Rejoice! We’re leaving stake rom-coms (for now) in the rear view mirror and bursting forward into the high octane world of Nigerian crime in this Jade Osiberu and Abdul Tijani-Ahmed written and Loukman Ali directed film, Brotherhood. If you find yourself feeling more than a little nostalgic for movies like Isakaba (with parts as nauseam), well your dreams are about to come true, minus the infinite parts. Brotherhood is making big bank at the big screen and we are here to figure out if it’s worth the hype.
Brotherhood tells the story of Akin (Tobi Bakare) a hardened criminal who spends more time in prison than out of it and his twin brother Wale (Folarin “Falz” Falana) a by-the-book police officer who had just been promoted to the SWAT team. Both boys witnessed their parents being murdered at a very young age, an event which led them on very distinct parts. Akin becomes part of the Ojuju Boys, a notorious gang of armed robbers, putting him directly in the crosshairs of his brother Wale who is building a life with his wife, (Dorathy Bachor, ex-BBNaija housemate), a daughter to a high-ranking officer, (Sam Dede). The Ojuju Boys are a high stakes crew, carrying out heists and confounding the police at every turn.
The plot is exactly the kind of action that
has been lacking from Nollywood big screens. What viewer doesn’t love a good
heist movie with double crosses, twists and turns that are fun to follow? Plot
wise, while it is more than a little cliché, it works. Brotherhood is one of
those movies that doesn’t overreach itself. It is exactly what the first
impression of the film makes it out to be and that isn’t something that is
working against it.
The star-studded cast is actually perfection. Tobi Bakare deserves not just his flowers but a whole bouquet of them. The temptation to write him off before seeing the film is strong but that would be wrong. He holds his own opposite industry greats like Shadow (Bright “Basketmouth” Okpocha) the leader of the Ojuju Boys and Izra (O.C Ukeje). The actors did a stellar job of portraying their characters and it is easily one of the well-acted films to come out of Nollywood. It is refreshing to see Falz grow from the ham-fisted “hacker” in Merry Men to a suave actor able to sell a performance onscreen.
On to the flaws, as stated before it was a bit unoriginal. It is only a flaw in so far as the criterion for enjoying a movie is that it is original. For a lot of movie goers, this is not the case. The plot also fell short in confronting a lot of the internal conflict which it spent a lot of time building and teasing. There could have been a lot more exploration done.
Overall, while Brotherhood might not be entirely perfect, it is still an incredible watch. It is out in cinemas nationwide. Give it a shot.
Didi-Dan-Asisah is an art enthusiast and critic. She lives in Lagos.
Ayodelé is a Lagos-based journalist and the Content and Editorial Coordinator at Meiza. All around the megacity, I am steering diverse lifestyle magazine audiences with ingenious hacks and insights that spur fast, informed decisions in their busy lives.
