Movie Review: ‘Ife Baba’ Produced by Olusola Duyilemi
Reviewed by Ajibare Abioye
“Ife Baba” is a motion picture that chronicles the journey of two protagonists, a father and his son with a unique relationship, one that astounds almost throughout the film. It feels good to watch a movie without getting slowed down with vital chronological or continuity questions. It’s not overly concerned with passing its message across quickly, a move that is often consequently executed externally, which is usually done at the expense of the story.
This film does the basics well by coherently showing life through the lens of Chief Arowolo and Bayo Arowolo, effectively played by Isaac Femi-Akintunde and Femi Showole respectively. The pair make for compelling characters and propel themselves a mile off others in characterisation, which serves the narrative. The minor characters also play their roles well on the fringes of existence in the film’s world, but are nonetheless vital to the story. “Ife Baba” pictures the society as it is, one in which not every family knows or acknowledges God. The Arowolo family may seem like a well-to-do one, but the fact is that without Christ, there’s no real meaning to life.
The kind of living where one has a ‘healthy’ relationship with the devil is portrayed to undoubtedly be a pitiful one in the long run, though it may fleetingly seem desirable. Chief Arowolo’s primal motive is one found in virtually all humans but there is a better way for children of God – to trust God in the process, and not only for the destination. If only we’d wait on the Lord, we’d be saving ourselves a great deal of headaches.
Likewise, Bayo’s life is proof that we should never think that it’s too late for us. Though it’s very beneficial yielding to the Lord early enough, the ultimately important step is to come to Jesus. Only He can take the broken pieces of our lives and remould us as necessary; after all, He created us and can still make us whole.
It’s also important for me to note the choice of a relative code-mixing of languages as an inspired choice. This is because I have seen movies that just didn’t feel right, and I discovered just how much a change in language might have made all the difference. The dialogue in “Ife Baba” was natural for its setting and that helped its message get across more clearly.
In lieu of improvement, I’m almost always against the original soundtrack of a film being used as establishment in virtually every scene. It wasn’t distracting at first in this movie’s setup of the father-son relationship, but it eventually took its toll on it by making certain scenes tonally out of place. Furthermore, even two characters’ ringtones were that same soundtrack. This should be noted ahead of subsequent productions.
Ife Baba has also won an international award.
In conclusion, “Ife Baba” offers quite an interesting story with an abundance of hope even for the hardest of hearts. The love of the Father towards us is not the human kind that might be outwardly gratifying but motivated by selfishness, but is one born out of genuineness and sacrifice.
The link to the movie
https://youtu.be/C1SOE7g2ZJ0
Till the next review, stay blessed!
