By Mava John Joshua
“NWA boy” is a name given to an apprentice in Igboland.
An apprentice is a person who is learning a trade from a skilled employer, having agreed to work for a fixed period at almost no wages or very low wages. This apprentice system is highly practiced in Nigeria; it is situation where a young person is taken and an agreement is made to learn a trade for a stipulated number of years under someone who has seemingly succeeded very well in the trade. After faithfully serving the “master”, the apprentice is rewarded with some substantial amount of capital to commence same trade he learned. It is worthy to note that the Igbo apprentice system has produced more rich men or millionaires in the Igbo land than the number of students who went and spent same corresponding years in the higher institutions: Universities or Polytechnics.
The movie portrays this uniqueness, but this is now engulfed with an aspect where we see love, hate, affection, jealousy, compromise, loyalty, betrayal above all blackmail and crime all showcased in one package.
This movie centres around a young man Afemefuna (Stan Eze) who after his father’s death has to fill in the void of a “bread winner”. For him to be able to carry out this obligation, he has to learn a trade since the family is not well to do. The mother takes him to a known wealthy and prosperous person from the village Odogwu (Kanayo, O. Kanayo) who has excelled in business of building materials. While doing his apprenticeship, he finds love in the master’s daughter Amaka (Atlanta Bridget. Johnson)and favour with his master Odogwu, though according to his master he served well and deserved everything he got at the expense of Paul aka Paulo (Alexx Ekubo) who was more or less a randy lad, though a senior to Afemufuna, but we see that instead of Paul graduating before him, the case was otherwise. This whole incident leads to the intrigue witnessed in the movie.
The pretty daughter of Odogwu becomes the “clog in the wheel” to some of the apprentice mainly Paul and Afemefuna, these two were good friends in the house but Amaka comes in between them in the future.
She has a baby for Paul but Afemufuna is not aware and assumes the child is his until a DNA is done which he hides from Amaka, which Paul uses it to extort money from him not wanting people to know the child is not his.
I love the use of some veterans of Nollywood such as Kanayo O Kanayo and Segun Arinze in this over two-hour movie produced by the duo of Olawumi Fajemirokun and Kenechukwu Egbue and directed by Kayode Kasum that made this movie a time and money well spent to watch. They made the move more mature and worth watching.
I love the meticulous cinematography in the mature use of language, the way Segun Arinze transits from Igbo to Hausa languages is a show of his mastery for the job he does and the experience he has gathered while plying his trade as policeman, Kanoyo O Kanayo’s rhythmic sentences and Igbo mastery is really something to applaud. The soundtrack, rich with Igbo language and proverbs, adds a profound layer of authenticity and cultural pride to the film.
