Lisabi : The Uprising (Part 1)
This is a movie I can say that it told the history of a part in Yoruba land like it was real. A movie that tells the story about a Yoruba hero called Lisabi Agbongbo-Akala who led the Egbami people into independence from the hands of the Oyo empire.
Lisabi is an epic historical movie directed by Niyi Akinmolayan and produced by Lateef Adedimeji himself and as a side-lover of Nollywood movies, I know that when it's about Lateef's movie, I can't expect to see less.
The movie opens with Olodan, that was acted by Femi Adebayo, being beaten and dragged before the Alaafin of Oyo for having failed to pay his town's tribute and faced the judgement to be executed. That is how cruel the Oyo empire is to the towns under their authority, with an appointed chief tribute collector called Sangodeyi, played by Ibrahim Chatta. He ensured to rule his lifetime with terror on the inhabitants of the lands and I can say that Chatta killed the role with all charisma within him of which he's known for that normally.
On the other hand, we have Lisabi, played by Lateef Adedimeji himself who is merely a farmer and a proud one at that with his wife Ikeola that was played by his real wife Mobimpe and I wonder why that was done that way. Though they played the role together nicely but I bet that another person could have done it better.
Lisabi who had a friend called Osokenu played by Mr Macaroni and he was about to get wedded to the love of his life Abebi that was played by Liquorose. She was actually the last I could have thought would act in a Yoruba movie let alone an Egba dialect movie but I guess she was given very few scenes to have a dialogue so it was still easy for her.
Unfortunately for the two lovers, Abebi was raped on the day of her wedding by Sangodeyi's team which caused her disgraced that made her end up taking her own life. No one could ever think about Osokenu having the strength to fight against these terrorizing men and it just established the fact that when loved ones are involved, unexpected things happens which we don't naturally believe we can do. With Osokenu taking down 10 men out of Sangodeyi's men before he was finally shot for death and before dying, the only request he could ask his friend Lisabi for was to fight for the Egba people and free them from the hands of the Oyo empire and their men.
Osokenu conquering 10 men was evidence and a trigger that if they all come together to fight, they will surely win over the Oyo empire which became the turning point for the Egba land for the fight for freedom.
The movie is no doubt a great historical movie with so much that js put into it concerning the arts of locations used, the costumes, and the whole tradition settings that looked absolutely great.
One of the few things I would criticize about the movie is the fact that this is a movie about a particular land who has their own dialect and the best they could have done was speak a bit even if not perfect rather than the general Yoruba dialect except for Lisabi only who spoke the dialect.
Abebi not really doing dialogues in the movie for her scenes is also an off for me because if she could not act it, why not use another qualified person.
Aside from these and a few other unnecessary draggings of some scenes, it's a movie I'll recommend to be watched either as a native or foreigner who's interested in the stories of African origins.
I'll be dropping my 🖊️ here on the movie review
Thanks for reading through 🤗
All images are from the movie
Rating: 88/100
