It is more difficult to be thrilled when seeing a historical movie because you are most likely familiar with the storyline. Interestingly, some filmmakers have put effort into making historical movies so fascinating to watch that you would feel like you have never seen the story before.
Sadly, some people other filmmakers haven’t been able to achieve this. As for the Nollywood movie “AMINA”, what category does it fall into? The good or the bad?
Nollywood movie “Amina” is a historical movie of the famous story of Queen Amina of Zauzau. The film pictured her life as a young girl, capturing her battles, her love life and her pains. Amina had always been a tough child who fought for justice and could face anyone. Fortunately, she had a father who loved her very much and would go to any length to protect she and her sister Zaria.
She chose to pick a friend in one of the slaves who is also the cousin of Prince Danjuma, a prince of one of the captured neighbouring cities, and although for some reasons, her friendship with her slave friend turned sour, Amina still loved her till the end. The story is that of betrayal, the quest for power, love, loyalty and destiny. The big question is; Did Amina eventually fulfil her destiny? What did she have to lose for that to come to pass?
The energy in the first scene is enough to make anyone curious of what the movie is bringing. The soundtrack and the fight in the first scene and how the characters were introduced are enough to make you keep watching. But, again, not every film have been able to pick up that fast pace at the beginning. Well, for those who have been able to, they deserve an applaud.
The directing is fantastic, and the fight scenes especially, looked real. And then the selection of actors was just perfect. It was seamless and one could literally read the expressions on their faces. Truth be told, they did a great job in interpreting the character. The little Amina is such a beautiful actor and she specifically embodied that role well, even as a little girl.
For the storyline, in as much as the history is a well known one, the writer knew exactly what part of Amina’s life would interest people and went for it. The twists, the high moments, the low moments and even the tragedy was well scripted. Truly, the writer proved that watching a historical movie can keep you glued like you never heard the story before.
At the beginning of the movie, an inscription states, “at a time when women were subjugated”. However, there was nothing in the movie that portrayed that they subjugated women. In fact, the King mentioned that they usually protect their women in Zauzau. So, what was the writer thinking?
The cinematography, set, makeup and costume also did a good job, making the movie more colourful to watch.
In all, Amina is a good watch and is one you wouldn’t mind watching over and over. The ratings, yeah? It is definitely getting a 9/10
