Scene one Productions presents Funke Akindele Bello (Lefty), Chioma Akpotha (Chummy Choko), Eniola Badmus (Busty), Bimbo Thomas (Nikky), Deyemi Okanlawon (Stone), Alex Ekubo (Obi Wire), Akah Nnani (Mario), Zubby Michael (Aza), Ayo Makum (Dafi), Blossom Chukwujekwu (Inspector Dede), Tina Mba (Mrs. Benson) Femi Jabobs (Fred). Directors, JJC. Skillz/ Funke Akindele Bello; Director of Photography, John Demps; Executive Producers Abdul Rasheed Bello; Producer, Wendy Imasuen; Script, Funke Akindele Bello/Yina Adebayo/Collins Okoh. ©2020
I am reviewing the third Nollywood film about twins. Jealous War (2015), where the excellent twin Franklin is murdered, mistaking him for the criminal type. Ini Edo and Mike Enzruonye play the lead. It is a tragic story. Before Omo Ghetto-the Saga story, the last film is Darima’s Dilemma (2014). A happily married identical twin, Darima (Bong Amata), gets killed in a car wreck while having a rendezvous with a boyfriend. Her sister Desi, avoiding exposure, impersonates her marriage. It’s not easy. Desi must have known if Joshua (Majid Michel), the husband, needs sugar in his coffee. She must know the proper darling names for the husband and not ‘Joshua.’ But if you are looking for an evening thrill from Nollywood, Omo Ghetto-the Saga carries the cake. It will make you laugh until the curtain is down.
The electricity in Omo Ghetto-the Saga is charged and hot-wired with the opening scene of a fourteen-year-old boy tripping and falling by Lefty’s car as she stands by. The fourteen-year-old boy is a drug courier for Mogambo, a drug supplier in the Askamaya ghetto. Two police officers are in hot pursuit of him. As he fights over the backpack with Lefty, drugs and money spill unto the ground, and he runs away. Here is a story; not even the Bibi Bright’s posse and Prince David Osei’s hoodlums could surpass the Askamaya Bees and Stone’s squad of hackers.
Lefty (Funke Akindele Bello) is a ghetto outlaw who represents the female gang in the Askamaya Bees in the ghetto. Mogambo, the drug supplier, wants to shoot Lefty for the money she would have supposedly gotten, believing Lefty took from the boy. Stone (Deyemi Okanlawon), a notorious computer hacker in the ghetto of Askamaya, saves her. Stone is the love of Lefty even as he uses her to earn money from her wealthy mother, Mrs. Benson (Tina Mba).
Stone and his gang hire prostitutes to get AY Pomping (Tobi Makinde) and his laptop and get them drunk, and in the process, one of AY’s IT cohorts falls on a sharp object and kills himself. Stone and his gang scamper from the room, taking away the laptop and AY’s phone, later found in Lefty’s car. Despite the warnings by Lefty’s friends to stay away from Stone, which she stubbornly refuses, Stone’s girlfriend from abroad gets in town for a visit. The Askamaya Bees kidnap her to show loyalty to Lefty’s when they proudly present Rose to her.
Stone and his yahoo boys have made a big haul of $500,000 and collected it by their connection in Malaysia. Seemingly, the collector has double-crossed them. Stone is furious, “If I get that guy, I will kill him!” Stone has one more hope in Rose to give him money for his mother’s hospital bill. That too fails when Lefty and her Askamaya Bees kidnap Rose. “If we weren’t eating and living together, I would have taken your intestines and fed you with them.” Stone belched out at Mario when he found out that he was the one passing information to Lefty and the Askamaya Bees. In an obligatory scene, Stone could tell Lefty:
“I have been managing your business for years. I’m calling this thing off. But I am done with you. I may look gentle, but please don’t test me.”
Lefty is still in love with her man, Stone, despite the warnings her friends give her:
“Femi Stone, this isn’t fair. You put a stolen phone from a murder scene in my car, and I got arrested and thrown in a cell. Yet, I didn’t mention your name. I came out to meet the salt of my life, and I hear you’re about to marry a White woman.”
Rose, the American yahoo girlfriend of Stone, is his last financial hope. When the Askamaya Bees kidnap Rose and tell her about Stone and the kind of scammer he is, she is disappointed and refuses to do anything with him. In his greediness to make money and left with no option, Stone stumbles on Lefty’s twin sister, Ayomide, in the ghetto of Askamaya. In a fightback to recover from the loss, Stone kidnaps Ayomide, Lefty’s twin sister.
The structure of this comic drama is remarkable. Lefty is from a wealthy family in the Estates. She finds happiness only when she comes to the Askamaya ghetto. With a beautiful soul, she caters to the needs of ordinary people, brings them food and clothing, and warns parents to take good care of the kids. She is, however, despised by her adopted mother, Mrs. Benson, and twin sister for her wayward life. Through her effort, though, the writers come to a stunning conclusion of the story. Besides Lefty’s unfettered love for Stone, she still goes after him to save her twin sister from Stone’s grip, and they go mano-a-mano. The two ghetto matadors would have to go at it.
I commented on the beautiful structure element in Hoodlums (2011), a recommended Ghallywood ghetto movie. It is excellent in an immense sense, but Omo Ghetto-the Saga has excellence in its organization. In Hoodlums, the ghetto story from Ghallywood, which features Prince Osei, is based on an act of vengeance. In an open fight, Bibi Bright, the protagonist, goes mano-a-mano with the antagonist, Prince Osei, to settle a score. Bibi Bright comes back to Asadu after five years in prison for the murder of a man she didn’t kill. Prince killed the man for his cellphone, and Bibi had come to the help of the dying man when police caught her.
Femi Stone is the adversary and the villain in this drama. As an adversary, Stone uses the goodness of Lefty for his gains. He and his gang of hackers, including Obi Wire (Alex Ekubo), Aka Nnani (Mario), and Aza (Zubby Michael), in association with Inspector Dede, live by scamming everyone, including Lefty, for money. Femi has no redeemable character traits. His character is opposed to Lefty. He is callous, greedy, jealous, and can’t get enough of anything. He wants to be rich by hook or crook so bad. Consider his force to get closer to AY at the club and the meanness and jealous look at the boy. His security won’t let him go closer to a fellow Yahoo gentry. The next time he arranged with prostitutes to drug AY and his gang to get his yahoo-yahoo laptop, and in the process, one of AY’s gang members died.
We want to believe that the character of Lefty is perfect. Well, not without a flaw that affected her relationships in the story. Her friends warned her about Femi. Chummy says to her, “Stone is cursed. If I ever get him, I’m going to beat him up!” Busty, “Stone is a piece of shit!” Nikky, “You must break up with him!” She cried and pulled her hair when she found out about the white woman. And because of her unfettered love for him, she couldn’t pause one bit to consider the person with who she was in love. At last, Femi Stone kidnaps Lefty’s sister. The antagonist and protagonist face each other in a showdown, just as the gang leader of Asadu in Hoodlums has to contend with Bibi Bright. Beautiful structure.
Despite the beautiful dramatic structure of this movie, I must not forget to mention the comedic nature. I rolled out of my chair, laughing, seeing Mrs. Benson and her friends dancing after partaking in the fried rice decked with marijuana Lefty’s friends brought to the party. The lady with the enormous boobs dancing to the camera, the one was bowing down to the musician, and even Mrs. Benson letting it all down. That scene takes it all. Lefty’s adopted mother never appreciated her, but she made her sixtieth birthday memorable.
My admiration of the writers stems from Lefty and Femi Stone as leads. They keep carrying the story forward scene after scene. And every stage is sure to keep you laughing. The Askamaya Bees are up to some nuisance and having fun. Stone and his boys, the gang of losers desperate to make money, are up to another criminal ploy—a beautiful comedy to book.
They call me the gangster of love/ If I give you the key to my heart and you break it, then just know I’m never changing up. Heart of gold and some brass knuckles/ A good time, but I’m a bad motherfucker/Sugar sweet, but I’ll put a lick up on a sucker /Hurt me, I bet you’ll never hurt another/ I told you they call me the gangster of love. Aiyana-Lee Gangster of Love.