A Tade Ogidan Film, A Grand Media Projects Production presents Kunle Remi (Chika), Gabriel Afolayan (Wale), Richard Mofi-Damjo (Mr. Esho), Sola Sobowale (Mrs. Grace Esho), Tina Mba (Magistrate), Nobert Young (Anta), Rycardo Agbor (Capon), Ali Baba (Mr. Manuel), Cinematography, Jonathan Gbemuotor; Executive Producers, Adeyeloye Lipede; Lyanju Lipede, Richard Mofi-Damijo; Producer and Screenwriter, Tode Ogidan; Associate Producer, Richard Mofi-Damijo, Sola Sobowale, Teju Babyface, Francis Orwochei, Victoria Odiomba, Kunle Afolayan, Judith Ogodu. Executive Producer, Yanju Lipede, Adeyeloye, Lipede, Richard Mofi-Demajo, Moses Babatope. © 2019
Gold Statue, gold statuette, figurine. They are all the same. Now you know why the Gold Statue (Yeye), has echoes of Kunle Afolayan’s Figurine. The Figurine story made Ramsey Nouah the most sadistic character ever brought by Nollywood into our living rooms. The bespectacled Femi and his NYSC buddy Sola stumbled upon a statue as they forage in the foliage for food or something. And they found a mythical figure, Araromire, hardly knowing what the value of the ugly figurine meant. With their Western education and little knowledge of their tribe, they dismissed the ugly chalky ‘thing’ like any other. Soon, the chalky thing changed their fortunes for the better for seven years. Afterward, the same chalky thing meted on them untold misery as the oracle dictated.
According to a teacher, Wale and Chike learn of the lost gold statue in the land from their class. White Europeans have all come looking for this all-gold statue worth billions of dollars in today’s currency. So naturally, Wale and Chike get agitated and dream of finding the missing statue. However, they perceived it would be a daunting adventure; as a matter of fact, Wale’s grandfather had a haphazard story about the figure. The one-time campus-father of Wale, Bryan (Kalu Ikeagwu), who had become a former museum curator, volunteers to help them find the statue for a share.
Wale and Chike have to stage a heinous crime, as per the advice of Bryan, the curator, and that got Wale almost burnt alive in a staged up robbery. Chike rescues him from the vigilante and barely survived by jumping into a pool. He got locked up with the worst criminals one could imagine, in a facility, the friend had told them the gold could be buried. By and by, Wale’s partner from the NYSC, Chike, had bribed his way to work in the prison facility, and he is the contact man for Wale to the outside world.
By connivance, Chike and Wale found their way into the prison facility. Wale as a prisoner; Chike as an NYSC assigned prison assistant. They got the prison mates to plan to escape from the prison. They intended to find the gold, which they eventually did. Besides drawn-out controversies with the prison mates and Warder, Anta (Nobert Young), they finally pulled out of the cave the billion-dollar worth of ancient statue hidden in the crevice of the old city of Ilesha.
At first, it appears like the two men are generous enough to give over the statue to the National government, and they put the gold statue on display in the middle of the city. Then, they got interviews from tv reporters, other news media outlets. The Governor of State where the statue is found wants the benefits of the gold statue for his State. In the end, we see this will be ‘finders, keepers’ for the two gentlemen. The Dubai gold merchants who had financed the excavation ended up doing business with Chika and Wale and their cronies. Chike and Wale board the plane to….
Gold Statue didn’t fall far from The Figurine tree. Kunle Afolayan’s younger brother, Gabriel Afolayan, co-star with Kunle Remi, just as he, Kunle, co-starred with the looney and bespectacled Ramsey Nouah in The Figurine. Seeing Wale sitting on the tree stump with his glasses reminds anyone who has seen The Figurine of Femi, looking straight at Sola’s intended wife in the bun fire scene spells nothing of his character other than menace. The difference here is that the characters in the earlier film, The Figurine stumbled on the goddess Araromire. Rather than intentionally go on a hunt like the unforgettable characters—Allan Quartermain and Sir Henry Curtis, in the legendary King Solomon’s Mines. Gold Statue characters cleverly plot their mission to explore the old city where now sits the most dangerous prison in the land.
Both The Figurine and Gold Statue characters are recruited from the NYSC. That is all good since students with curious minds are always, not precisely so, found within the hallowed walls of academic institutions. Many films from Nollywood prove to back this statement. George Orwell did say in his collective essays, All Art Is Propaganda. Nollywood must be glorifying the presence and propagating the existence and benefits of the NYSC institution. I have seen it made a man out of Olubankole Wellington (Bassey) in Up North, for instance.
Considering its nearness to its predecessor, The Figuring, which in essence helped me understand the enterprise at hand, Gold Statue didn’t have much to offer my critical mind and eyes. In other words, Gold Statue is not a high-concept film. Of course, I laughed at the agitation of my old girl, Grace (Sola Sobowale). Her name is romantically glorified by her husband, Mr. Esho (Richard Mofi-Damijo). In one instance, and out of reverence, he calls her ‘Gracie.’ She carried the movie to the level we haven’t seen in her acting since King Of Boys. She’s in a pickle at one point for her son, Wale, imprisoned with the worst criminals in the land. In another instance, she’s on the phone to tell her church members about her son being a celebrity when he discovered the gold statue. The two-dimensional characters she plays in this film are noteworthy.
When a name-brand character you knew starts playing fatherly roles in films, their days must be numbered. I’m not proposing Richard Mofi-Damijo must pack his bags and baggage now out of Nollywood, no. He still has good years of juice left in him. Yet it sure comes upon a time, though, when the camera gets weary of the same old face. What about Anayo Modestus Onyekwere, Zack Orji, Chiwetalu Agwu, Jide Kosoko, Pete Edochie, Things Fall Apart fame? These actors once frequented the Nollywood screen but rarely so today. Hence, Mofi-Damijo’s role here is not quite one-tenth of screen time.
Gold Statue is a Nollywood fruit that didn’t fall far from The Figurine tree. Watch The Figurine first before watching the Gold Statue; maybe you can stumble on a code hidden in Tode Ogidan’s literary crevice!