Movie Review: “Eniola” produced by Mount Zion

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Reviewed by Ajibare Abioye

Hey folks! You’re welcome to the review of a very nice Christian movie in ENIOLA.

Eniola was produced by the partnership between the Mount Zion Film Productions and Watchman Drama Ministry. It was directed by Isaac Femi-Akintunde, whose movies I always like to watch because of their sound plots. I’ve observed that each usually has something unique about them and Eniola is no different.

Ajibare Abioye

This movie is what you might call a modern Yoruba Christian film, in the sense that majority of the cast are young people who are tasked with using the Yoruba language as the main medium of dialogue in the film. Given the fact that in reality, most educated youths generally converse in English, or at best, code-mix it with Yoruba, employing Yoruba largely for the dialogue in Eniola gives the film a different, pleasant tone. In an age where English language has become the mother tongue of most children and the very rich, indigenous language of south-western Nigeria is gradually losing its value among those who are natives, this is a welcome development and I’d like to see more gospel movies situated in towns and comprising youths adopt this method. It is a unique style that cuts down on the elaborations and digressions that make dialogues in many Yoruba gospel movies long, and the conversations are easily understandable. This meant that the subtitles needed to be very good and I think Eniola quite achieves that.

I’m of the opinion that this movie does well to get our attention from the start because of its love genre; it was actually YouTube-released on February 14 this year and that gives it this peaceful, rustic atmosphere. Similarly, Eniola features a scene of Christian love poetry; really nice stuff. The mysterious cast led by Tobi Olumuyiwa’s character also gives the audience a puzzle to resolve. This movie then focuses on an example of the genesis of a Christian courtship, and shows quite clearly how important it is as a precursor to the marriage covenant: there are spiritual battles to be fought and faulty foundations to be addressed. The conflict is quite compelling. I like movies that task you as a viewer; a situation where you either don’t know what the protagonist should do, or you know how difficult it might be for them to do what needs to be done.

Another well-orchestrated device in Eniola is the depiction of the value of godly friends and close associates. That is literally what salvages the situation for our lead characters: Eniola, the titular actor played by Chioma Chukwulotam, and Diran, played by Ayo “Cineman” Olaleye, who delivered remarkable performances. Also, in a minor role, Aanu Kolade was so believable in her Iyanu character. By God’s grace, she’s an A-list actress who always interprets her roles correctly. At the end of the movie, I just wondered how one gets to someone like her Iyanu, a person who claims to be Christian yet unrepentant.

One character made me ask if indeed, the Christian life was boring like she claimed; she felt so because all her life, godly people had been around her and she felt that kept her from being “free”. Even though it was a subplot, I believe the main plot succinctly shows that being surrounded by godly people helps keep us from doing wrong, and it’s a blessing, not a bondage.

The eponymous character, Eniola, is portrayed as someone that is rather too secretive, and when this makes her begin to say one or two untrue things, it made me see that as a child of God, our paths need to be straight. We’re not too far from the devil when we engage in any form of deceit. The stakes are high for Eniola and she has both internal and external conflicts that seem to be constantly over her. The enemy thought the dance of shame would destroy her marital life but God took hold of that embarrassment and used it to exhume the secret that held the key to her deliverance.

Alright, we’ve come to the end of the review of Eniola. Have you seen it? What did you think about it? How does someone get through to someone like Iyanu? Also, do you think it was right for Eniola not to open up to Diran early enough? How would you encourage someone in similar shoes to do the needful? Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.

You can watch the movie below :

https://youtu.be/uCpNMgCIYos

 

1 thought on “Movie Review: “Eniola” produced by Mount Zion

  1. It’s good to open up but opening up can be so difficult and challenging because you don’t how the person will take it. I know of someone that open up her wound to her partner and the partner went around to tell everyone and she became a laughing stock without her problem being solved

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