Movie Review – UP NORTH

Up North is a beautiful movie that told a fantastic story about the Northern and the western parts of Nigeria. It is really cool to see the lovely areas of the North showcased in a very positive way different from all we are used to seeing in the News.

I loved the way the movie started and how it transcended into the main action scenes and aspects. It is a typical Nigerian movie explaining to us how the NYSC youth corp program works, and what to expect.

The good side was the twist and blend of culture they brought to it, along with humour and comedy yet not forgetting to relay the main lessons of the movie. I kind of enjoyed it and like the new direction they took, although I kept wondering to myself if these stories were really realistic and possible in this present era.

Anyway we always hear ‘Never say never” and “If you believe then it will happen to you” as well as “Love conquers all things” and I guess it conquered all in this movie and made “Banky-W” leave all the pleasure and fun of the west to move to the North.

The actors played a very good role and I loved how they brought their roles to life, Banky- W playing the Lagos influential boy and Adesuwa Etomi- Wellington playing the shy timid Hausa girl and Ibrahim known as Suleiman who played the typical well educated Hausa boy. 

The trailer of the movie kind of gave us what to expect from the movie, so it was easy to connect and flow all through. The story was centred around “Banky-W” the popular musician who is also a good actor.

It is always a pleasure to see both himself and his wife, Adesua in the same movie, especially after creating the Wedding Party magic. Well back to Up North, Banky was a “Daddy’s boy” who never wanted to take anything serious.

He wanted the money but not the work that came with earning it, so to punish him, his dad allowed him to be transferred to the North where he could suffer a bit and learn what life was all about of course without his friends and flamboyant life styles.

If only his father knew what he was doing, he probably won’t have sent him there. Banky got there, had so much fun, enjoyed himself, made a statement and didn’t want to return back to the city again.

It was at this point his father knew he had made a mistake, all his efforts to bring his back to the city fell on deaf ears and Banky moved on with his life and his new found family, yeah you heard me, he found a home in the north and pitched his tent there when he met a fine homely charming damsel.

He built a large followership on social media through his daily posts, transformed the life of the girls in the school he was to lecture at and became the best thing that ever happened to the school and the north.

I totally enjoyed the twist to the story and I am sure most people will.

Cast: Banky Wellington, Adesuwa Etomi Wellington, Akin Lewis, Rahama Sadau, Kanayo o. Kanayo, Michelle Dede, Hilda Dokubo, Tokunbo Idowu , Ibrahim Onimisi and many more

Director: Tope Oshin Ogun

Written by: Chinaza Onuzo, Bunmi Ajakaiye, Editi Effiong

Casting: 1hr 40mins

Genre : Drama

Ratings : 12

To my verdict I would score Upnorth an 8/10. The photography, cinematography and picture quality was really top-notch, I loved the combination of both worlds and how the story connected.

The cultural displays were good and the “do’s and don’t do” were also clear. I learnt a lot about the various cultures and the movie brought back good memories in my head of when we travelled to the North years ago, hopefully I would return soon to see what the place holds now.

There were very little faults, but I won’t allow them cloud my judgement and score them down, but one thing I know for sure is that these cultures don’t always mix that easily, especially when it comes to the aspect of marriage, but I guess the world is becoming a global village and change remains the only constant thing in life.

If you love comedy and romance movie, then you definitely need to catch up with this movie before it is taken down.

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Linda Ochugbua

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