MOVIE REVIEW: A Green Fever: Suspense-filled action flick that leaves you yearning for more

Run time: 85 minutes

Date released: 29 March 2024

Director: Taiwo Egunjobi

Cast: Deyemi Okanlawon. Williams Chinoyenem. Temilolu Fosudo. Chukwu Martins. Darasimin Nadi. Ruby P. Okezie. Tobi Marho.

The film ‘A Green Fever’ is a story of subtle desire, betrayal, cheating, love, manipulation, conspiracy, freedom, and redemption, all wrapped in suspense. You can’t tell what to expect at the beginning, and at the end, you are left wanting more.

Unlike the recent trend, this movie doesn’t parade A-list actors yet character interpretation and delivery is commendable. However, there were a few loopholes that can be overlooked.

Plot

A man desperately in need of saving his daughter’s life drives his orange Volkswagen Beetle to a halt, rushes out, and runs his daughter to the nearest apartment.

He is confused because this journey was to be from Lagos to Oyo, but he can’t make it. He just needs her off the road.

There he was, heading towards an armed man. A legally armed man. A soldier. Stop there! He yelled. But this father kept coming forward.

Behind the soldier is a beautiful, light-skinned lady. She lets them in. He lays his daughter, and a few minutes later, tensions set in. The master arrives unexpectedly.

That home was more of a secret place. No one was to be in there except the boss, his mistress and the guards. Now, they have two strangers in their home.

The little girl’s father explains himself to the house owner: ‘‘I am nothing but an architect, and my daughter has a rare health condition, ‘A Green fever’. The boss is probably even more unimpressed. He needs to be sure the man in his home has no ulterior motive, but he won’t let him leave, as there is a curfew, which the father has no idea. They have to stay the night.

Underneath all these, there’s a conspiracy for a coup brewing to be due in three days, and the boss, a colonel in the Nigerian military, is one of the topmost masterminders. Thus, the prime reason for probing is that caution shouldn’t be thrown to the wind, but he steps out as the coup must wear flesh. Of course, he has guards around. Nothing can go wrong.

The beautiful light-skinned beauty always breaming with a smile is the mistress. She has a back for good music and a desire to venture into music as a career, but she is stuck with a lover who forbids music and abhors her from singing or playing. On the flip side, a stranger in their home thinks she sings like an angel. Hope is brought alive. Her desire is triggered.

In all of it, there’s a silent tone of yearning and wanting from the stranger and the lady.

The Colonel returns with both hands carrying suitcases loaded with N5m to finance their goal. He has a phone call from someone who had called earlier. A senior ranking officer but sounds more like a friend, too. The briefcases should be in his home, but he had plans to buy them, and it wasn’t that of betrayal.

Before now, the Colonel had called to verify that the stranger in his home was indeed an architect, as claimed. The response call has come through, and this time, it hits differently. The architect had stolen the name of a dead man.

Remember, there was a curfew, and no one was let out, but the Colonel, unsure if the architect was a spy, wouldn’t let him out of his home until the coup materialises. This time, the architect had run out with his daughter through the window and dropped a message that the beautiful, like-skinned beauty would catch up with them at a given location.

More questions, less answers

While watching this film, so many questions come to mind.

1. Was he a spy

2. Was he in love with the colonel’s lover?

3. What was his intent?

4. Is the little girl his daughter? cos shortly after? She’s seen handling a gun as though it’s nothing.

Character Analysis

The movie takes a lot of angels.

A father, Temilolu Fosudo, plays Kunmi Braithwaite, who desperately wants to save his daughter’s life because she has a rare illness and runs into danger for help.

On the flip side, Danger becomes receptive to him and his daughter. He’d be shocked to know that danger has a warm arm.

He and his daughter become ‘the danger’. He was an architect. With a demeanour so calm and collected. He spoke like one who knew his job. He also wore the aura of a provider and defender for his daughter. He wasn’t scared to defy anyone just to be with his daughter.

Explanations may suffice, but he’d do what he had to do for her good.

His daughter Ireti (Darasimi Nadi). As committed as her father is calm and collected

Colonel Bashiru (William Benson) is tasked with harnessing a coup. He goes home for a rest and to set out a strategy for implementing his course, but he meets strangers in the home where he lives with his mistress.

The colonel’s mistress is Matilda (Ruby Precious Okezie). An empathetic soul and lover of music and singers, she seems to lose her essence because her lover doesn’t believe in her music. He thinks it wastes time and resources, so he forbids her from singing or listening.

She also believes that she and the Colonel have been trying to make babies, but she keeps miscarrying. Little does she know that all three miscarriages were initiated by the Colonel and perpetrated by his doctor (unnamed)

Setting

The movie is set in the 1980s and is more like an untold story of a failed coup in Nigeria in 1980.

Set in a simple bungalow of, say, three rooms. A colonel lives with his mistress. His security officers guard the home. His mistress never goes out. Everything she needs is within or gotten for her.

It is challenging and unalluring to watch a movie shot in a single location; of course, 80 to 90 per cent of’ A Green Fever’ was shot indoors. However, the director did a good job utilizing every space and corner. The lighting was warm and dark.

You could feel the score and the light synchronisation with the scenes. You can’t tell or predict what happens next; you just stay with the flow.

A GREEN FEVER is a great watch if you love good writing, excellent sound, and beautiful character interpretation. It is available on Prime Video.

Verdict: 7/10