2024 was indeed a cultural uplifting moment for Nigerians, especially the Yorubas. Nollywood filmmakers took into consideration making movies that talk about Yoruba culture from our perspective.
They dug into history, leaving the stories into consumable visual forms for the audience. And each time you’re watching these movies, it is indeed a head swell moment for you because of its reference to culture.
From historical movies to biographical movies of Yoruba pacesetters, we were indeed overwhelmed by a lot of Yoruba cultural based movies this year. The fact filmmakers did not get swooned by the age of modernity is really admirable. Focusing on cultural stories when they could be cooking up something more in vogue was indeed patriotic.
Dive down with me as we list top movies that made this year one of cultural awakening.
Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti
Seyi Lasisi in his movie review for Afrocritik says, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti is riddled with ideological and political moments, the film casually slips into a comical atmosphere for audiences. The writing occasionally fades the tense situation by subtly instilling comical situations and dialogues. From a historical perspective, what the film gets perfectly is the kinship between the Alake’s oppression of the women and the British Empire’s oppression of Africans.
Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti was a sensation among women because it was a moment of being seen. A lot of women folks who have only heard the feats of Ms Kuti were able to resonate with her. At the time the film was released, the matriarch was indeed a role model for all.
The movie did not only talk about Ms Funmilayo but also the colonial era and also some cultural themes that needed reforms at that time. The movie rates 8.5/10 on IMDb. The storyline written by Tunde Babalola was applauded by a lot of movie critics and it even won the award for the best script at the last AMVCA 2024. Also applauded was the lead actress, Kehinde Bankole’s acting which was a sensation and had a gripping effect on watchers.
Bolanle Austen- Peters’ House of Ga’a
House of Ga’a was one of this set of movies for this year. It explored the cultural story of Bashorun Ga’a, a chief who imposed himself on the government. However, the movie did little justice to the historical happening because of the overly abridged plot. While, newbies to the plot story might find the movie good, people conversant with Yoruba history will criticize the movie for its plot structure.
In some way, the movie was a great one and was a sensation in the Nigerian movie space for days. The actors really wore into their characters and gave life to characters we knew through history. Ibrahim Chatta and Femi Branch’s acting were stunning. Femi Branch carried his role so deep that one would have thought he was Bashorun Ga’a ‘s reborn. The dialect and language spoken by the actors fit into the time setting of the movie. This is a very laudable feat which shows the intentionality of filmmakers when making the movie
Lisabi: The Uprising
This is one of the great historical movies of 2024. The visual quality of the movie was superb as it showed how far we have gone in Nollywood in producing great movies. It explored so many cultural themes of marriage, monarchy, checks and balances in the Old Oyo Empire and supernatural fortification.
Niyi Akinmolayan’s directed movie garnered a lot of attention because of the emotionality and sympathy it was able to draw from the audience.
The plot exposition of the movie checked out as it maintained a steady pace in telling its story. The story was brought to life by jaw dropping acting talents by Ibrahim Chatta , Adedimeji Lateef , Adebowale Adedayo popularly known as Mr.Macaroni and lots more.
