The Film Genius

A thriller and then some…

Nodash’s The Delivery Boy swept the highest nominations (12), at the 2019 Africa Movie Academy Awards. I’d give my arm to know exactly how much the budget for this production was, but my guess is as good as yours.

With two or three sparsely furnished indoor locations, two uncompleted buildings, two strong lead cast, a genius combination of screenplay, cinematography and lighting that does a great deal of the storytelling with a deliberately dark theme…
Nodash achieves one of the finest and most compelling stories Nollywood has seen this decade. All in 66 minutes (running time).

With the choice of casting for this film, we are reminded that strong characters require just the right cast to interpret, not necessarily a popular face. Jamal Ibrahim excellently delivers the character, Amir, alongside his costars.

No trace of affluence, no unnecessary detailing, just a straight to the point sad tale told in the rawest and most artistical form possible. This brilliant story explores one angle of the backstory of fundamentalist Islam fanaticism, through the eyes of a vulnerable young boy, Amir, who was sexually abused by a father figure and a Muslim scholar, and groomed to carry out despicable acts using religion as a guise.

In a twisted way, it kind of makes sense that the only reason Amir is fighting to live is just so he’d ‘righteously’ die for the only thing he had been living for after it became clear to him that everything he was fed was a lie. His counterpart, Nkem, a prostitute, who he meets in a chance encounter shares a similar pain with the added burden of a dying brother that must be saved. These two stories connect in a way that sends a shiver down your spine. Their combination is a duo of brokenness and desperation, but it still doesn’t mentally prepare you well enough for the lengths they’re both willing to go to obtain ‘justice’.

This is one daring story that could pass as non-fiction given our current political climate. It could very well also have been told in a documentary. It could even be a reported incident that may have been intentionally omitted from the pages and headlines of major news channels in order to protect the reputation of some highly placed individuals in the system. I’m glad this story was told anyways. At least, there’s now more awareness, that there are a lot more impressionable young people being groomed as terrorists right under our noses.

As dark as the mood and setting of this film was, it was shot in a very visually appealing way with lighting effects that artistically accentuated the gloom and doom of the situation, and contributed largely to the richness of the story. Nodash’s years of Cinematography totally peaked in this piece.

Another strong point was the use of Pidgin and Hausa as the major languages of dialogue without any much struggle by the cast. Indigenous stories told in our indigenous languages is something we need to see more of. It was beautiful and effortless. Many Kudos to the Director, Adekunle Adejuyigbe, for ensuring a smooth delivery all through.

Adekunle ‘Nodash’ Adejuyigbe really did a thing with this film. That much is evident in all the accolades it has received so far; from winning the best Nigerian film at AFRIFF 2018, to bagging the AMAA awards for the best visual effects.

Go see the Delivery boy on Netflix!!