''Relentless'' is a 2010 Nigerian

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

, co-produced and directed by Andy Amadi Okoroafor; it stars

Gideon Okeke Gideon Okeke is a Nigerians, Nigerian actor, model, and TV Presenter. He came to the public eye in 2006 when he appeared as a contestant on the first edition of ''Big Brother Nigeria''. In 2008, Gideon joined the cast of the M-Net, M-NET TV series ...

, Nneka Egbuna,

Jimmy Jean-Louis Jimmy Jean-Louis (born August 8, 1968) is a Haitian actor and producer. Born in Pétion-Ville, he moved to Paris at a young age with his family in search of a better life. His early roles were in French television commercials and Spanish musical ...

and

Tope Oshin Ogun Tope Oshin is a Nigerian television and film director, producer and casting director, listed as one of the most influential Nigerians in film in 2019. In 2015 ''Pulse'' magazine named her as one of "9 Nigerian female movie directors you shoul ...

. It was released on 13 October 2010 at the

BFI London Film Festival The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival held in London, England, in collaboration with the British Film Institute. Founded in 1957, the festival runs for two weeks every October. In 2016, the BFI estimated that around 240 fe ...

, and was positively received; mostly praised for its cinematography and soundtrack. The film which is set in

Freetown Freetown () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, e ...

and Lagos, narrates the story of Obi (Gideon Okeke), a Nigerian peacekeeping soldier who has been deployed to war-torn Sierra Leone. Obi's world is crushed after Blessing, a Sierra Leonean woman whom Obi loves, is mutilated by a gang of

child soldier Children in the military, including state armed forces, non-state armed groups, and other military organizations, may be trained for combat, assigned to support roles, such as cooks, porters/couriers, or messengers, or used for tactical adv ...

s and he's forced to kill her in order to put her out of pain and misery. He eventually returns to Lagos after the war, and tries to reintegrate himself into his community; in the process, he finds solace in the arms of a prostitute, Honey (Nneka Egbuna) who may help him forget his haunting past and lead him to self-discovery.

Cast

as Obi * Nneka Egbuna as Honey *

as Candidate *

as Funmi *Ropo Ewenla as Ola *Jibola Dabo as Alaki *Toyin Oshinaike as *Aloba Taiwo as * Halle Mordu as Fatima *Usiwoma Joshua as Gabriel

Production

Okoroafor, the director states: "This is a film that hopefully will make you laugh, cry, travel, escape but most specially, it will make you think about contemporary Africa". The film was in production for four years.

Music and soundtrack

The music score for the film was produced by Arnaud Boivin. Original score was composed by Philippe Mallier and Pascal Morel, while the soundtrack features artistes such as: Ade Bantu, Tony Allen, Oranmiyan, Nneka, General Pype and

Keziah Jones Keziah Jones (born Olufemi Sanyaolu on 10 January 1968) is a Nigerian singer-songwriter and guitarist. He describes his musical style as "Blufunk", which is a fusion between raw blues elements and hard, edgy funk rhythms. Also his Nigerian roo ...

Track listing

Release

The film was released on 13 October 2010 at the

. It was also screened at the 2012 New York African Film Festival and also at the Film Club, Nigeria in 2012.

Reception

The film was positively received; it was mostly commended for its cinematography and soundtrack. Wendy Okoi-Obuli of "Shadow and Act" commended the cinematography, Okeke's performance and the music. She described the film as "art house" and concluded by stating: "''Relentless'' is a welcome and refreshing take on the exploration of contemporary Nigeria in film". Bunmi Ajiboye praised the cinematography of the film, its music, production design, characterization and its apt portrayal of Lagos. She particularly praised Okeke's performance and concluded: "Watching the movie, you may not understand why the rationale behind certain actions are not clearly defined, yet you can't help feeling it was more a product of artistic necessity than cinematographic cock-up. ''Relentless'' is Okoroafor's first shot at feature length movie and it is a brilliant debut as the film speaks for itself;" Those who opt out of seeing this film "will be depriving themselves of a great opportunity to see how Nigerian cinema is evolving". Ade Bantu comments: "...I was highly impressed; ''Relentless'' is the ultimate Lagos movie, a well executed art-house piece of cinematic beauty".

References

External links

* *{{IMDb title, 1766032, Relentless Nigerian drama films 2010s war films Films about war crimes 2010s political films Films set in Lagos Films set in Sierra Leone Films shot in Lagos 2010 romantic drama films 2010 films 2010s English-language films English-language Nigerian films English-language romantic drama films English-language war films