NIMBE — A Visual Decode of Vulnerable Teenage Boys (Movie Review)
Vulnerability is not weakness, but a perfectly normal human expression that requires love and careful guidance.
Nimbe is 110 minutes film directed by Tope Alake that takes us through the journey of an intelligent teenage boy dealing with physical & verbal abuse, bullying and societal expectations of what he is supposed to be and the traits he must embody until he later finds succour in a world of drug abuse, organized crime and violence.
Featuring an ensemble cast including Chimezie Imo, Odunlade Adekola, Toyin Abraham, Kelechi Udegbe, Sani Danja, Rachel Okonkwo and a host of others; Nimbe had a closely accurate blend of a suitable cast that made it easy to tell the story cohesively.
Chimezie Imo who portrayed the lead character, Nimbe, put on stellar performance taking us through varying yet believable emotional ranges, Uduak, (Nimbe’s mother) played by Toyin Abraham was a scene stealer with her Akwa Ibom/Cross River dialect, it would have taken a lot of work for her to pull that off and absolute professionalism for cast members in the same scene with her not to burst out laughing during filming.
Odunlade Adekola and Kelechi Udegbe also gave brilliant performances. Not forgetting the Ralph character, who showed a lot of promise and potential for growth in Nollywood. Broda Shaggi would give you a good run for your money with his ever-flowing hilarious lines and a major chunk of the supporting characters were able to make decent deliveries coupled with proper directing.
In spite of the heavy comical infusions in the film, it wasn’t overdone, Yakubu Olawale and Ronke Gbede, the writers of Nimbe as well as the director Tope Alake were still able to drive home the core message and essence of the film lucidly expressing how boys don’t have it all together and desperately need the right mentorship and support from family. Nimbe had a couple of dramatic sequences which were efficiently expressed. Big ups to Tope Alake.
Though, there was no prior inquiry or investigation that was traced to the antagonist, it seemed a bit quick for the policemen to see a dead body and just make use of dialogue to say something like “We have to catch Mr A”. Asides that, there was no irrelevant scene as every action was taking us somewhere though sometimes you had to wait to find out where.
The story also addressed some other sub themes such as academic pursuit, talent, sexual consent, drug abuse and the impact of family separation/broken marriages etc.
Another thing to commend was the production design of Nimbe, which really helped bring out the look and feel of the entire film, all but one locations in the film were perfect which is still pretty impressive. However, if a child locks his room, why should his mother be knocking the central door that also leads to other parts of the house?
There was a writing or probably an editing oversight where Nimbe was reminiscing on words from his teacher about working harder to keep his grades up but many scenes later the actual dialogue came up in the film. Well, mistakes happen.
Nimbe didn’t compromise on production quality as its pictures were clear and it can boast of smooth editing transitions from scene to scene but there was a shot in the house of the major antagonist that didn’t match the colour grading of the entire scene. All these can be forgotten because the story was original and would resonate with a lot of people.
In retrospect, Nimbe is a story that should have been told much earlier, we need more films like this that set out to change the narrative and create a mind shift on “ideal” societal expectations. I’d rate the movie a 3.8 over 5. You should see it in the cinemas.
A good job to the entire cast and crew of Nimbe!
