‘The Trade" Reinforces The Breath Of Fresh Air Jade Osiberu Is Bringing To Nollywood’s Crime Drama Scene
Have we seen enough body of work for us to crown Jade Osiberu as Nollywood’s Queen of Crime Drama?
Make no mistake; I’m not, in any way, insinuating Jade Osiberu is the proponent of the action-thriller genre in Nollywood -new or old- but it’s hard to ignore the shift in the kind of content becoming more readily available to us, brought about by her foray into the genre. The filmmaker who made a name for herself through her involvement in dramatic movies and TV shows like Isoken and Gidi Up has, in recent years, morphed into telling more intense stories tailored to match the average Nigerian audience’s tastebuds. Not too long ago, we had Brotherhood break into the Nigerian cinema scene, stealing hearts and winning the filmmaker new converts; a scenario reminiscent of Kemi Adetiba’s groundbreaking cinematic event with 2018’s King of Boys. The Trade may not be as ambitious with its set pieces and stunts as Brotherhood was, but you can’t deny the shared DNA they bear, the markings of a visionary filmmaker making the effort to tell more ambitious stories.
The Trade tells the story of Eric (Blossom Chukwujekwu), a perilous kidnapper whose targets are the exceptionally well-to-do of society. Despite several attempts from the police to catch him, he continues to evade capture until the kidnap of the CEO of the biggest transport company in the country sets into motion a series of events that lead to his downfall.
Watching Eric through the great lens of Osiberu’s direction and Chukwujekwu’s jaw-dropping performance, I couldn’t help but notice some connective tissue between the character and its creator’s trajectory in real life. Like Jade Osiberu, Eric is ambitious and continues to dare to defy the odds to scale above his present realities; with each successful kidnap campaign, he grows more brazen and, naturally seeks to beat his own record. Eric’s notoriety continues to rise thanks to his attention to the smallest details, which sees him continue to rise in the kidnapping underworld. We get a sense of how this character’s mind works from the first time we meet him and slowly, more gets to be revealed as the movie progresses. The character is an intimidating figure brought to life by Blossom Chukwujejwu’s passionate performance and Osiberu’s intentional directing (I can’t stress this enough); almost like watching a spoken word artist make love to words before an eager audience.
I think Blossom Chukwujejwu puts up some of the best works of his career here; it’s easily one of my favourite from the actor who continues to surprise me every few years down the line. The supporting cast is decent, but no one really puts up a performance that is memorable or deserving of standout praise.
I had a good time watching the layers of The Trade peel off slowly. Yes, I had my suspicions that it would end the way it did, and little was done to pull the rug from under me as I watched. Still, the way things unfolded felt earned, enjoyable, and another strong entry into the growing filmography that is Jade Osiberu’s work. Highly recommended.
The Good
A good story brilliantly told.
Good direction.
Blossom Chukwujekwu’s acting.
Cinematography.
A showcase of some Nigerian languages.
Stan Nze’s character makeup: it made him a tad unrecognizable. Or maybe the actor has naturally aged-up plenty since this was filmed.
The Bad
The Igbo accent from many (supporting) characters played by Waje Iruobe and Nengi Adoki left a little too much to be desired, especially those ones that played on the infamous “R-factor”.
The sound quality wasn’t at its best throughout the runtime.
The choreography of some scenes, like the kidnap and escape of Rita Dominic’s Doris, played out a tad too tacky.
Too often the distance between two scenes was left for the imagination of the viewer to fill in. Ideally, this isn’t a bad thing; it’s typically encouraged, but the way it’s employed in this movie mostly distracted the viewer from enjoying a truly immersive viewing experience.
The Ugly
Nothing about this movie is ugly. NOTHING.
Favorite Line
"Ne nu fine boy. Anuofia. O che na anyi na atu'jo udegbe."
"Look at this fine boy. Animal. He thinks I'm afraid of a gun."
This line is made more captivating by the fact that the surname of the actor who delivered it is actually UDEGBE. 😅