Omo getto
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Not only did Jenifa catapult Funke Akindele aka Jenifa to Nollywood centre stage, it also fetched her series of awards including the prestigious Best Actress of the Year award conferred on her in 2009 by African Movie Academy Awards (AMAA).
Funke Akindele or Jenifa (whichever you prefer to call her) is back on the block with a brand new flick.
Titled Omo Getto (child of getto), the new movie which was released in time for the last Christmas celebration on Olasco stable, expectedly, is creating some buzz especially among the followers of Nollywood movies done in Yoruba lingo. It tells the story of life in ghetto with Ayomide, a character played by Funke Akindele, as the main character. ..
Omo Getto parades some of the known faces that featured in Jenifa. Actors like Yinka Qaudiri, Adebayo Salami (aka Oga Bello), Eniola Badmus who interpreted same ‘tough girl’ role she acted in Jenifa as Gbogbo Big Girl thus eliciting the question as to whether she is becoming a stereotype thespian on Scene One Production Movies...
Other characters in the movie which was written and produced by Funke Akindele are Taiwo Hassan, Ireti Osayemi, Peju Omobolanle, Ronke Ojo, Racheal Onaiga, Bimbo Thomas Sola Asedeko and Bisi Komolafe.
While this writer finds it difficult to categorise this movie as a comedy, some scenes where Salami (Babaonibaba) exhibited perfectly, some traits that can qualify him as what the Yoruba calls Omo otta agbalagba (elderly gangster) especially his ranting at a beer parlour and at the police station would have led to that categorisation.
With her gang of ‘tough girls’ like Badamus (Busty), Funke (Lefty’s) first victim was a young lady whose mother’s jewellery worth N100,000 was snatched from her and all her pleading with passersby in the community to help her retrieve it fell on deaf ears as nobody was ready to confront them because of their notoriety in the neighbourhood; even young men were scared stiff of them as they were always ready to confront any man who crosses their path like they did to a motorist who queried a commercial cyclist that rammed into his car while conveying the them to one of their missions.
It was at this scene that the gang, particularly Ayomide, who has been on the run from the long arm of the law for inflicting an injury that left her fiancé, Yanju, in a state of coma, met her waterloo as she was arrested by the police only to be identified at the police station as a wanted person.
But surprisingly, Ayomide denied that she is the person on the wanted list of the police and that her name is not Ayomide but Shalewa, the daughter of Babaonibaba and Mamaonimama.
It was at the police station that it was revealed that Peju (who played the role of Ayomide’s mother) is not her biological mother; that she bought her from Babaonibaba at birth at the hospital for the sum of N3 million but surprisingly, Babaonibaba had forgotten the evil he did years back when he sold Ayomide to Peju; it took a private discussion between Babaonibaba and Peju for him to remember the evil she did but still insisted on Ayomide’s release from detention. It was also at the police station that Peju revealed to her lawyer that not only is Ayomide a twin but that she was not the biological mother of Ayomide.
On his release Ayomide with her twin sister submitted themselves to spiritual cleansing meant primarily to deliver her from her anger problem that has led her into trouble severally.
The locations where truly the best ghetto environment one can find anywhere in Nigeria – first class slumps, the picture quality crystal clear.
Kudos must also be given to Salami for acting the area father role efficiently and effectively.
However, the down low side of the film includes the arrest of Ayomide’s mother for an offence that her daughter committed. Was Funke trying to say that the sins of the son or daughter can be visited on parents or was she portraying what the law enforcement agents, especially the police, do to the relatives of a suspect in any crime incident?
The unrestricted display of bottles of an alcoholic drink with all its label which Babaonibaba consumed freely left one asking how much the brewers of the beverage paid for such mileage.
The duplication of the movie into four CDs is unnecessary because except for the promotional advert of other films on Olasco Films stable, Omo Getto is not more than an hour 30 minutes story just as the part two of the film which is to come is equally not necessary as whoever has watched part one will tell what will happen in part two.
