The movie follows the life of a man, Raymond, who feels lost in the urban world and wishes to experience the real Nigeria; one where our own cultures and heritage take centre stage in our day-to-day lives.
His desire is met when he bonds with the Okoroshi mask and transforms into a masquerade to live like he always wanted to.
Abba Makama’s The Lost Okoroshi explores the relevance (and the severe lack) of Nigerian culture in today’s world.
Every part of the story makes you wonder and question why what is happening is happening. And just when you think you’ve gotten the answer, that, too, leaves you with yet another question.
While watching the movie, I realized the trick to understanding it is to think of it as a real-life experience, because that feels like what Abba was going for.
You have a guy who doesn’t like urban life and wishes we all embrace our culture once more, but when he gets the means to do so, his first reaction is to reject it completely.
After finally accepting that he now has the power to affect the cultural shift/change he’s always wanted, he constantly comes in contact with people and organisations who want him for their own personal gain… And all he can do is look.
The movie is one in which the silence of Okoroshi spoke the loudest. He sees how badly urban life has destroyed not just our culture, but our actual lives. He sees the crime, dirt, gutter underworld, and everything that we’ve surprisingly come to live with. Those same things we see daily, shake our head, and just walk on… The realisation really hit me after watching the movie.
As I said, The Lost Okoroshi will make you question a lot, and that’s good. It’ll take you on a journey you didn’t know you needed until you watched the movie, and that’s also good.
I will say that the first 20 or so minutes may seem slow & out-of-place, but that’s because it’s setting up every important thing that’s going to happen during the rest of the movie. If you get past those first minutes, you’re in for one deep ride.
Is The Lost Okoroshi worth watching? Yes, yes it is.
It’s available on Netflix.
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