I was little—a large-eared eavesdropper—when my Dad laughed with his friends in the parlor, and said, “Bóo láyà o ṣèkà, bóo rántí ikú Gá’à o s'òótọ́.”

I didn't understand then, not even when he brought home rented videocassettes (it was his custom) and one of them was the movie, “Basòrun Gá’à”, the one produced by Late Pa Adebayo Faleti in 2004, twenty years ago.

I asked questions. My Dad told me a short story. But my interest slipped. I was too young to grasp why anyone would have to first remember how an Òyó-Ilé warlord died to reconsider being evil.

I do now.

Bolanle Austen-Peters has once again refurbished history without totally losing the essence of history.

Her productions over the year point that out.

“Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti”, led by Kehinde Bankole, reminded the world that Funmilayo did way more than be the first woman to drive a bloody car in Nigeria.

And now, “House of Ga'a”, led by Femi Branch, is beating the gong of being level-headed and foresighted once absolute power comes to corrupt you absolutely.

“House of Ga'a” is the biopic of a despotic warlord in 18th-century Òyó Kingdom. He sipped power and overtook the Òyómèsì (“They Who Know the Answers”), kingmakers and king-droppers.

He installed kings and uninstalled them with the casualness of a mood swing. Those who refused to leave stopped living. Those who agreed to leave also stopped living. By his hand.

He sipped more power and placed his foot on any woman he wanted.

This desperately displeased his harem of established wives, especially his fierce and fearless Head Wife, Ayinba, a role interpreted by Funke Akindele.

But that was not even the beginning of his fall.

• PLOT:

The plot is a picaresque-ish biography. It happened for real in the 1800s in Òyó Kingdom of Southwest Nigeria. A power-drunk warlord climbed the seat of a member of the Òyómèsì and began to slash life out of people's throats. He had charms that he used for evil, and many wives that he used for his selfish urges. He also put his siblings and sons in the ruling cabinet of Yorùbáland empires.

I found the plot diluted and condensed at the same time. There was too much tweaking to “modernize” and “sensationalize” historical events, and too little time to effectively seduce us into swallowing it all.

I think the plot should have been episodic, a proper picaresque as I was taught in secondary school, rather than a prosodic run that gave too little show-time to make the happenings neater.

House of Ga'a is too delicious and intriguing and backstory-demanding a preparation for it to be confined to just about two hours of run-time. Maybe in the future, filmmakers will be more equipped to make miniseries out of historical stories that are too layered to be compressed.

• ACTING:

I think there's something about being in a star-studded cast that compels you to give your best as an actor. You certainly don't want to fuck up. Plus a story that heightened and tense would require everyone to be on their toes. No slacking!

So I totally get why the actors in House of Ga'a brought their A1 plus.

FEMI BRANCH in particular gave me touchable goosebumps throughout. He literally became Bashorun Ga'a. I have always been a bit ambivalent about his characters in movies but this one made me think (for some seconds) that he must be something of a tyrant in real life. He ate that good. I want him to rake in Best Male Lead Actor awards for this. Omo! There was a scene where he was mourning the death of one of his sons. Lord! Despite knowing the kind of coldhearted person Femi portrayed, I almost shed tears along with him in that scene. He really pulled me into his emotions.

A brilliant actor is one that listens to the director and sprinkles the exact amount of salt in their deliveries. This actor lets the director bring out their best for their role. And basically all the actors in this movie gave me that. What a delight to watch!

If there is one thing I have always admired FUNKE AKINDELE for, it is her determination not to overact and underact. She interprets her roles and scenes with just the specific dose of delivery. I noticed it in the scene where Femi Branch was ridiculing his brother in his ceremonial hut. She rose to plead with her husband and I almost did not notice her doing that until Femi Branch shouted at her in warning to stay off. One would expect, immediately she stood up, that she would rush forward or be louder in vocal projection “to capture the emergency of the moment”. But she did not. It became even more obvious in the scene where she was confronting Bashorun Ga'a in his courtroom. I kinda wanted her to speak more out of her outrage, to remove her headtie and clap and hoot and give me the overblown theatrics that scornful wives give their errant husbands. But she did not. She said what she was supposed to say, did what she was directed to do. And even though her dramatic oomph in that scene was as brief as a stolen kiss, it is one of the House of Ga'a scenes I can't stop reliving in my head.

Don't get me started on her facial acting and how her expressions fluidly switched along a spectrum of emotions. The scenes where Bibanke came to break the news of Agbonyin's death to her and the courtroom confrontation scene come to mind.

IBRAHIM CHATTA has always been a joy to behold, literally. His sonorous voice, his versatile blends, his general aura. If there is an actor I find underrated and steezy, it is my dear Ibrahim Chatta. His flowers had better come in bounteous bouquets!!!

TOYIN ABRAHAM was phenomenal, even if her screen time was rather lank and limited. One scene that stood out for me with her was the fight scene. I perked up to savor her only for it to be over in squeezed seconds.

MIKE AFOLARIN gave the best for that passionate rage role needed from his character. I literally felt his fury pump through the screen when he was with Sasa. He switched from meek and squeamish to dogged, smart and bloodlusty quite smoothly.

GABRIEL AFOLAYAN appeared quite briefly but because it was Gabriel Afolayan, he made sure he was unforgettable.

TOSIN ADEYEMI as the scheming Nupe slave was believable in both tone and mannerisms.

NIYI JOHNSON's delivery surprised me and it shouldn't have surprised me but it still surprised me.

JULIANA OLAYODE was fantastic as the favorite of the Senior Wife. I guess the chemistry between her and Funke Akindele contributed to it.

BRIDGET NKEM gave me a show even in her demureness. I loved it!

JIDE OYEGBILE—gosh, he was so fantastic that I HATED him!

FEMI ADEBAYO, SEUN AKINDELE, BIMBO MANUEL, PEJU OGUNMOLA, DELE ODULE, KUNLE COKER, GBENGA TITILOYE, YEMI BLAQ, ADEDIMEJI LATEEF, TEDDY-A AND BAMBAM—they all killed it.

Even ALI NUHU and STAN NZE who had little screen time left impact. Great score!

For me, everybody in that cast was memorable. Even the silent ones and the "barely noticed" ones. I particularly watched twice to confirm this. There were scenes where I looked out for people in the background to see if they were participating or just being unattached audience to other people acting. I was pleased to see that they were indeed participating.

That is what acting should be: being part of a make-believe even when you have no lines or close camera pans for your face.

• CHARACTERIZATION:

They did a wholesome number with the creations of the lead characters. All of them had motivations for what they did or did not do. All of them had convincing and realistic development arcs.

I will focus on two contrasts that I believe pushed forward the major lesson in this historical offering.

— Let me start with AYINBA, played by Funke Akindele. She was the strong female lead complement for the Bashorun Ga'a. Her character was needed but they failed in fleshing it out. Historically, in Yorùbá land, the wives of formidable men were often just as powerful as their husbands—sometimes, even more. And Ayinba held that fort. She respected her husband but she did not fear him. There was a scene where her husband's booming voice did nothing to stop her from what she was doing until he had to put his hands around her neck. Even with that, she did not stop making her case against his favorite while the other wives scampered for safety. This made me wonder if she had powers she was confident in that could match her husband's ruthlessness. Because he literally could have snapped her neck right there! Or was it the bane of familiarity, because she knew him the longest among the wives? But shouldn't that have even spurred her to be more reticent, less vocal, knowing how heinous her husband could be?

And then there was that invasion scene where she rallied all the wives together and gave them swords and they all faced the Aare's warriors in battle. Such fearlessness. Such protectiveness.

I liked the fact that her character wasn't a caricature. It wasn't thin and flat. They gave us her moments of weakness, despite her strengths. One minute, she's the wicked patriarchy princess bullying weak women. The next, she is weeping over her young dead sister-in-law. One moment, she is the capable Chief Wife running the affairs of the women in her husband's home, with children running to hug her. The next, she is throwing water on a woman just walking past. Then, before you can say “Na wa”, she is hugging her junior wives and teaching them how to stand up bravely and defend their lives.

They were ready to fight by her side and not run even after she fell in battle—despite her oppressive pedigree.

Such nuanced complexity and it made me connect to the character so much.

But they could have done more with it. (See WHAT I DID NOT LIKE section below for expatiation.)

Altogether, Ayinba's character was deeply satisfying and, at the same time, deeply unsatisfying.

— BASHORUN GA'A, played by Femi Branch, presented a different allegory.

In his own wave of oppression was no trace of communal wisdom or enduring kindness. He burned all bridges, even the bridges of ALÁÀFIN ABIODUN that he should have exploited, and his own beloved son, OYEMEKUN. He also failed to be attentive to his inner quarters. I believe if he had struck up a dialogue with Oyemekun rather than have him thrown in a cell, he would have known about Oyemekun's disgruntlement and motivations. But he didn't. Unlike his Chief Wife, he didn't befriend his household with appropriate discernment. He expounded energy on the wrong quarters. So when his end came, it was easy for him to be betrayed, abandoned and defenceless.

Perhaps our real immunity lies not in charms and fearsomeness. Perhaps we are only as protected as how we make the people who surround us feel about us.

• STORYTELLING:

Tunde Babalola wrote a fine story of faction.

Austen-Peters as usual did her best in directing to convey verity and verisimilitude with this reawakened project, as against the historical facts presented in Yorùbá history books and the first movie produced by Pa Adebayo Faleti.

And even though their attempt came off as lacking in some parts, the storyline of House of Ga'a still managed to rivet and delight me.

• WHAT I ENJOYED:

—I liked the humor. It is not easy to inspire laughter with such a tense story, but they did. Ayinba's scenes effected the necessary laughs. Aláàfin Majeogbe's scenes also made me cackle.

—I liked the casting. EVERYONE was thoughtfully selected. I couldn't switch any of them for someone else. They were born each for their role.

—I liked the voiceover, that it was done in clear Yorùbá rather than fussy English. I was ready to throw hands.

—I liked the fact that Austen-Peters made a callback of Funke Akindele in an epic movie. The last place I saw Funke Akindele in an epic Nollywood trope was “KUJENRA” where she played the eponymous Kujenra, a powerful horse-riding, arrow-shooting warrior who conquered patriarchy and dirty politics in her land. Before that, I had seen her only in EGG OF LIFE, AKO PEPEYE and her all-time fantastic production, “APAADI”. It was refreshing to see her again in HOUSE OF GA'A. I hope to see more of her in that light.

• WHAT I DID NOT ENJOY:

I wish they had fleshed out the female characters. There was so much potential. Edan Asiko in particular. She was the nepotistically installed Ìyálójà, and also Bashorun's favorite sibling, and was historically powerful and influential, so why were there no scenes attesting to that—except that weak fighting scene where she comically brandished a sword? I wish she had more time to shine.

Also, they missed the chance of passing a stronger message with Ayinba's character. I don't know how accurate this is in terms of history, but I feel Ayinba did not like her husband's despotism but wasn't given enough platform by the script to call him out on his wicked ways. They made her focus only on his philandering and she didn't even make him suffer directly for it; instead, another woman bore the brunt of her wrath, thus reinforcing the agenda that “women are women's enemies.”

Then the nudity scenes. Lord. And no, it's not because I am queer. I just felt they weren't tastefully done. They didn't give the female sexual power I wanted them to give. Instead, the idea felt like a feeble offering, and there was even a scene where the Bashorun literally scoffed at the show of breasts.

I cringed so much.

The same way I cringed at few gives of the makeup, VFX and CGI effects (even though, admittedly, they got it really right for most of the part).

Lastly, I disliked the overmodernization of the warrior costume. Historically, at the time of the story's settings, Òyó warriors did not wear such refined leather. They wore animal skin. And their sword-fighting/wrestling certainly did not have such ninja/tai chi suaveness.

I wanted Bashorun Ga'a's death to be realistically portrayed in the movie and to match what happened in history. What happened in history regarding his end, from the stories my dad told and what I found in the history books, was not accurate with what happened in the movie regarding his end.

I also wanted more incantations than fisticuffs because that's how ancient Yorùbá warriors fought.

And please, what was that Yorùbá being spoken by most of the supporting cast? Such Lagosian Yorùbá. Maybe they wanted it to be understandable for everyone watching without subtitles. Still, it grated the ears.

• SIDE COMMENTS:

—I can't get the scene where Funke Akindele, my versatile Southpaw, was flogging the shite out of the Nupe slave.

I definitely see her bodying wicked-witch roles usually reserved for the likes of Patience Ozokwo and Sola Sobowale!

• RATINGS:

I want to personally thank Bolanle Austen-Peters for revisiting these histories that we need to revisit, not just to document them to coming generations for the sake of identity but also to ensure that impactful lessons that concern the progress of all humanity don't fade out.

HOUSE OF GA'A is another towering achievement in teaching that:

“Tí ikú ilé ò bá pa'ni, t'òde ò lè pa'ni.”

(Calamity often besets a divided family.)

And—again—

“Bóo láyà o ṣèkà, bóo rántí ikú Gá’à o s'òótọ́.”

(If you are bold, do evil things. But when you remember how Ga'a’s life ended, choose to be honest and humane.)

All the cast and crew put in their best. It can only get better from here.

I had a good time!

Cheers to Nollywood and OUR STORIES!

SCORE: 8.5/10 (oh, it was too refreshing an experience to rate it anything below that)!