SUICIDE MISSION by Aladese Teniola A.

MOVIE: SUICIDE MISSION (1 & 2)
FILM REVIEW BY: ALADESE TENIOLA ADEBOSOLA
GENRE: Melodrama
RELEASE DATE: 1998
COUNTRY: Nigeria
LANGUAGE: English
THEME: intrigue
DIRECTOR: Fred Amata
PRODUCER: Sunny Collins
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Sunny Collins Nwatu, Ossy Okeke
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER: Teco Benson
SCREENPLAY: Teco Benson
STORY: Sunny Collins
MUSIC/ SOUNDTRACK: Stanley Okorie
CONTINUITY: Tony Wyse Inibu
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Solomon Nwoko
CAST: Richard Mofe- Damijo, Regina Askia, Ameze Imarhiagbe
DURATION: 114 mins

The movie starts with a dream that Austin ( Mofe-Damijo) is having. He was hanging under the bridge by a rope tied around his neck. A woman came out of the ocean and made some gestures and then the rope cut and he( Austin) fell into the ocean. He tells his wife, Winnie (Imarhiagbe) about the dream and she advices him to be careful.
Austin meets Monique ( Askia) at a friend’s place and Monique tells the friend’s wife, Tracy that she would like to date him. Tracy takes her to a herbalist and the herbalist instructs her on what to do and gives her a huge bottle which contains a miniature version of Austin. He tells her never to open the bottle and says that as long as she keeps it closed and hidden, Austin will do her every bidding. Austin starts neglecting his wife and even moves Monique into the house. Monique feels threatened and jealous of Winnie, and so decides to frame her. She steals some money from Austin and puts some in Winnie’s box. When Austin finds it, he flames up and throws Winnie out of the house.
Monique maltreats the children when their father isn’t around and the eldest child steals some money and sneaks his siblings out of the house. They live from hand to mouth, hawking in the streets. And then, the youngest child dies.
Austin starts to question Monique’s use of money. So, she decides to kill him in order to inherit his wealth. She goes back to the herbalist and he gives her a substance to put in his food. He explains that it will kill him slowly and that water must not touch it.
Immediately she leaves the shrine, rain starts to fall. She brings out the substance, and immediately turns mad.
Winnie is in a taxi when she sees her two children. She gets down from the taxi and runs to embrace them. When she hears that her youngest child is dead, she weeps.
Monique is found wandering the streets and Austin and his friends take her to a hospital, but the doctor confirms that there is nothing medically wrong with her. He advises them to take her to a church. A pastor (Patrick Doyle) is called, he prays for Monique and she becomes well again. After the pastor advises her to. She confesses. She is told to go and bring the bottle, but as she does so, she is scared, and drops it by mistake. She immediately turns into a dog and runs out of the house. The pastor congratulates Austin, saying the worst is over.

In a dream, an angel appears to Winnie and tells her to go back to her husband.
Austin is shown, writing a letter. He is about to commit suicide. He explains how much he loves his wife and how sorry he was for what he did to her.
He gets up on the chair, ties the rope around his neck, and leaps off the chair, he starts to choke. Miraculously, the rope cuts, and he falls to the ground. His wife and children and their pastor, immediately enter. Winnie picks the letter up and reads it. Crying, she walks towards him and hugs him. She then motions for the children to come. They embrace and the pastor rejoices, thanking God in the background
CINEMATOGRAPHY
SHOTS: Effective use of close-up, extreme close-up, medium shot, long shot
ANGLE: Use of mid angle at various times, also, high angle and low angle.
CAMERA MOVEMENT: Horizontal , vertical and interior movements were used.
CAMERA SPEED: Effective use of normal motion
TRANSITION: Use of cuts and dissolve
MAKE UP: Dagogo Diminas
SET DESIGNER: Dagogo Diminas
FLAWS: There were some scenes in the film when the boom microphone in the movie was showing.
Monique explained that she went back to the herbalist to concoct something to kill Austin, but different herbalists were used.
PERSONAL ASSESSMENT: Considering that this movie was produced in 1998, it was a good movie for that era. The storyline was good and it proves the law of karma-what goes round must surely come round. Once you do evil, you will get evil in the very end.
The visuals in the beginning where he was hanging was very poor, but overall, the movie is a good one, and it definitely is a classic.