By Kennedy Eberechi.
Few months to the premiere of the Movie; A Soldier’s Story – Return From The Dead, the movie world and the media have been upbeat about the Movie. The Movie, due to be released in December this year, is the second part of a trilogy, (like Bourne Identity, each one with a life of its own but with the same cast and sequence), Produced by Martin Gbados, written and directed by Frankie Ogar.
Recall that the first part of the Trilogy; A Soldier’s Story, which was released in 2015, was widely adjudged the most successful movie out of Nollywood, having the highest number of awards in 2016 including two AMVCA, two AMAA, two NEA, three BON and Best Nigerian Movie at the Abuja International Film Festival, just to mention but a few. In addition, the Movie provided the platform for stardom to some of the cast members whose career has been on the rise since they featured in the movie.
Banking on the success of the first part, the second part; A Soldier’s Story – Return From The Dead is a huge project that combined an unprecedented blend of Hollywood actors; Eric Roberts, John Vogel and Berit Glaser, and Nollywood actors including veterans such as Alex Usifo, Akin Lewis, Segun Arinze, with younger ones such as Linda Ejiofor, Somkele Iyamah-Idalamah, Michelle Dede, Daniel K. Daniel, Tope Tedela, Baaj Adeuble and Sambasa Nzeribe, in addition to Chris Attoh from Ghana and Vimbai Muthinri from Zimbabwe.
No wonder over the week, a versatile Nollywood actress and presenter; Belinda Effah took to her Instagram page to eulogize the awesome cast. “So Martin Gbados, I saw your post yesterday on the cast of A Soldier’s Story – Return From The Dead due in cinemas this December. Almost everyone was there; Old and New, Hollywood and Nollywood…”, Belinda posted.
Set in two West African countries, Nigeria and a fictional country called The Watz Republic, the Movie, shot in Lagos highlighted major socio-economic issues such as, insurgency, terrorism, women’s rights, emigration and more, which the world is currently tackling on a global scale, while telling a compelling story of love, hope and survival in the face of corruption.
In a recent chat, the Producer; Martin Gbados revealed that on the post-production side, they collaborated with Revolve Agency LA (which handled films like ‘X-Men’ and ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’) Moving Picture Company, Asia, and Crater Studios Serbia. “On the strength of the film, it stands out among other movies because of its complete adherence to international standards of movie production in terms of plot, setting, visual effects, colour correction amidst other procedures.
“The production quality of the film marks a turning point for the Nigerian film industry. It is equally well positioned to earn both at the box office for entertainment and quality due to its strategic collaborations, and as such, will surpass any movie ever made in Nollywood”, Mr. Gbados expressed.
