Producer: Mount Zion and Solid Rock Media
Release date: March 2 2023
Cast: Adeola Abolaji, Adedeji Adekunle, Ojo Ayomide, Tomiwa Samson, Olaleye Olumuyiwa, Oluwayemisi Ayodele, Emmanuel Adejorin, Wole Olaleye.
Excerpts:
Enoch: We will be fasting for 14 days starting from now
Folu: Please let’s start tomorrow
Enoch: A lot of things can happen between now and tomorrow
Folu: (reluctantly) A lot has happened between this morning and now o. I have eaten, Pastor
Enoch: How?
Folu: (gestures eating motion)
Adeboye and Folu, during another fool’s errand of trying to overturn the call to ministry.
A Christian movie with a couple from the 60’s. The groom; a budding pastor- but their romance is everything but patriarchal? Inject it!
To commemorate the 81st birthday of the General Overseer of The Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Adeboye, a five-chapter biopic of his life, named Enoch, was released for the public’s viewing pleasure- and it was a masterpiece!
From the cinematography, writing, direction to attention to detail, the cast and crew slayed it.
The romance tale, however, is the highlight!
So Enoch(Abolaji Adebola) meets Folu(Samson Tomiwa) and he knows right away that she will be the mother of his children. The kingdom romance starts there.
A lingering handshake, and some swoon-worthy scenes later, it’s time for Enoch to meet Folu’s father.
As he should be, Enoch is nervous about meeting his future in-laws for the first time.
Instead of the usual false assurance trope that comes with scenes like this, Folu bluntly advises Adeboye to “man up” and make sure he gets along with her father or else forget all plans of marriage. (Points up for the writer!)
Thankfully for everyone involved, Adeboye and Folu’s father clicked right away, and the situation ended in marriage, as we had hoped it would.
Normally, this would be where Folu becomes timid- to portray the virtuous wife. In fact, the overall portrayal of romance in Christian premises used to scare me. Like, hope someone’s child will not go into the dating pool with this mindset? That someone who proposes to them on the first date should even be considered a prospect(Gbemi, 2018) or many other of their fanciful depictions of Kingdom marriages.
But the writers presented Folu in the most realistic way- polite, graceful yet sassy- a Kingdom baddie. And it was beautiful.
Hats off to the crew again, for not bowing to cliches.
Case study: opening dialogue
A budding minister asking his wife to join him in a fast without a heads-up.
The producers could have easily botched that exchange and simply have Folu acquiesce, as though it was unheard of to have swallowed a wrap of fufu at that time of the day.
But they(the producers) played the scene out well as Folu asked to join the fast the next day because she had eaten already. What brilliance? Of course, being a minister’s wife doesn’t make you an ulcer-patient-in-waiting.
Enoch the biopic, but most especially its third chapter, made for an enjoyable watch.
Rated : 9/ 10
Enoch is still streaming now on Youtube
