Some childhood memories stay with us not because they lasted long, but because they were the only moments we had. My Father’s Shadow takes that idea and turns it into a deeply personal story about fatherhood, absence, family and a country going through its own uncertainty.
The movie directed by Akinola Davies Jr. from a screenplay he wrote with his brother Wale Davies, this 2025 drama took us back to Nigeria in 1993, around the tense period surrounding the June 12 presidential election. It is also a semi-autobiographical story, which explains why the film feels less like someone telling us what happened and more like someone remembering it.
The story follows two young brothers, Remi played by Chibuike Marvellous Egbo and Akin played by Godwin Egbo, who live with their mother in a rural part of Nigeria. Their father, Folarin played by Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù, has been largely absent from their lives.
Then, unexpectedly, he returns and Folarin needed to travel to Lagos to collect money owed to him, and he decided to take his sons along. What should have been a simple trip became a full day of discovery for the boys.
For them, Lagos is overwhelming. The noise, the people, the traffic, the unfamiliar places, the adults constantly discussing things they don't completely understand but the biggest discovery isn't Lagos. It is their father.
Throughout the journey, the boys began seeing a different side of the man they barely knew. They observed his relationships, his confidence, his vulnerabilities and the things he refuses to explain to them. There are moments of laughter and excitement, but also moments when you can feel the distance between a father and the sons who want to understand him and this is where Sope Dirisu's performance became particularly powerful.
Folarin isn't presented as a perfect father or a terrible one. He is just complicated. He loves his children, but his absence has consequences. He was trying to provide while also carrying his own history, disappointments and emotional wounds.
Meanwhile, the political tension surrounding the 1993 election and its aftermath gradually creeps into the boys' day. The film doesn't stop to give us a history lesson. Instead, the crisis appears through conversations, radio broadcasts, soldiers, changing moods and what the boys observe around them. That choice made the political story feel personal.
Nigeria is struggling to find its future while Folarin is struggling to find his place as a father.
The cinematography by Jermaine Edwards, editing by Omar Guzmán Castro, and music by Duval Timothy and CJ Mirra all contribute to the film's nostalgic, almost dreamlike atmosphere. Also, the fact that the two young actors are real-life brothers also gaves their relationship in the movie a natural quality that is difficult to manufacture.
But I have to warn you about one thing. This is not a movie for someone looking for constant action or dramatic twists because It is slow, observational and intentionally subtle. Some viewers may find the pacing too quiet. But if you allow the movie to breatheeee, then the emotion sneaks up on you.
And by the time you begin to understand what the title My Father's Shadow really means, you may realise that this isn't only a story about a father. It is about the pieces of a parent that children carry with them long after the parent is gone.
That, for me, is what makes this movie worth watching and I'll be dropping my 🖊️ here on the movie review.
Thanks for reading through 🤗
All images are for the movie
Rating: 75/100
