24-7 Technology, in association with 3D AssociatesUK Ltd, Present: Omotala Jalade (Suzie); Hakim Kazim (Adesola); Jim Ike (David); Ali Nuhu (Dan); writer, producer, and director, Obi Emolonye; Screenplay, Obi Emelonye; Director of Photography, James Costello; Producer, Charles Thompson; Executive Producer, Celine Loader; Director, Obi Emelonye.
Every good movie as a literary material has a subtext. This movie exhibits life as a continuous paradox and contradictions. In all, man is always the loser in the face of whatever God, or whatever you believe in, in manipulating your hour, your day or your tomorrow. It is a big joke on the human race. The tragic flight to Abuja is a microcosmic setting and a cosmic irony of a tale. Imagine Suzie (Omotala Jalade) returning to Abuja on the last flight, broken hearted from visiting a philandering fiance in Lagos; a dozen NTS staff on an all expense paid fun weekend trip to Abuja on Flamingo flight 212; a reluctant old man forced by his companion wife for a medical visit to Abuja on the same flight, and Jimmy in the company of his Arsenal agent to Dubai via Abuja on Flamingo flight 212. All different backgrounds, same fate.
The incident before and during the crash of Flamingo flight 212 to Abuja is a cosmic irony of how our hopes and dreams are shattered asunder by a power well beyond us. Am I preaching philosophy here? A staff of TNS dozed off in the arms of his wife and therefore missed the flight. Another staff couldn’t easily break from the arms of his daughter who didn’t want her father to go, but when he does so , the plane has already left. Susie buys a bootleg ticket to make the flight; Adesola bribes his way to make the trip without proper identity. For those who made this trip and for those who didn’t, it’s all life’s irony, an irony at a cosmic level in our lives.
If there’s any movie that covers cosmic irony from Nollywood, that movie must be “Last Flight To Abuja.” When the thirty passengers board Flamingo Flight 212 bound for Abuja, most of them are looking forward to a weekend of relaxation, to put behind the last disappointment in Lagos, get medical attention in Abuja and to hop on another airline for Dubai to sign up a football contract. Then smoke, then turbulent and then….
Stewardess: “All passengers, take brace position!”
Captain (to flight control): “Fire on board, I repeat fire on board!”
Flight Control (to pilot): “Climb down 1700 ft, while we get engineer!”
Captain (to air control); “We cannot stay airborne for that long!”
Air Control (to captain): “Turn left 04-04!”
Captain (to his wife at home): “Love you, Gina!”
There’s pandemonium in the cabin of Flamingo flight 212…
Human experience even in the face of tragedy has a certain level of comedy.
Jimmy: “This can’t be my portion…to be on the verge of greatness, only to have it snatched away from me in a plane crash!”
David (to Suzie): “Promise me if we survive this, let’s go out on a romantic date together!”
Suzie (to David, her head in bracing position): “I don’t even know you!”
David (to Susie): “I just want you to know it’s been an absolute pleasure knowing you!”
Wife (to the husband): “ If this is how it’s going to end…at least we’re together!”
When the plane crash-lands in the fields a short distance from Ilorin airstrip, all passengers are whisked away except Adesola (Hakeem Kazim) got left in the inferno.
This movie achieves what they call paradox of human experience, indeed both tragic and comic in effect. An allegory. One is tickled to laugh at the comic manner of passengers yelling for their dear lives, their desperate prayers and all, but at the same time we are on the flight with them and we experience the panic in the face of a tragic death. Fine movie to watch.