Themes explored in Biodun Stephen’s Sista

Sista tells the story of a single mother, Victoria. After being abandoned by the father of her children for over 20 years, she faces a nightmare when he finally comes back into the picture.

The film, written, produced and directed by Biodun Stephen, features Kehinde Bankole, Deyemi Okanlawon, Bisola Aiyeola, Tope Olowoniyan, Chimezie Imo and Ade Herself, amongst others.

The best things about this film are the cast, the storyline and the pace of the actual story.

The casting of young FA and Victoria really matched that of their older characters. Kehinde Bankole carried this film on her back, she was absolutely fantastic — the hair, the makeup, the costume, her facial expressions, her whole countenance made us enter into the world of a single mother who had been abandoned by someone she loved and sacrificed her whole life for.

Deyemi of course is great at being a character we hate so nothing new there. Bisola, another fantastic character, played the supportive wife with her sweet Nigerian-British accent which she had to put on for the film. I’m in awe of Bisola every time I see her on screen because she embodies each character she’s given. She has to be one of the most versatile actresses out of Nigeria.

If you know me well enough, you’ll know how much I love Biodun Stephen’s storytelling. There’s a method to her magic. Her stories captivate hearts and Sista is definitely one of her best stories. In her films, she always explores really strong, thought provoking themes. I’ve picked out three obvious ones.

The importance of open dialogue

Sista showed the importance of open dialogue in key relationships — between a husband and wife, as well as between parents and their children.

Sista told her children that their father had died so the only thing they could do was mourn a good father whose life was unfortunately cut short. Considering how close she was to the children, she should have told them the truth about how she was abandoned by their father. This would have given them a few years to form their own opinions and maybe build up love or hate towards him.

Unfortunately, when he resurfaced, as a wealthy man, the children who had always wondered about their father had no choice but to accept his offer of love and expensive gifts.

Again, this was an opportunity for Sista to be open about her feelings, how she felt about their father trying to reap from where he did not sow. If she had been open about her feelings, the children would have understood, because that’s how she raised them!

FA and Tiwatope seemed like they had an open dialogue policy or so she thought. I loved how he immediately told her when he found out about his kids, BUT he should have mentioned it to her 20 years earlier.

FA also began buying gifts for the children without asking their mother or his wife for forgiveness, properly. Even after he had done a bad thing, he still acted selfish and entitled, which made him skip the dialogue process. Men and their audacity!

The importance of having a kind partner

Tiwatope was the perfect wife. The amount of control that she had is a trait I aspire to possess. Her reaction to the news about her husband having two kids outside of marriage showed how kind she was because her first instinct was to feel remorse and to reach out to Sista to apologize for her husbands foolishness. She put Sista’s needs over her own even when she felt the pain of being betrayed by her own husband.

Why men will always get away with murder

FA was a selfish man. Everything he did in life was for his own benefit. Even when he found out about the kids, and started buying them expensive gifts without their mother’s permission.

At the end of the day, he got his education, he got his wealth, without the person who helped him through university. Then he came back like a hero to save the day, and of course he was forgiven because everybody deserves forgiveness. So yeah, take care of yourselves ladies!

The film is a 9/10 for me because 10 is only for my Jesus.

Sista is now available to watch on Amazon Prime Video!