martins was not in bed that morning? Then, I didn’t like the use of “found in the gutter” by his principal because the movie doesn’t portray that to us. We saw Martins get up by himself and leave.
Then, we see Jumoke, a wayward lady who ends up being used as Gbade’s sacrifice despite warnings from her roommate whom she’s labeled as Mummy G.O. and Aunty S.U. That scene where she’s killed had some really good sound composition. It had an ominous song “You are mine at last”, playing in the background of that setting, and the tense soundtrack of the movie itself playing on top of that. Both tunes synced perfectly; the layering of those tracks was highly impressive.
There’s something of a parallel between Victor and Jumoke. It’s a tough job if we’re trying to look for where Victor’s parents might have gone wrong in raising him. They seem to be in agreement on everything, yet, it is clear right from Episode 1 that he is just a religious person. He seems to honour God with his words but his heart is far away from Him. Jumoke’s parents have also tried to put her on the right path but she’s made the wrong decisions and she loses her life at the end. Both Victor and Jumoke show that as much as parents bring up their children in God’s way, at some point or the other, the child would still have to decide whether he/she would choose the path of life or death. I hope we’ll find out what becomes of Victor when this series ends; we’ll see whether his parents were really Christians or they were just hypocrites.
We see more of the friendship between Gbade and Durosanya in Episode 2; it’s a partnership in evil. Generally speaking, the dialogue all through this movie achieves the right balance of reason and humour, and that’s seen when these two discuss. I observed two profound things about them. Chief Durosanya is by some standards, a good father, but what Martins needed was a godly one. So, you can be good, but not godly? That’s worth a lot of meditation. Next, when the Chief seems overwhelmed by the challenges Martins poses, Gbade is quick to instill confidence in him by reminding him “You are Durosanya, first in rank, holder of the secret seer. Whatever you decree comes to pass.” I realized that this is even more so for Christians who have to be reminded of who they are in Christ in order to come to terms with the new life they have in Him. Something similar is what we find in Overcomer (2019), where we’re made to see that your identity will be tied to whatever you give your heart to. We can only really be effective in our faith by acknowledging every good thing that is in us in Christ (Philemon 1:6).
There were certain intense scenes in this episode, both involving Martins and his dad, seriously engaging dialogue there. When Martins was being taken away on the instruction of Chief Durosanya, I was almost moved to tears; but then, it took us to how Martins met Baba Gbenro, which brought us back to the movie’s present, where Baba Gbenro prays for him.
In the outline of Episode 3, contrary to what many of us thought that Chief Durosanya was calling Martins to make reconciliation, it seems that truly, that house is an abattoir, a correct slaughterhouse and the Chief is the butcher. Episode 3 comes up next Sunday, July 19, at 12pm, on Damilola Mike-Bamiloye’s YouTube channel.
Our review for Episode 3 will be out Monday or Tuesday next week by God’s grace; so, watch out for it.
Till the next post, stay blessed!
Link to the movie https://youtu.be/_LKnoclQups
