Ever watched a film where one character is so vile, so evil, so wicked, so iniquitous? Lisabi the uprising manged to rile me up to the pits of my anger, stirred all my feelings of empathy, made me laugh, made me cringe and to some extent a few moments felt lacking too.
Lisabi is a historical drama which is loosely based on the legendary Lisabi rebellion of the late 18th centuryin the Oyo empire. It was a Yoruba empire in present day Southern Benin and Western Nigeria where the Egba people led by Lisabi rose up against the king due to the oppresive rule. To date, there is a Lisabi festival to celebrate the Egba heritage!
This film is directed by Niyi Akinmolayan , produced by Adebimpe Oyebade AKA Mo Bimpe and Victoria Akujobi. It is written by Yinka OLaoye and Niyi Akinmolayan. Lisabi came out in 2024 September and the sequel comes out in January 2025.
Let me just start with the best part of this film. The acting!! Ibrahim Chatta made me abhore the ruthless Songodeyi by how well he played the character. His smirk and his dry laugh constantly annoyed the hell out of me. I got angry everytime his scene came and I expected something callous from him. As one article stated, this man left no room for improvement!
Lisabi on the other hand played by Lateef Adedimeji also had a great performance. His character was calm, calculative and strong. He carried the protagonist role really well. I kept screaming inwardly at him, save your people! Other characters like Abebi, the Alaafin and Oshokenu also gave good performances. It safe to say that all the actors in this film delivered but Ibrahim devoured his role!
The production quality of this film is honestly impressing. Since the film is based on happenings in the 18th century, the set had to be built to look and feel like that time. The set design was undoubtedly a ten out of ten. I certainly believed we were in the 1800s. Wardrobe and make-up did not dissapoint at all! The costumes and adornment represented the Egba people. However, the most outstanding department in this film is the special effects department. When a scene was bloody, it was damn bloody. The cuts, the bruises, the murders all looked lifelike. The head though.. perhaps we shouldn’t have zoomed in that close but it didn’t bother me as much.
Being a Yoruba film, the scores were really good. Original and with emotion. Though I do not understand the language, it made me feel the suspense , the sadness and the happiness. I believe the producers of this film were quite meticulous in these departments because the results speak for themselves. When a scene was pensive, the music was there to make us feel that, when it was happy, the music was there! The film is in Yoruba with English subtitles. I know not all the actors were Yoruba so I wonder if Yoruba speaking people can hear a disctinct difference in accent and pronunciation.
When it comes to cinematography, I would say it is quite decent. What was a bit off the rails for me was the editing style used. There was a lot of slo-mo effects use in the film. Now I know the intention was probaly to give a dramatic effect but they certainly went overboard. A little goes a long way. The Introduction of the Alaafin at the beginning of the film was quite dramatic only for us to see him in the film three four times.Although I do have a feeling that we shall see more of him in the sequel. Overall, the story is marvelous save for a few subplots that were introduced and killed in the middle of the story which leaves one thinking if they really had to be there.
I watched Lisabi probably three nights ago and I am still thinking about it. It certainly has a lasting effect. The film topped the Nigerian Netflix chart three days after it’s release. Can’t wait for the sequel to come out so that I can see how the Alaafin reacts and to see how Lisabi conquers the Oyo Empire.
Lisabi: The uprising scores a 7.8 out of 10.
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