‘Seven’: A Classist Adventure — A Review

Seven is a 2019 Tosin Igho movie that follows a young irresponsible man who inherits his father’s company and estate on the condition that he spends a week in Ajegunle with none of the help that his privileged upbringing afforded him. The movie recently made its debut on Netflix and there has been a lot of talk about it since then. So as requested, here is my review for Seven.

Plot

After his father Tayo (Bimbo Manuel) dies of a stroke, Kolade (Efa Iwara) learns that a new condition was added to his will to teach him some life lessons. In order to access his inheritance, for seven days, Kolade has to stay in Ajegunle, Lagos; the place where his father grew up which remained close to his heart until he died.

But Kolade is an entitled and sheltered stoner with no street smarts. He repeatedly lands in scary and unfortunate situations from the minute he steps foot in Ajegunle. He also has to live with a target on his back as his late father’s employee Bassey takes extreme measures to keep him from getting the company.

With the help of his father’s driver and friend Ejiro (Richard Mofe Damijo), Kolade escapes life-threatening encounters and learns the value of community.

Cast

The movie stars Efa Iwara as Kolade, Bimbo Manuel as his father, RMD as Ejiro, Instagram prankster Edgar Eriakha and Ajegunle native Daddy Showkey as Croaker.

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

Review

For the first few scenes of this movie, it seemed like a very white story. It took a bit of patience to sit through but it was ultimately rewarding. The fight scenes were pretty great but I wish there were more stunts and less bottle busting. Seriously, there was A LOT of bottle busting.

It was great to see RMD outside of his signature polished rich man role for once; although it was uncomfortable at first and the pidgin sounded unnatural. It was also a nice surprise to see him play an action man like Ejiro. As an audience, we can appreciate how much time it took Efa Iwara to learn how to drift and RMD to learn boxing.

Ejiro’s friendship with Tayo was one of the brightest moments in this film and it felt so authentic. The table tennis scene was sweet and showed that male friendships can have depth.

Kolade’s flashbacks of his mother on her deathbed lent absolutely nothing to the story and its repetition was just plain annoying. The flashbacks would have been more effective if they fleshed out the details of Kolade’s relationship with his father and let the audience know that things weren’t always so sour between them.

One tiny annoying part of this movie was the demonization of marijuana. The way it was presented in this movie makes it look like no one on set has ever smoked weed before; which I personally find unbelievable. The more socially acceptable alcohol would have been a better explanation for Kolade’s “misbehaviour”. For the kind of character they wanted Kolade to be, marijuana doesn’t seem to be an appropriate poison.

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At first, I found the father’s announcement of the new condition in the will to be very abrupt and unrealistic considering that he thought these would be his final words to his only son. But it then makes sense after we find out it was not his intention to send the video. However, I still wish he left one last heartwarming message for Kolade to give him closure and let him know that his father loved him. It would have been a nice touch.

However, one aspect of the movie that was somewhat irritating was the way they spoke about Ajegunle like it was uninhabitable and full of scum.

I understand the need to emphasize how hard it would be for a person like Kolade to survive there. But they seemed to forget that this is a real place with real people; their manner of referring to it was often very classist and condescending. The film was meant to highlight the importance of community. But it came off a bit disrespectful, using a whole community as training wheels for some rich asshole.

In conclusion, I enjoyed Seven far more than I thought I would. The stakes were high enough for the audience to get invested and the antihero could not catch a break. It was also quite fun to watch Daddy Showkey hand out dirty slaps. You should definitely check it out.