FILM REVIEW: Abbatoir Episode 3 produced by Mount Zion
Reviewed by Ajibare Abioye
Hey folks! You’re welcome to the review of Abattoir Episode 3. I think this is the funniest episode so far. It was a bit of a diversion into subplots which slowed down the pace of the main plot a bit for us to catch our breath. Nonetheless, there’s a lot to enjoy in this episode.
We get more of Chief Durosanya who sports his goggles for the first time in this series. His nature is clearer here – he’s manipulative, a chronic liar, and constantly engages in self-deceit whenever reference is made to his murder of his wife. Perhaps, he did consider it necessary to reconcile with Martins, but after consulting the Grandmaster played by Yemi Adepoju, he discovers that Martins MUST return home.
His friendship with Gbade gets more interesting for me because he literally blames Gbade for his present predicament, yet, Gbade doesn’t take offence and stays faithful to him. Strangely enough, the Chief knew he needed Gbade’s counsel despite the fact that they were devoid of “the beauty of reason and common sense”. Gbade provided some of the humour in this episode.
Another comical character was Dr Alabelewe played by Kunle Popoola who featured in Abejoye Season 3 (2019); he shone in his scenes and provided much laughter. I observed that in his debut scene, the young man who wanted to do money rituals had a foundational problem of patience. The same patience he lacked to get wealth through honest means is the same patience he lacked to follow instructions and complete the rituals.
I like an angle that this Abattoir series has brought out so far – giving a voice to the voiceless. Dele, a 16-year old boy, was being molested by his step-mother and he took a step I don’t think has been explored many times in real life, that is, reporting such cases to the police with adequate evidence. The film reiterates that sexual assault is an indictable offence. I hope this episode gets victims out of the dark and into the light where they’ll get help.
For those who might have felt a bit confused at the five years mentioned in most scenes and six years in another, I think the clarification is that Dele’s mom had died six years before. His father married his step-mother a year after and that was when the molestation began. So, Dele had been molested for five years.
The theme of bitterness is getting more pronounced; I hadn’t thought too much of it until this episode. Martins is someone some children look up to; he offers them counsel and is willing to take action if necessary. We see this in the help he offered to Dele.
However, Martins is yet to deal with the root of anger, hatred and bitterness in his heart towards his father, and that has so corrupted him to the extent that he suggests that his spiritual father, Baba Gbenro, the one who loves him so much, is under the influence of his father. This is the same man that God gave that revelation at the beginning of Episode 3: a dream of Chief Durosanya in bondage. This means that Martins has a special place in Baba Gbenro’s heart, and he constantly intercedes for Martins.
The bitterness in Martins’ heart painted everything he saw; he couldn’t even see the truth of God’s word that basically says that whatever we do that isn’t motivated by love counts for nothing before God.
This shows us that many people still do not understand the totality of the love of God. Martins wondered how God could ever forgive his father if he became repentant, despite having murdered his wife. It reminded me of a film Awo Jesu 2 (2008) by Ore-Ofe Williams, where a regenerated king wondered how God could forgive a witch who had done many despicable things.
However, that’s what makes the gospel so special: the Bible says in Ephesians 3 that this salvation plan was so special that God had kept it secret from the beginning and then, He revealed it through Jesus. He did it that way to put His wisdom on display through us to all unseen rulers in heavenly places. The average person would say, “It just doesn’t make sense”, but the Bible does say that what seems like God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. To me, it’s like God saw that man could not obey every single one of His laws, but because He loves us, He simplified the whole process so that through faith in Jesus, reconciliation was made possible by the death and resurrection of His Son, and this has made us holy in his eyes. So, when He sees us, it’s not our flaws He sees, it’s not our past sins, but the righteousness of Christ. This beats anyone’s imagination, especially those of us who have received that salvation; we don’t really understand how much God has done for us through this salvation. Being saved is THE most special thing in the world.
For a while, I imagined what it must have felt for Martins and I know how deeply hurtful and painful it must have been for him; it’s a pain I think words can’t adequately describe but we see the negative effect that past is having on his present. What God says is that if we don’t forgive, He won’t forgive us. Apart from the fact that it’s your choice to accept His gift of salvation, the only other thing that could really stand in your way is unforgiveness. If your sins are not forgiven, that means you’ll be condemned; you’ll die in your sins and lose eternity with God. I pray that God will help us all to forgive everyone who’s hurt us and to let go of all bitterness. It might not be easy but God helps us through it – I’ve experienced that help – and at the end of the day, we feel joy, peace, and we’re able to focus on the glorious future God has for us.
Episode 4 will be out on Sunday, July 26th, 2020 and my review of it will be out next Tuesday; so, watch out for it.
Till the next article, stay blessed!
Link to the movie https://youtu.be/A0hwNbfq59Y
