“BODMAS” Review—A Quick Note on Self-Doubt & Moral Support 

As an indie filmmaker, the short film is your sure-fire way of testing the waters, a means to shoot your shot,  but there’s an accompanying temptation: the urge to over-impress, to sound deep in theme and form, to prove beyond reasonable doubt with any symbol that comes within your grasp, all within “unreasonable” timing. Abiodun Odu and Heavens Obule—a filmmaking bromance brewed from Take One Productions Concept—seem to have overcome this temptation in Ihunanya’m, a story of love and betrayal. Drawing from Old Nollywood wisdom,  the film uses the vehicle of local language, a countryside setting, unflowery dialogues and simple cinematography to convey its highly relatable messages. This idea of a short film that does not pathetically and forcibly take on grandiose gestures, not biting more than the chewable, is also conspicuous in  BODMAS, a film written and directed by Orobosa Ikponmwen, and co-produced with Taiwo Bukky Omotesho. BODMAS, its title derived from an initialism for a mathematical operation, tackles moral support, self-doubt, and the dynamics of family relations.

In Ikponmwen’s 12-minute-long film, two high schoolers—Kali, recognized as the most academically outstanding student in class, and Mimi Johnson—face off in the finale of a mathematics competition amidst reflections over previous-day interactions with family. The cast consists of six actors, led by Iremide Adeoye, a familiar face in Showmax’s intriguing telenovela Wura, and Mimi Bankong, both of whom embody the roles of the youngsters whose self-doubt stand in the way of their quest for the ultimate prize. Parents to Kali, Mr & Mrs Danladi, are played by Seun Kentebe and Nnenna Ossah respectively. Mimi’s foster parent is Aunty Bunmi, a character portrayed by Taiwo Bukky Omotesho. 

Ikponmwen’s most instrumental technique in the short film is flashback. As expected, the technique reanimates the past to better contextualise the present, furnishing us with a little more detail, even if fleetingly, about the two main characters. This specifically gives us a free back pass into the domestic lives of both characters as we summarily understand the dynamics of their relationships with family. We learn about Kali’s serial brilliance through the conversation between Mimi and her aunty. We meet Mr Danladi, the perfectionist father who, reacting harshly to a dent in Kali’s near-impeccable academic records, unintendedly tears down his son’s confidence—leaving the boy vulnerable and doubtful of his intellectual abilities ahead of the finale. There’s an antithesis in how both families relate with their children. Yet Aunty Bunmi’s disposition and foster strategy particularly speaks to our humanity. The lessons are ubiquitous: coercion is not foolproof, it harms the psyche; self-confidence is best nurtured in an environment suffused with love and goodwill; etc. You may also treat the film as your go-to manual on an episode of  how to and how not to prepare an adolescent for excellence. 

Ikponmwen’s BODMAS gives you a taste of family drama but you may be partially blind to this if you are lost in the swiftness, the fluidity of the plot. There are barely glaring symbols, no cryptic codes that require overthinking and deciphering. But then, the film, set against the backdrop of a contemporary society steeped in traditional family values, provides the spark for a possible re-evaluation of child training practices within the family system.

BODMAS is available on BODMAS Films YouTube channel where it was released on 28th February, 2025.