“You know I’m your stand-in husband, so you can always tell me if something is wrong…”
The gift of children…one of the greatest gifts of life especially when they are trained right and they grow up right.
‘Sista’ is yet another beautiful film that deeply reckons with and relates to the realities of life – the twists and turns of it.
The movie’s plot is not new on our screen as the story centres on a young woman who becomes pregnant has to give up her goals, is abandoned by the children’s father, and is left to raise the children by herself.
Two timelines are alternated during the movie; the flashbacks and the present. As seen in the movie, the pregnant young woman grows to become the primary character, the cleaner and a struggling mother, Sista, in the present.
Years later, the struggling mother meets the children’s absentee father, who enters their lives and entirely captures all of their attention for himself. This is the single mother’s greatest nightmare come true.
Sista has an appeal that keeps viewers engaged in how the events unfold. The film takes you through a rollercoaster of emotions that keeps you wondering what happened next and glued to your screen.
I personally love that her children are trained right and are appreciative of their mother. I also totally love the excerpt from one of the scenes where Sista’s son, Folarin goes: “You know I’m your stand-in husband, so you can always tell me if something is wrong” … which makes his mother cry.
I enjoy that Tiwalope, a character played by Bisola Aiyeola, does not go with the norm of not accepting Afolabi’s first family. Although she struggles initially, she puts herself in Sista’s shoes and eventually accepts them.
Sista focuses on reporting the story candidly while oddly giving the parties involved a happy ending. We see Sista grow from a hurt, betrayed mother to a healed person who, at last, lets go of her pain and finds joy with her kids.
I also praise the characters for their dexterity. The movie was not star-studded, yet the guest actors — Ronke Oshodi Oke, Chris Iheuwa, Blessing Jessica Obasi, and the other actors brought their A-game, especially the main character, Kehinde Bankole, who played the role of Sista, for her talent and skill; being able to body the role of a heartbroken single mother so well.
By the way, the proud “absentee father” just embraced Sista during the reconciliation scene rolls eyes. It couldn’t have been just me who had expected Folarin to grovel or prostrate before Sista.
In all, I love that the movie portrays that single mothers do, and can raise well-trained children. It teaches that children should be appreciative of their parents, whether both of them or just one is present.