AFRIFF 2025: Chee Keong Cheung’s “Son of The Soil” Is A Gritty Revenge-Fuelled Action Thriller 

The action drama genre is already etched in the memory of Nollywood. From the 90s, with films like Rattlesnake, through the early 2000s with State of Emergency and Issakaba to the new cinema productions like Gangs of Lagos, Brotherhood, Merry Men, The Black Book, and Suky, the genre has steadily evolved in Nigeria, adopting new techniques in form and structure to simulate global storytelling standards. This growth has not been entirely redemptive, as problems still exist in the stories being told. Son of The Soil, an international co-production directed by British-Chinese Chee Keong Cheung, is yet another evidence of the evolution—or a remarkable attempt at it.

The film stars British-Nigerian actor Razaaq Adoti, also credited as writer and co-producer, in the lead role as Zion Ladejo, a former military man who returns from the United States to his neighborhood in Nigeria, seeking revenge for his brutally murdered younger sister, Ronke (Sharon Rotimi). He encounters a corrupt police institution under the leadership of Commander Obi (Iretiola Doyle) that almost thwarts his quest. But that does not deter him from facing notorious community gangs headed by Shaka Bula (Taye Arimoro) and Baptiste (Philip Asaya). Eventually, as in most action film heroes, his revenge mission gets completed though it comes with the cost of also losing his mother (Patience Ozokwor).

Through the plights of the protagonist Zion Ladejo, Son of The Soil explores the cost of revenge against the criminal underworld in a society with compromised police institution and justice system. The film particularly speaks to the Nigerian condition, in a similar fashion as Ola Cardoso’s Suky where a wrongly imprisoned young man finds his way around the corrupt prison system to exert revenge on his father’s killer.

Son of The Soil begins with a depiction of Ronke’s final moments of existence where she makes a distress call to Zion not long before she is hit by a fast-moving car in what is a premeditated murder. This becomes a solid motive for the protagonist’s combative ambition. The circumstances leading to his sister’s death get clearer as the narrative matures. Through the use of flashbacks that recall memories of the siblings’ childhood, the film forges an emotional connection between the protagonist and the audience, one that is sufficient to validate his struggles in the high-stakes, crime-ridden environment. While his progress is threatened by external forces, the protagonist also faces internal conflicts with guilt and emotional trauma arising from bereavement.

The plot has a central conflict, is fast-paced and involves intense action sequences with chases, gun fights, stunts and explosions that are typical of the genre. Each action scene is not only used to create suspenseful excitement but also targeted at advancing the plot and revealing bits and pieces of the protagonist’s complex moral and psychological makeup. On the one hand, the protagonist is projected as empathetic, lovable and morally upright, evident in his attitude towards the street girl and reluctant reunion with an old associate Jagunlabi (Damilola Ogunsi). On the other hand, possessing the traits of the classic action hero, he is fierce, belligerent and unforgiving towards evil doers, as seen in how relentlessly he pursues and hunts down his enemies. However, for someone with previous military experience, Zion makes poor decisions without measuring the perils of his quest. Being up in arms against dangerous drug peddlers who know his family and will stop at nothing to have him dead, he should have relocated his mother to a safe place until his mission is completed and recruited a team from the beginning to work with him.

The cinematography of Son of the Soil features dynamic camera movements, including tracking shots, handheld sequences, and swift pans during fight and chase scenes, all designed to create a sense of urgency and enhance realism. This sense of urgency is further emboldened with rapid editing cuts, intense sound effects and a consistent slow-burning score that runs throughout the film. There are close-ups and medium shots, especially in gory scenes of bloodshed and violence, to heighten emotions and particularly appeal to the theatrical audience. We find examples of such in the car accident scene involving Ronke and the gruelling scene where Zion slowly and fatally stabs Shaka Bula.

With its attention to graphic details that include artful cinematography techniques and its acute reflection of the local slum environment from which the story emerges, Son Of The Soil poses as a bold social commentary and proposes a new direction in contemporary storytelling for the Nigerian audience.