₦airaland Forum

Baddestguyp:
Lol...
Characters who are goody-two-shoes are annoying...

Personally I prefer good characters who are capable of cold logic. They can tell the logical thing to do is to end that villain

oyaskii:
That S1 sold me dreams fr 😩....glad i have been able to form the habit of dropping media that no longer serves my interests, no matter how high profile they may seem on paper...

I might get around to this S3 sometime in the future or not even, it's not a priority anymore... can't be arsed tbh.

Gmajor:
[/b]Breath of Life (2023)

Last December, I decided to dive into some of Nollywood’s most acclaimed movies to see what the hype was all about. Two films stood out from 2023: Breath of Life and A Tribe Called Judah. Both were commercial and critical darlings, so I downloaded them, ready to be impressed.

Breath of Life swept the Nigerian Oscars, winning Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Trailblazer Award, Best Lead Actor, Best Director, and—most importantly—Best Movie. With all those accolades and glowing reviews, I thought, “At the very least, this movie will be passable.”

Oh, how wrong I was.

Breath of Life is set in Nigeria between (I think?) 1960 and 1995. It follows Timi, a man who was once the epitome of perfection but is now a recluse after a series of tragedies shattered his faith. Enter Elijah, a wide-eyed, asthmatic graduate who returns to his village (??) in search of employment and dreams of becoming a man of God. He lands a job as a houseboy for Timi, and the two form an unlikely father-son bond that culminates in a Christ-like sacrifice. Oh, and there’s a romantic subplot thrown in for good measure. The film tackles themes like grief, love, found family, justice, injustice, loss of faith, and reconciliation with God. Sounds deep, right? Well, it’s not.

The Positives

Let’s start with the good stuff because, honestly, there isn’t much. The acting is solid—no surprise, given all the awards it won. The movie also attempts something ambitious: recreating Nigeria between 1960 and 1990. This is no small feat. Where do you find authentic cars, houses, and fashion from that era? How do you avoid accidentally capturing modern-day elements that break the immersion? Hollywood, with its massive budgets, can pull this off with elaborate sets, props, and color grading. Nollywood, with its limited resources, deserves some credit for trying. It doesn’t fully succeed, but hey, at least they dared to be different.

The music isn’t terrible either. Most of the tracks fit the scenes, though I wish they’d used more music from the 1950s to 1990s to really sell the time period. And visually, the movie is gorgeous. The colors pop, and it’s nice to look at—when you’re not bored out of your mind.

The Not-So-Positives
Let’s get into the real issues, starting with the pacing. This movie is almost two hours long, but it feels like 10. Scenes drag on forever, subplots are left unresolved, and by the halfway point, I was taking breaks every 5 minutes.

Then there’s the plot. The main story isn’t particularly interesting, but the church subplot? Oh, that left me baffled. Here’s the gist: Elijah wants to be a pastor and stumbles upon an abandoned church that Timi used to lead. He cleans it up and starts hosting prayer meetings, hoping to eventually turn it into a full-fledged church. But wait—his girlfriend’s dad wants the land! He has even paid off the land use charge (a whopping 49 million naira) to demolish the church and build… something. So Elijah and his girlfriend start fundraising to save the church.

To me, and this is extremely ridiculous. First, why is a state government land accruing land use charges? That makes zero sense. Second, why is Elijah so attached to this church? It’s been abandoned for years, and he had only just started using it for prayer meetings—not even Sunday services! Why not move the meetings elsewhere? In 1995, you could buy land for less than 10,000 naira (Elijah raised more than that), so why not just relocate? The whole subplot feels forced and nonsensical.

And don’t get me started on the morality angle. Elijah repeatedly insists he’s saving himself for marriage, but then he’s seduced by his girlfriend, which somehow leads to his incurable lung disease worsening. The movie seems to imply that his illness is divine punishment for giving in to temptation, but it never explores or even acknowledges this idea. So why include it?

Final Thoughts

Breath of Life is, at best, mediocre and, at worst, a boring slog. It took me three months to finish this movie, and by the end, I was left wondering: Why did this win so many awards? If this is the best Nollywood has to offer, what does that say about the films that lost to it? Or the ones that weren’t even nominated?

Nollywood, we have to do better. We can’t keep celebrating mediocrity.

Rating: 2/10

Kaycee7:
3 months to finish a 2-hour movie? This had me passed out 😂🤣😂
When I read you were taking breaks, I didn't know you meant full vacations 😁

DieRich5:
This episode was really not good, I'll rate it 5/10

Goke7:
What was Vance sitting down there for? and what right does he have to challenge Zelensky? Vance ruined the entire conversation

Goke7:
Jd Vance was too disrespectful there even Trump was still diplomatic until Vance added fire

God1000:
Such balderdash and disgraceful behavior from Donald trump and JD Vance

Hold your ground Mr zelensky, He’s a con artist and a crook.

Don't sign a deal giving your minerals away, just Walk away instead

JD Vance is a bigger idiot than I initially thought

DieRich5:
Movie Recap

Baddestguyp:
All these tears flowing since yesterday because some people discussed some anime...

Omo...

And I never spam the thread yet with my Attack on Titan posts...

E dey come...no worry...

Una go cry tire

OhBritannia:
My brother just ignore.
The average mentality of a black man from Nigeria is not reason and take into consideration the valid concerns of others but to use the valid concerns of others to elevate himself in a toxic manner and turns everything into toxicy as you can see that someone already replied you saying "you go cry tire"

Chibudollar:
Took 5 months break from this thread. This brought me back. My JOY IS COMPLETE

Baddestguyp:
Japan!!!

GloriousGbola:
is there any problem with posting reviews for backdoor sluts season 1 ?

oyaskii:
It is so tiring seeing people regurgitate the same BS about Anime not being a tv show, and so doesn't fit into convos here.

Forget the fact that Anime can infact be a tv show, it rarely constitutes as derailing here, as it is the occasional one or 2 good anime that comes out that it's been discussed actively here, Before Solo Leveling S2 discussions currently now, the last active Anime discussions here was AOT, some 2;years ago. All other minute anime discussions are taking to the Anime thread, so i can't even understand the faux outrage every 3 market days?.

Nobody has a monopoly over this thread, anyone has the right to post any media that constitutes as a tv show here, and if you don't like it, it's best to look away...i mean, there is a muppet that has constantly posted movies on this tv shows thread for years now, and i haven't seen any of your "Anti-Anime Brigade" call the mods on the bellend for derailing, infact you guys have lapped it up as a norm now....so probably accept this too and stop the whinging 😩

Kaycee7:
I love Korra

oyaskii:
Maannn...You are on that same hype run Brother Kaycee7 was on with Arcane last year that got peeps on here so spooked, with Solo Levelling 😩.

Left it at S1, tempted to come back to it, because it's all you have been talking about for weeks now....

abduleez1:
Actors having multiple movies scheduled for shooting rest of this year...



Robert Pattinson — THE ODYSSEY dir. (Chris Nolan), THE BATMAN dir. (Matt Reeves),

Zendaya — THE ODYSSEY dir. (Chris Nolan), DUNE MESSIAH dir. (Denis Villeneuve), SPIDERMAN 4 dir. (Destin Daniel Cretton)

Emily Blunt — DISCLOSURE dir. (Stephen Spielberg), THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA 2 dir. (David Frankel)

Anne Hathaway — THE ODYSSEY dir. (Chris Nolan), THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA 2 dir. (David Frankel), PAPER TIGER dir. (James Gray),

Jason Momoa — SUPERGIRL: WOMAN OF TOMORROW dir. (Craig Gillespie), DUNE MESSIAH dir. (Denis Villeneuve)

Glenn Powell — ACORNS dir. (JJ Abrams), MONSANTO dir. (John Lee Hancock)

Tom Holland — THE ODYSSEY dir. (Chris Nolan), SPIDERMAN 4 dir. (Destin Daniel Cretton)

tonididdy:
Trust me that movies is shit
That review owner you quoted is a kid soaked in fantasy movies and anime characters running around on screen
So little wonder he has a thousand words over for a movie a sensible matured mind would tag simply boring

AHCB:
Oh kay. I guess I'll give it another shot. Thanks.

Hullabaloon:
I wanted to watch it but found some reviews on Google saying it's a boring movie. Some said it's the worst 2 hours of their lives.

What would you say about that? And, I'm usually someone that loves fast moving action movies. Should I watch this?

GloriousGbola:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crjYYEC5drA

reddit led me to this