The Slave King wins hearts at opening
Terrible stories of rulers who expose their subjects to untold hardships have been popular in our part of the world.
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And that is the theme young writer and filmmaker, Gilbert Ramy Carrey, explores in his debut movie, The Slave King, which was premiered at the Silverbird Cinemas at the
Accra and West Hills Malls on Saturday, June 17.
The premiere which attracted hundreds of movie lovers, is a story of a selfish King Agraada(Fred Amugi) whose desire to be powerful captures natives of surrounding villages as slaves.
His quest to be the ultimate ruler of the six tribes in the forest territory where he reigns sees his guards capture Guru(Jose Tolbert), a courageous young man destined to deliver his people from captivity.
Guru’s courage and strength, which is admired by King Agraada, earns him a significant position as one of the King’s loyal body guards, however, he is fiercely rivalled by
Tupaye, a long-serving and leader of the King Agraada’s bodyguards.
The plot of the movie takes a different twist when King Agraada is forced to marry, Akusha, as his second wife after forcibly having sex with her in her time of the month.
An act, which is regarded as a taboo for a king.
Unknown to the King, Akusha before her captivity is betrothed to Guru and the lovebirds continue their relationship at the palace. Akusha gets pregnant, a well received news to the kingdom after several failed attempts to get a successor to King Agraada.
An oracle subsequently reveals King Agraada isn’t responsible for Akusha’s pregnancy and so to restore his dignity, he hunts for the father of his wife’s unborn child to ruthlessly deal with him.
The Slave King shot at the Shai Hills depicts the rich culture and heritage of the African people as the writer highlights the African belief in gods and the role they play in the affairs of mortals. One cannot help but appreciate the richness of the language and dialogue which make African proverbs attractive.
The Slave King directed by Divine Jones and executive produced by Shirley Acquaah-Harrison explores the values of honesty, principle and morality in the society.
It is quite impressive with regards to the characters and the roles they played. Fred Amugi and Edinam Atatsi(Manye Awula) the first wife of the King, bring their long years of acting experience to their respective roles. Queen Akusha’s role, however, needs more grooming.
In an interview with Showbiz, 17-years-old Gilbert, who is a student t of the Tema International School described his movie as epic.
“ It has a great storyline and a very good cast and crew. It features some seasoned Ghanaian actors including Fred Nii Amugi, Edinam Atatsi, Jose Tolbert among a host of others”, he said.
Gilbert has been nominated in the Discovery of the Year category at this year’s EMY Africa Awards which is planned scheduled for Saturday, June 24, at Kempinski Hotel, Accra.