So Netflix released ‘Oloture’ – One of its African original movies produced by Mo Abudu’s Ebony Life TV and I tell you, we were not ready. It was graphic, raw, gritty… everything you could check on the box was checked; Nudity, sex, violence, smoking, bad language was all there but it was necessary. Oh so necessary. So these are my thoughts on the movie.
First and foremost… lets give a round of applause to the cast and crew of the movie. They did a tremendous job. Kudos to the director that brought out the performance from the cast… they were amazing. ‘Oloture; was basically about an investigative reporter that went undercover into the underworld of human trafficking and prostitution to investigate and identify the shadowy characters that inhabit that world – how the girls are brought in and shipped to Europe, specifically Italy to be sex workers there.
It was a gritty, horrific tale that was at times hard to watch but so necessary. You weep for the loss of human dignity and marvel at how human beings can be so debased as to do this to their fellow human beings. All for what? Money you can not take with you when you leave this earth? To think it is actually a true story makes it even more gut-wrenching.
Let me first talk about the casting. It was well done. Everybody in this film though they were popular faces, brought their A Game to the film. I was impressed. Sharon Ooja acted the title role of ‘Oloture’ to the T. She was amazing. I was actually a bit worried for her as several times she was groped, flogged, dragged and choked in the course of the film… all to make it look realistic and authentic. Kudos to her. Omoni Oboli who acted as the Madam taking the girls to Europe was something else. She disappeared into her role; she was cold, calculating, hard. I almost didn’t recognize her. Also Omowunmi Dada was a revelation. Acting as one of the prostitutes was a natural. You never get the feeling she is acting when you are watching her. Her story was really, really sad and unfortunately that is the harsh reality of the lives of many girls in the human trafficking trade. Then Sambasa Nzeribe was also in the film and as usual, he gave a good account of his self. (Too good if you ask me!) He was something else … scary. The machete – wielding scene legit gave me nightmares for some days. Kudos to the director Kenneth Gyang who gave the film its realistic feel. I’m so proud that this came from us. Well done. If you haven’t done so go to.. infact run to Netflix to watch the film. Its a tough watch but so necessary.
