Starring:  Sharon Ooja, Omawumi Megbele, Blossom Chukwujekwu, Omoni Oboli

Synopsis:  An investigative journalist goes undercover to unravel the underground world of human trafficking.

Review:

Oloture (Sharon Ooja), a journalist, accepted the assignment of masquerading as a prostitute to uncover the business of sexual exploitation and human trafficking. She befriended fellow call girl, Linda, who worked the job to provide for her family. Linda also introduced her virgin sister to the seedy business. The plan was for some of the women, who paid a fee, to go to Europe where they would earn more money as escorts to wealthy men. 

During the stint, Oloture documented and reported any investigative findings to co-worker, Emeka (Blossom Chukwujekwu), who often pretended to be one of her nightly regulars. But on the night of a prominent party, Oloture’s agenda urgently changed from professional to personal.

Let’s Talk. This is a crime drama that set out to provide insight on human trafficking and the misuse of women. It followed Oloture as she entered a world of darkness, violence, and crime. It was slow moving and edgy while enlightening the audience of such corruption. 

The crux of the movie was about the complexities the women faced and their perceived limited options for earning a living. There seemed to be no turning back as rituals anchored women into a career of prostitution and thus sex trafficking. But not all of the women were forced; some freely accepted this competitive, territorial, and seedy lifestyle. 

The challenges Oloture faced as a reporter were the missteps in the story. Why would she be sent alone to such a dangerous environment?  There should have been at least two women undercover to protect the other.  Also questionable is that she would swallow a date rape drug only minutes after she managed to intentionally spill a glass of champagne handed to her.  Why didn’t she just hold the pill under her tongue until she could spit it out in the bathroom? She knew the ills of the business so this made zero sense.

The sex scene with Sir Phillip (Patrick Doyle) was odd. What was he? Some sort of sadist? Was he having sex or constipated? Those faces. My goodness. Speaking of which, it’s understood that the gritty scenes mimicked the business but some were tacky and for mature audiences only. 

Performances were satisfactory with Sharon Ooja leading the way as a brave journalist who took on an assignment that threatened her life. Omoni Oboli played Alero, and although her take on the character was believable, the excessive smoking was overkill. We got who the character was from the very first scene so the overplaying of character mannerisms was redundant. 

Oloture is similar to the 2018 film titled Joy. It seems that filmmakers set out to explore this topic but efforts to stop it remain a question. One difference between the two films is that Joy actually took place in Europe whereas Oloture showed Nigerian prostitutes pre-Europe. Both shared the brutal reality of sex trafficking and both ended inconclusively. And the ambiguous endings are appropriate because in reality how and when does this appalling crime end? There were no scenes where criminals were hauled out in handcuffs so a resolution is seemingly still an issue.  

At the end, the filmmakers provided staggering financial statistics for this atrocious crime and as mentioned above, they deserted the audience with unanswered questions. Furthermore, our protagonist, who we became drawn to, didn’t succeed as far as we know, so a part two is required for proper closure. If there’s one out there, I’d love to see it.  RECOMMEND