Last year was proof that Nollywood is getting better.
There were good movies, several manageable ones, and, of course, the bad onions. Now, there were some movies people couldn’t stop talking about. Whether they were worth the hype or not Is another conversation, but they didn’t leave the lips of Nigerians for a long time.
Let’s take a look at a few of these movies.
ANIKULAPO: Anikulapo is the story of a queen Arolake who ran away with a commoner, Saro, damning all consequences. Saro was beaten to death when the king found out, but a mystic bird brought him back to life.
All through, Arolake stuck with him, and even when she found the guard the bird used in bringing Saro back to life, she handed it over to Saro. Sadly, when Saro became rich (through the help of the guard), he treated Arolake terribly. In retaliation, Arolake disarms the guard, making it impossible for Saro to keep raising the dead (which was his source of wealth)
Literally, everyone had something about Anikulapo. There was a debate about who the bad person was between Arolake and Saro. There were a lot of motivational quotes flying on the internet, and even the feminists saw it as an opportunity to propagate their agenda. The last time we had that kind of social media debate was when Tyler Perry’s Acrimony came out.
Despite a couple of obvious flaws, Anikulapo was a good watch.
BROTHERHOOD: With the good reviews Brotherhood had, it is no surprise that people are still talking about it now (thanks to Amazon Prime as well).
Brotherhood is the story of twin brothers Wale and Akin, played by Falz and Tobi respectively. While Wale was a policeman, Akin was a serial armed robber. For obvious reasons, they were never on the same page, and things got worse when Akin’s gang killed Wale’s boss and father-in-law.
To be honest. Brotherhood was an impressive watch, and the producers outdid themselves. Some people regard Brotherhood as the best Nollywood movie of 2022. However, if one is to ignore a few obvious mistakes and unbelievable scenes in the movie, it might pass as that.
BATTLE ON BUKA STREET: Battle of Buka Street is the story of rival step sisters who would do anything to stay in competition with each other. Played by Funke Akindele and Mercy Johnson, respectively, Yejide and Awele’s rivalry grew worse after Awele decided to get a canteen right in front of Yejide’s own, and the two of them didn’t stop until they ended up hurting themselves in the process.
KING OF THIEVES: King of Thieves is the story of Agesinkole, a powerful bandit in the Kingdom of Ajeromi. The Kingdom set out to destroy him by all means.
One thing that made King of Thieves unique from other movies is that it tilted more into Yoruba movies. Considering people have reservations about Yoruba movies, seeing one well-told seemed very impressive. People didn’t stop talking about how enjoyable King of Thieves was for a long time.
THE WOMAN KING: Despite not being a Nollywood movie, The Woman King was undoubtedly the best movie of 2022. It is no surprise that people kept talking about it; some even watched the movie in the cinema more than worse. Right from the announcement that most of the actors underwent a 6-month training to get their character right, people knew that the movie would turn out well.
Everything about The Woman King was worth the hype and the popularity it got from people.
A couple of other good movies weren’t so popular in 2022 but were very interesting.
If Nollywood continues with this energy in 2023, we are in for a good ride.