‘Tatu’ - The Review

By Zizi

"Tatu" is an adaptation of a 2004 book by Abraham Nwakwo, written by Jude Idada. It’s is an epic adventure film about‘’Tatuma’’ a child of destiny born to a desperate mother that belongs to a secret cult and she bears on her chest a birth mark to be the cult’s ‘’Uzeburu’’, a sacrificial lamb to be burnt at the stake on the event of her twenty first birthday to atone for sins of her people.



Tatu is an ensemble pieces, with cast like Segun Arinze,Desmond Elliot, Toyin Abraham,Funlola Aofiyebi-Raimi, Gabriel Afolayan ,Sambasa Nzeribe  and Tatuma played my former kannywood darling  Rahama Sadau has she continue with an impressive run into the mainstream nollywood .

The story tell follows  Tatuma accompanying her on the journey to the afterlife,is ‘’Kamani’’-a brooding Sambasa Nzeribe her protector and gudier.The film introduces Tatuma and kamni as odd kids whose grown up is played by Rahama and Sambasa. Directed by Don Omope ,Filmone’s head of film/creative director at FilmOne. The film’s mise-en-scène are picturesque from the cast pops on screen,to horns for hairdos  and other queer makeup ideas was a smart choice. Omope knows how the use of great lighting and ‘Tatu” was a showcase of good cinematography and beautiful choices with production design.

However halfway into ‘’Tatu’’, the meagerness began to creep in and started to pile up for me one after the other. These issues started with the storyline, then through the screenplay and by the time the film had ended; it’s best to say ‘’Tatu’’ trailer expended all the hype.

Segun Arinze looks the part “Narimana" and makes all the right sounds but his dense theatrics and overbearing dialogues, Nzeribe  who was a more volatile in Slow Country didn’t do much here, has he was jested to a repetitive weird facial contortion that was dragging down the pace of the film. I like the mixture of Kunle Idown aka (Frank Donga) and Hafiz Oyetoro it added a little comedy.
The critique of this film which could have salvaged and rewarded audiences who stuck around in huge numbers weren’t that impressed. This one scene that has two characters escapes heroically through an opening in the window that didn’t show details of the escape then the inconsistence with characterization and other happenings.

A Nollywood production that had major and heavy weight production companies come together to make this film and that made the box office champion with their previous film,Tatu fell short to audiences  expectation not because it wasn’t a good story but because its emotionally and structurally handicapped  and it didn’t appeal to the audience in many ways.

Tatu isn’t awful or hideous. I just wished it had that wow factor we were all anticipating. It’s was rather very underwhelming considering all the efforts put into making it very visually appealing.
However I would recommend you watch it with a friend that enjoys epic films because of the ill-advice of change in tone and moods so you don’t come out wanting your money back.