It’s Christmas season, and when people heard that the Nollywood movie “A Naija Christmas” was out, there was excitement towards seeing a film that would usher us into the Christmas season.
However, we need to find out if the Netflix movie, A Naija Christmas actually set the pace for Christmas or an attempt gone wrong.
A Naija Christmas is the story of a woman who has three grown-up sons who, for some reason, have refused to get married. Their refusal to get married causes their mother heartache, mainly because a woman in her Church group is always bragging about grandchildren. Sadly, her second son, who even took a step by proposing to his girlfriend, was turned down publicly, which landed their mother in the hospital.
Desperate to have grandchildren, she tells her three sons that the first person to bring a woman home between then and Christmas day would inherit her multi-million naira house.
Naturally, this immediately breeds competition among the first two brothers. As for the last, he wasn’t interested.
The first one was in debt, and he wanted the house to sell it off, while the second son loved the house and always craved the idea of building a family in it.
The first son was ready to go any length to get the house, including becoming a church drummer to get the choir mistress whom the mother loved very much. Did he get the choir mistress? Did he get the house? Who eventually got married first?
Although not spectacular, the story isn’t a bad one. It was well thought out and beautifully delivered as well. For one, A Naija Christmas just made it obvious that one doesn’t have to do too much to deliver a good storyline. While still passing the message across, the story managed to embody the spirit of Christmas.
The directing wasn’t short of expectation, and knowing fully well how good Kunle Afolayan is as a director and filmmaker, the film was as good as predicted.
No doubt there are minor flaws that aren’t expected of a brilliant director like Kunle, but the overall output of the film would almost not make you notice some of these flaws. Also, how he managed to put a replica of Rachael Oniga in a scene that was shot after her death is highly commendable, and that shows how attentive to detail Kunle Afolayan is.
The acting was also excellent, and one would know the director carefully selected those he put in the film.
The synergy between the brothers was effortlessly, and their scenes were exciting to watch together. However, the synergy between Efa Iwara and his supposed best friend wasn’t there at all, and it makes one wonder if the characters are best friends.
However, Efa did an excellent job depicting his role as a nerd, and if you haven’t seen him in other movies, you would almost think that is how he is in real life. Another noteworthy actor is Adedimeji Lateef, who barely spoke throughout the film, but his presence was felt each time his scenes came up.
At the beginning of the movie, the music already set the Christmas pace, and although subtle, the whole film still had the Christmas vibe.
The production as a whole was a good one, and although some people would have wanted something that had more of the Christmas vibe, considering the title, A Naija Christmas is a good watch. It would get an 8/10.
