excellent nigerian movie: THE ONE WHO STOLE MY HEART

First thoughts 

Aww, this movie was so cute 

The Cast and Crew

Angel Unigwe as Ella
Eronini Osinachim as Mide
Tracy Edera as Cynthia
Jennifer Nnoruga as Angel
Ejiro Badare as Michael
Jerry Mudiaga as Sebastian

Written by Okpala Chidiogo Virginia
Produced by Tomi Adeoye
Directed by Kingsley Fresh Onyenma

Full Story

Cynthia, Ella and Sebastian are siblings. Sebastian is the oldest of the three and he has been responsible for the other two since he was sixteen. Despite being into internet fraud, he doesn’t want the same for his sisters. He wants them to go to school like regular kids, graduate and find a good job.

That is impossible though because in a bid to take the load off him, Ella starts pickpocketing and with time, Cynthia copies her as well which aggravates Sebastian. 

One day, after arguing with Seb because Cynthia stole an Apple Watch, the girls storm out of the house. They go to a POS stand to withdraw money. 

Shortly before they arrive at the POS stand, a guy who just finished withdrawing money sees a pretty girl with the baddest shape walking by and he asks for her number. She sizes him up a little and then gives him her number. 

As he is walking away, he and Ella bump into each other and apologise. Then, Cynthia and Ella walk to the POS stand. Cynthia cuts the line and an argument ensues. As the pretty girl is arguing with Cynthia, demanding that she go to the back of the line, Ella reaches inside her purse and steals her phone. 

Then she taps Cynthia who decides to go the back of the line. Ella gives Cynthia the phone and Cynthia leaves but Ella remains. Some minutes later Ella returns home. 

Cynthia briefs Ella about the phone. The pretty girl is a hot babe, she’s been receiving credit alerts on her phone and there is this guy who keeps texting her. 

Back to the guy who met the pretty girl. He is with his friend at home and he can’t stop gushing about the pretty girl. His friend, Michael, asks him not to double-text the pretty girl so as not to appear thirsty but the guy confesses that he has already triple-texted her. 

Later that night, the guy is still texting and he comes up with a pet name for the pretty girl: Sunshine. Ella doesn’t respond but Cynthia comes up with a plan for her to engage with the guy and then milk him dry for money. Ella isn’t interested. 

In the wee hours of the morning, the guy texts again and this time sends his photo. Ella can only see a preview of it because the phone is password-locked. She smiles and goes back to sleep. 

She goes to Computer Village later that day to unlock and wipe the phone. She first asks for the phone to be unlocked and there, she looks at all the photos the guy sent. She seems impressed enough to send him a message. 

The message was

“Are you a stalker, Mr Tech Guy? I wasn’t trying to air you. My phone had issues so I gave you a friend’s number. This is mine 090*******66”.

From that moment begins a friendship that blossoms into a relationship. The guy introduces himself as Mide. Mide is a tech guy who lives in Abuja of which he had returned to. Ella is also an aspiring tech girl who also is a crypto trader and a student. She also loves playing Call of Duty. 

Mide is so impressed by Ella and they spend their nights and days talking to each other. They even exercise together over the phone. Mide tries to get Ella to video call him but she declines and he doesn’t mind. He is patient. They continue like that until Mide comes back to her town and it is time for them to meet. 

The first meeting is scheduled but Ella doesn’t show up. She switches off her phone for 24 hours. Strangely enough, Mide is not annoyed by her absence. He is rather worried and relieved when she calls him to give him some bullshit story about being robbed. 

A second meeting is scheduled but this time around, Ella does show up. She pretends to just be a random girl who is also waiting for her date. They talk for a bit but then she gets a call from Cynthia informing her that Seb passed out. He started smoking again and it almost killed him for the second time. 

While on his way home, Mide is unhappy until he spots the pretty girl walking on the side of the road. He is so happy because he has finally seen his Ella. He rushes to go meet the pretty girl, calling out Ella but she is like, “long time, by the way, it’s Angel.”

He insists that she told him her name is Ella. He shows her the messages and she responds with a “We need to report this case to the police because I need my phone back and I’m very sure you want to know who this person is.”

Mide manages to trail Ella to her school where he waits for her with police officers in his car. However, when they are about to arrest her, he saves her by lying that he will take her to the station after her exams. There in the car, she apologises but he is disappointed.

Ella returns home and locks herself in the bedroom. She doesn’t come out to eat or talk to her siblings. All she does is cry and call Mide (who refuses to pick up her calls) multiple times. Seb buys Ella her favourite snacks and places them at her door, which she does open to collect after he walks away. 

Ella sends Mide a message, begging him to pick up her calls but he responds with a “You need therapy, not love Call 081******” which happens to be Michael’s number because Michael is a therapist.

Angel calls Mide on the phone, calling him “babe” and says she is going to be in Abuja for a friend’s wedding and needs a place to stay. Mide agrees reluctantly and she stays over. 

You see, Angel is basically a hookup girl i.e. prostitute. There’s no friend or wedding. She is just in Mide’s house to sell her body for 500,000 naira. Her presence initially excites Mide because she is the girl of his dreams but as the days go by, he becomes irritated by her especially when he figures out why she is in his house. 

While Mide is with Angel; Ella is with Michael, undergoing therapy. After weeks of therapy, Michael develops a crush on Ella and becomes snappy with Mide every time he calls to find out about Ella.

When Michael tries to confess his feelings to Ella, she saves him the embarrassment by stating that she is still in love with Mide. 

In the end, Mide returns and Michael tells him what an amazing girl Ella is. Mide locates Ella’s house on her birthday/graduation and they kiss. 

Rating out of 10

I give it 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰

I know this was a long-ass recap but when I tell you that this FILM was great… it was. Trust me.

Kudos to the director because this is the best acting I have seen from Eronini Osinachi EVER! The dude was giving. 

Also great casting with Angel Unigwe and Tracy Edera as sisters. They actually do look alike. Amazing stuff. Also, I don’t know why but Angel Unigwe reminded me so much of BBTitans Nelisa Msila.

Omoni Oboli is in her bag when it comes to romance. She and Tomi Adeoye know what they are doing. 

Stay tuned for the part 2 because I am doing that next.