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Review of “Engulfed” – a movie that discusses irregular migration

The short film “Engulfed” was premiered at the Antique Lemonade Gallery in Accra on Saturday, March 31, 2018.

And so when I received an email from Atumpan.Comm inviting me to the premier of the short movie , it was the perfect excuse to step out.

Scripted by budding writer Kojo Owiredu Kissi, the short film “Engulfed” is geared towards creating a platform for discourse and to enlighten the youth on migration.

Out of the short film came the idea of #MigrationDialogues which seeks to send the message on various tertiary campuses across the country.

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The premiere began in clolourful fashion at the Antique Lemonade Gallery at Airport Residential Area in Accra, with the audience being thrilled by a spoken word performance.

The movie itself talks about a young African woman called Lamle, a role played by Esi Yamoah, who journeys to the Gulf region in search of greener pastures.

Enticed by many sweet stories of how money and riches are easy to come by in the Gulf regions, Lamle decides to travel to a Gulf country for a new life.

However, she soon found out that not all that glitters is gold when she began life in the North African country.

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Lamle was apparently deceived by a fake travelling agent who had promised her a good life when she gets to Egypt.

However, those promises were never honoured and she eventually fell into the hands of a wicked home, where she was virtually treated like a slave.

The various scenes of the short movie “Engulfed” highlight the plights of irregular travelers and the kind of poor treatments meted out to them.

Lamle’s story is the exact imitation of what many Africans are currently going through when they embark on irregular migrations to the Gulf countries.

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Unfortunately, not many are fortunate enough to be able to return to tell their stories. In the case of Lamle, in this movie, she had to engineer her own escape after growing tired of the maltreatment from her masters.

She was constantly being physically abused, raped and tortured at the least chance, so she stole her passport and tried to escape but was eventually caught.

The event was hosted and coordinated by the affable Dr. Akosua Darkwah, with a host of other distinguished dignitaries from the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) and the various Embassies also gracing the movie premier.

A question and answer session followed with audience being allowed the opportunity to dialogue on irregular migration and 21st century slavery.

The Assistant Superintendent Immigration (ASI) Richard Owusu-Brinfuor was also present and he spoke on the desperation of Ghanaians to travel outside the country for greener pastures.

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According to him, people must be wary of fake travelling agents who are only interested in exploiting unsuspecting victims and dumping them into slavery in other countries.

He cautioned against forging information and documents at the embassies, whiles advising that it is better to migrate using the legal means.

Mr. Owusu-Brinfuor added that the GIS will collaborate with other stakeholders to make sure that the issue of illegal migration is curbed or, at least, reduced.

The event was climaxed by a word from one George Boateng – a man who once embarked on an irregular migration to Libya.

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He narrated his painful ordeal all through his journey and how he was deceived to believe that he would be secured a job once he got to Tripoli.

However, on the contrary, he was rather confined for many months in prison, trafficked, stripped off all his money and exploited upon touching down in the North African country.

His story highlighted the ordeals that irregular migrators go through before, during and all through their journeys.

In all, the premier of the movie “Engulfed” was a success and all who trouped to the Antique Lemonade Gallery would have left feeling entertained and educated on the subject of irregular migration and 21st century slavery.

However, there is also the need to highlight some blips that nearly marred the colourful nature of the programme.

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First, the event started almost 30 minutes later than it was scheduled, whiles sound from the microphones was also a problem all throughout the night.

But aside the above hitches, everything else was inch perfect. The movie “Engulfed” was shot in Luxor City, Egypt, at amazing locations. The setting and cast was also perfect for such a storyline.

The man behind the movie – Kojo Owiredu Kissi – must be congratulated for using drama to tackle such a serious matter that has been troubling the nation.

“Engulfed” will definitely go places!

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