Shadow Parties is a 2020 movie directed by Yemi Amodu and starring Sola Sobowale, Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, Magdalena Korpas, Jide Kosoko, Yemi Blaq, and Segun Arinze, alongside other cast members.
The Netflix description reads:
A family faces destruction in a long-running conflict between communities that pits relatives against each other amid attacks and reprisals.
– Shadow Parties review does not contain spoilers –
Shadow Parties starts with a documentary-style narration about two neighbouring towns, Iludun and Aje. Once brothers, the relationship between the two has declined over a mango (well, other things as well, but you know). Anyway, several deaths follow and an all-out war breaks out.
Shadow Parties tries to bring to light communal clashes and that are rife in different parts of the world. How the government, the military and the bureaucracy wash their hands of their responsibilities of protecting the people and use the war as a way of bringing in more money.
In spite of having a story that is immediate and important in our day and age, Shadow Parties is a movie that you will hardly be able to sit through. The storytelling is extremely weak, and I mean very bad. The movie is so badly made, with odd jump cuts and even odder dialogue. The screenplay is horrible, the flow makes no sense and it is difficult to piece together the different parts of the story.
In between a part of a story, random other things are introduced which just make no sense. You are left confused and, combined with the cringy dialogue, it is difficult to take this movie seriously. No, I understand where the movie is coming from, however, the story needs to be made realistically and in a way that appeases the viewers. This movie does neither and the tone is all over the place to boot.
Moreover, the cinematography in Shadow Parties is not great either, along with the horrendous editing. The scenes randomly jump from scene to scene adding to the confusion and taking away from the viewing experience.
Now, Shadow Parties features some difficult and violent scenes that can make your skin crawl. Graphic rape and murder scenes are everywhere and if you’re someone with a low threshold for such things, skip (and for literally every other reason).
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Anyway, apart from horrible storytelling, the acting in Shadow Parties is weak and insincere. Coupled with the bad dubbing, again, it’s difficult to sit through this mess and take it seriously. In some parts of the movie, the dialogues will boom in your ear while in others everything is too quiet.
There are also random white people in Shadow Parties who really serve no purpose other than being white. The insincere dialogues make these parts of the movie comical, especially with this white man saying high and mighty words without taking the backstory into account.
Summing up: Shadow Parties
Shadow Parties is an experience that I never wish to relive. The emotions behind making the movie are praiseworthy and necessary. However, the way that story is presented is horrendous. It is difficult to sit through this movie that really gives nothing to hold on to; except, maybe, that don’t kill people.
Shadow Parties is streaming on Netflix.
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Kudos to all cast and crew members but honestly, the movie isn’t good enough to feature such highly rated actors like Yemi Black and Toyin Abraham amongst others. 2
I agree. This movie was a difficult thing to watch. Although I understood and respect the premise and the thought behind it, you still have to make the effort to bring that thought to screen, you know? I think that’s what the movie severely lacked.
Anyway, thank you for sharing your thoughts. 🙂