How Living in Bondage Sequel Ripped Igbo Off The Movie
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Christina Ngene
I am a movie enthusiast with a passion for writing and a desire to see the African movie industries grow. I try to use my skills as an artist to cheer for Nollywood by writing for NollyMania. • Syndicate Correspondent
It is important to commend a great Nigerian movie when you see one. Ramsey Nouah and his team did a great job with ‘Living in Bondage: Breaking Free’. It is a sequel to the famed ‘Living in Bondage’ movie of 1992.
Sequels are always great, and Ramsey Nouah worked with Nollywood’s beloved actors and a great new engaging concept to create a cinematic pleasure. So what makes ‘Living in Bondage’ sequel great? Did the sequel rip off the original movie?
The Characters
‘Living in Bondage’ had a good ending and didn’t require a sequel. People had forgotten all about the movie and nobody was expecting a sequel for it. We got it anyway.
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Inserting a son is a good way to write the sequel and they may have taken the wealth display parts too far. However, a villain is a pivotal component in a movie like this one and the sequel got one. Richard Williams, (Ramsey Nouah) is a genuine villain and his personality added a great deal to the movie.
The character Andy Okeke seems to have achieved better things in the sequel. A son and a life as a preacher for someone who was left with nothing at the end of the previous movie are not bad. The character also seemed wiser. Now, someone is hunting him and but he can’t be the bad guy anymore.
The Plots
‘Living in Bondage: Breaking Free’ is a sequel that honestly gives us something entirely new, but is still able to keep its original theme. They displayed a more modernistic way of being rich while following a ritual story.
Like the original movie shows, magic money complicates and tangles people in myth and aberration, mysteries and sexuality. Aside from the ritual theme, every other theme including the love interest for the Nnamdi Okeke (Swanky JKA) is a worthy embedment. The entire experience in the sequel is a lot for us.
What did they do wrong?
The sequel was a pleasure to watch, but they almost completely rip it off its Igbo language. ‘Living in Bondage’ was originally an Igbo movie and we wouldn’t have expected to have it in English this time. Only a few Igbo lines were said in the sequel.
Does this mean Igbo should be abandoned for modernity? After the controversy that arose last week over ‘Lionheart‘, we can’t complain if this one doesn’t make it to the Academy.
Nigerians are looking for something special to call their own and ‘Living in Bondage: Breaking Free’ seems to have given them that this year. But how do we balance the fact that English is still a borrowed language?
Except there is another sequel, nobody can really replicate what ‘Living in Bondage’ gave us in 1992 with a local language. After the sequel anyway, we demand more sequels in Nollywood.
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