THE HERD
‘THE HERD’ FALLS INTO PERFECT TIMING; A REFLECTION OF PRESENT STATE KIDNAPPING IN NIGERIA
At a time when Nigeria is grappling with yet another wave of abductions from the attack on worshippers in Kwara to the kidnapping of schoolchildren in Kebbi and Niger.
‘The Herd’ no longer feels like a story created for the screen. Daniel Etim-Effiong’s crime thriller has taken on an unsettling relevance, blurring the line between fiction and the country’s daily reality.
Daniel Etim’s debut feature sits at the centre of an important political quagmire: a country refusing to tackle a complex insecurity issue that threatens to destroy an already delicate national fabric. It takes on a huge task in its almost two-hour run time and is successful at showing the raw violence that exists in the country, but sometimes it is bogged down by its ambitions.
Things take a turn for the worse when, on the way to their hotel after a wedding ceremony, Gosi (Daniel Etim Effiong) and his just married friends are captured by violent bandits. From that moment, we are plunged into a tense unfolding that tackles the stakes in the forest and the cultural shortcomings outside—the former more cohesive than the latter.
The Herd doesn’t waste any time pushing you into the deep; the immediate danger of its premise doesn’t delay and violent decisions keep you unsure of whose survival is assured, pulling you deeper into the forest (where its best scenes are) with the captives. A phone call between the bandits and Garba (played by Adam Garba) the officer in charge of the case, navigates a push and pull for information that the bandits need for their payment and Garba needs to keep the captives alive. The moment never lags, and the actors on both sides of the call carry their suspicion and mind workings well.
The better-handled side plot is one with Lateef Adedimeji as a pastor with ties to the bandits. It’s an even fit that doesn’t deviate the film even though their story is quickly forgotten after serving the main narrative.
Well the desperation that pervades the entire film is a true reflection of where we are as a nation, desperate to the point of collapse. That desperation has eaten away at our values and taken us to a kind of destructive self-preservation. The Herd tries to capture the corners we have been pushed to as a nation and how pushing at the corners of a room will collapse it, but it is sometimes shy to put forward any sort of clear conviction—it is more concerned with implicating all tribes and religions beyond the bandits, which dulls the sharpness of a real stance
The Herd concludes as expected, but with an awareness of aftermaths. These people who have been motivated by desperation, what happens next? It doesn’t lean into hope because the reality it is inspired by is hopeless, but it also feels complete in that way. Many lines of dialogue in the concluding scenes are awkward attempts to close out arcs and open up others, but it still doesn’t take away from the cautious relief you feel and the breath you finally take while still wondering: this could be me or anyone I know.
The movie stars Daniel Etim Effiong who also served as Director, Genoveva Umeh, Mercy Aigbe, Kunle Remi, Lateef Adedimeji, Norbert Young ,Tina Mba and a few others.
The Herd is not just a movie; it is an indictment of a nation that has normalised tragedy. It leaves you with that persistent Nigerian question: What if this happens to me or someone I love?
With gripping performances, cultural depth, and frightening realism, The Herd is a tense, emotionally charged thriller that mirrors a country’s worst fears.
The ending where the NYSC girl who escaped was still running feels like a figurative climax, it depicts the present state of the NYSC mobilization system where youth corpers deployed to far away volatile areas run from such areas.
The movie shows on Netflix and we think it’s totally worth the watch.
From All of Us at Real Nollywood, we rate the movie an 8/10.
