Monitoring Spirits Review (short film)... good display of stereotypes

Year: 2021
Genre: Tradition, Faith, Drama
Cast: Tris Udeh, Genoveva Umeh, Laura Pepple, Samuel Abah, Israel Afolabi, Roseanne Chikwendu
Director: David Ukonmadu
Writer: Hajarat Abiodun Alli
Cinematographer: Jalalah Adesina
Summary: Laila’s academic research on marine life makes everybody question whether she’s possessed by marine spirits

Overall Rating: Beignets
An atypical and true narrative about the dangers of rumors. It was heartbreaking to see stereotyping at work.
Monitoring Spirits was a wonderful story that was gravely affected by poor audio making it unable to fully enjoy
~Worth Watching~

Delicious
—Laila (Tris Udeh) was such a bold and beautiful girl, we loved her perception of womanhood. She was fearless, ready to break societal norms, and questioned the status quo to ensure a better future for herself
—What we respected about Monitoring Spirits was the demonstration of how educated people can still be brutally naive. Laila’s classmates and mother believed more in rumors than proof. Such a tragic but actual fact!
—Tris Udeh’s facial expressions were good, reflecting bottled emotions some times, then manifesting pain and disappointment other times. She was leading the movie 😀

Bland
—Sound engineering was a major issue; we couldn’t properly hear the actors’ voices, making it challenging to follow the story. Continuity also impeded the realism of the scenario
—Overall acting wasn’t too dynamic
—Did the ‘monitoring spirits’ represent the people around Laila always prying into her life (like her mom, Malim, and others)? Who was the man dressed in white? The movie didn’t really clarify these important questions