Premiere Reviews: Land of Fury will stir you strongly

Since Damilola Mike-Bamiloye led the way with Shadows of Death, a feature collaboration between the Mount Zion Film Productions and NCCF Imo State chapter, collaborations between the production outlet and various NCCF chapters has become a thing, with two titles following suit. Countdown written by Adeola Jerry-Olugbemi and The Puppeteer by Tobi Adepoju. But of these three, the first has proven to be the best. Well, that was until Land of Fury.
This movie is produced by Darasimi Mike-Bamiloye for the Mount Zion Film Production and NCCF, Kebbi state chapter are the executive producers. It’s written and directed by Damilola Mike-Bamiloye.
A placid Christian community, Karaki town, is thrown into utter disarray when insurgents intercept and abduct twenty school girls and their teacher on their way to an excursion. They want a ransom from the government, and human life is worth nothing to them.
The teacher abducted with the girls is David whose overbearing mum made him shove a large bible into his bag before stepping out that morning, and she didn’t stop bothering him until she was certain the memory verse had found a resting place in his volatile head. Perhaps, if David knew that his mother’s ‘trouble’ shall be what will stand between him and death later that day, he would not have been so whiny.
Princess (Elthosyn Emmanuel) is one of the abducted girls and she’d not have been if she and her father had taken her mum’s misgivings seriously. But now she’s been abducted and General wants her for dinner. Speaking of General, what is Land of Fury without the fiery lion called General? The powerful lead insurgent and his brother, Mario will have encounters with both Princess and David. Experiences that will change lives and claim some.
The first good thing about this film has to be the magnet it opens with. The movie just draws you in right from the opening credit and its grip doesn’t let up until the credits roll. Land of Fury uses a lot of action, blood, gun ratatatas and it pulls this off nicely. The stunts are believable, and in a place like Nigeria, this means much.
Another allure are the shots, the beautiful establishing shots of the stream, striding camels, Karaki community, the aerial shots and camera angles are deliberate and help in telling the story.
You can always count on Damilola Mike-Bamiloye to spin off a story intense like this and still find a way to scoop heaps of humor into it without making the movie lose its essence. And this device, the much mirth in the movie, is what he uses to reconcile the much preaching he wants to do with the story and the need to not make a preachy movie. It works, totally. One minute your reeling with laughter, if you’re like me, stamping your feet and throwing back your head, and the next your nodding and hmmming.
Joseph Opadele makes it hard for one to think of a better replacement for his character. He just wears General like a tailor made suit and it does suit him. The consistency of his character is noteworthy, same with Mario (Kolo Peters). General always drawls ‘Mario’ and angles his head. Mario has this juvenile simplicity that is as funny as it’s cute, and it’s maintained.

The background music fits at every point. Putting a smile on your face when needed and then hiking your pulse at some other points credit to Joshua Mike-Bamiloye. The costumes are also appropriate.
Land of Fury stirs one strongly. It stirs hope in one for a country like ours, stirs a burden to pray, stirs faith in God’s power. The poignant scenes, especially those with Princess’ parents will set your emotions astir. It will also stir distaste and irritation in a skeptical person, or an atheist, because this movie is not exactly aligned with the realities we see at the moment in this nation. I see this movie as a prophetic one and so if one isn’t latching to it by faith, you most likely will be disgruntled. But for all who look not upon the things which are seen for they are temporal but on the things which are not seen for they are eternal, you will find this film refreshing and I strongly believe it’s for these people this film was made.
Films like this usually have an ultimate punchline, Y’all know this, right? For The Ignition it was those tear choked words delivered by Ngozi “I may not know what the future holds, but I know who holds my future. And I’m holding on to him”
For Haunted, it was from Mrs. Johnson’s lips, “When the Devil confronts you with the realities of your past, you confront him with the realities of God’s word”
 
The irony of Stalker’s is that it was delivered at the bar counter of a club. Can you remember Sewa’s words to Eddie? “When Jesus died my past died with him, and when he resurrected, I rose with him.”
And now, for Land of Fury it’s “You cannot kill a prince that has a king in him” and the fact that the mesaage is delivered by an improbable person like Mario, is another message on its own.
Because I’m benevolent like that 😃😊😋😜, I’d just share a couple of lessons I got:
*There’s a unique utterance for witnessing to each person and this utterance is given by the Holy Spirit. Just look at the wisdom David used in speaking to Mario.
*The letter kills but the spirit gives life! When Princess read the scriptures to General, it worked a miracle, but when Mario read the same Bible, he only angered General. Princess was handling the Spirit and the later, the letter.
*There is power in the name of Jesus. The power to set free.
*The place of right leaders! Oh, that we will have a leader like that Governor. How can your toe not melt watching him kneel before the altar, bearing the country’s flag and offering prayers to God?
You want to find more? Great! The movie is now on YouTube, and all you have to do to enjoy this great one is follow this link  https://youtu.be/-gT1a24zXqY
Now, let’s face the flaws.
I feel it will work better if one of our sweethearts die permanently, and any of the insurgents do not count. That will represent every true child of God that has been killed in the North, will provide a link for every believer who has lost someone to such attacks. Perhaps Princess or David.
Mario is fattaly shot and we don’t see blood spurt from anywhere, we only see him lurch.
The subtitle is quite flawed.
Big ups to everyone on the team that produced this film, it’s a great one.
Click the link below to watch the trailer.