Lionheart: Of Family, Culture, and Industry

The Obiagus

(By Obianuju Okafor) - Enugu takes centre stage in Genevieve Nnaji’s directorial debut with lighting and colouring made to reflect the mood and feel of the town. It is one of the things that Lionheart gets right from its beginning and the first sign that the audience is about to get a film that mixes the technical improvements that have attended more recent Nollywood releases with a more old school, locally flavoured, story, and (this bears stating right of the bat) superb, superb acting.

Adaeze is an adept and excellent right hand for her father in the bus transport empire that he has built. When his health is severely threatened, Adaeze’s assumption that she will be appointed as the acting leader is disappointed by the arrival of her uncle who is then appointed in her place, and whose presence initially irks her. Still, the two band together to solve a problem left by her father and compounded by the owner of a rival transport company, who hopes to make a gain from their troubles. Ada slowly has her perspective changed as she interacts more with her uncle and comes to the end of her own rope.

Lionheart is a slowburn, walking leisurely through every occurrence even when a clock is introduced to heighten the stakes. Genevieve Nnaji is a great lead as Adaeze giving a great and completely unforced performance and leaving room enough for the roster of other veterans to shine.

Pete Edochie, who plays Ernest Obiagu, is given room to reprise his much beloved legend status as the unloader of stately wisdom. Nkem Owoh (Godswill) still delivers lines and executes mannerisms that make for pure comedy. Onyeka Onwenu’s voice is a joy to watch and listen to in the few scenes that she appears, and Kanayo O Kanayo – though underserved in writing – gives his very best in depicting the antagonist character.

The challenges to cultural beliefs that Lionheart presents are subtle – from a daughter who has her father’s ear on business matters, to a son who is confident enough to stick up for his unorthodox career choice to a table of elders, and to elders who by the way show throughout the film that they have a capacity to listen to and even follow the lead of younger people. Also of worthy note is the fact that every main conflict that the female lead character faces in this film is connected to her work and every other character mostly respects this.

All of these little points join up to make Lionheart a really good film, but it is elevated from good to special by a dining table scene that presents some of the most refreshing and compelling dialogue that has ever appeared in a Nigerian film. This special film is worth all the controversy that it took to get here because at the end it will manage to leave a smile on the lips of many people.

From us at Sodas ‘N’ Popcorn HQ, Lionheart earns a Popcorn and Soda.

Lionheart: Produced and Directed by Genevieve Nnaji

Cast: Genevieve Nnaji, Pete Edochie, Nkem Owoh, Onyeka Onwenu, Phyno, Peter Okoye

This review was written by our film critic, Obianuju Okafor

Obianuju is a freelance content writer who has an avid interest in Nollywood. She has training in film-making from The School of Media and Communication, Pan Atlantic University and the Afriff 2016 scriptwriting workshop, which enables her to gab knowledgeably about what works and does not in Nollywood films.

You can follow her on Facebook here; and if you enjoyed the post, you can read more of her writings here.