Lisabi: The Uprising 2024 Movie Review
The film opens with King Olodan being beaten and dragged to the Alaafin’s Palace after refusing to pay tribute. These tributes, which consist of money and farm produce, are collected from the people’s businesses. Enraged, the Alaafin orders King Olodan’s execution for his rebellion.
Songodeyi, the head of the tribute collectors and his subordinates terrorise the people of Egba land despite their loyalty to paying tributes. Beyond collecting payments, these collectors unleash further cruelty, often raping young women and killing anyone who dares to stand in their way.
Day by day, the oppression becomes worse and unbearable for the farmers and people of Egba. Oshokenu, a close friend of a hardworking farmer, Lisabi, witnesses a disturbing incident where the collectors take a businesswoman’s daughter away even after they take all her money.
Outraged, Oshokenu boldly questioned them, saying, “What is it? Why are you taking only women? Men ought to go with them, too.” Because of this statement, the tribute collectors marked his face. Oshokenu, a lazy farmer, decides to marry Abebi, a beautiful, light-skinned woman from Egba. He asks his friend, Lisabi, to help him win her over, and things progress smoothly as Abebi agrees to marry him.
The tribute collectors notice that Oshokenu is getting married, and they decided to cause him pain. They attack Abebi, the bribe, on her way to her husband’s house, and Songodeyi rapes her on the spot. Unable to bear the trauma and shame, Abebi tragically takes her life.
On hearing that the collectors have done something terrible to his bribe, Oshokenu is furious. Determined to take revenge, he sets out to kill Songodeyi. In the process, he manages to kill ten of the tribute collectors before being shot. With his dying breath, Oshokenu pleads with Lisabi, who runs to the scene, asking him not to let his blood be in vain.
Moved by his friend’s last words, Lisabi gathers the farmers and suggests they team up to farm for each other to give the collectors a lot of farm produce that will not cause them further harm. Lisabi, however, has an interior motive for uniting the people—uniting the people for a much larger uprising against their oppressors.
‘Lisabi the Uprising,’ directed by Niyi Akinmolayan, is a historical epic about Lisabi and the rise of the Egba people against the Oyo Empire. Although it is a biopic, it explores the themes of oppression, unity, hard work, and love.
Exploring biopics is uncommon in Nollywood, but it is an exciting way to tell history and pass a message. This film tackles political oppression between the leaders and the masses and how unity can liberate the people. The Uprising doesn’t just entertain; it educates and inspires.
From the film’s beginning, you can tell it will be a good watch, and you are impressed as you get to the end. The end is both surprising and brilliant, seeing that Lisabi succeeds in killing Songodeyi.
The creativity of the entire production, from the script writing to the plot, structure, settings, and props, is top-notch. Let’s not forget that a good storyline can have a bad execution, but ‘Lisabi the Uprising’ ate and left no crumbs.
Actors like Ibrahim Chatta and Lateef Adedimeji deserve an award for pulling out such performances. The actors did exceptionally well. From their emotions and performance, you can see that they are happy about the project and willing to immerse themselves into giving us a show to remember. This film is one to remember because you will always refer to the movie even after watching it.
The cinematography, lighting, camera angles, effects, and video quality are all excellent, giving the film a cinema vibe from start to finish. The makeup and costume are also commendable. The Egba accent is quite good, and much obvious work was put into achieving that. However, the actors can improve more on the accent in the next sequel, coming up in January 2025.
