Shanty Town (2023): A Review

I’ll start by saying that if you’re not a fan of gory scenes, you might want to skip Shanty Town because the movie is bloody.

The Netflix original series kicks off with an explosive intro. An African family begins their day with the ritual of waking each other up for devotion. Not long after, the sounds and screams of bullets and bombs are heard all over the community, with locals running for their lives.

One out of the two daughters in the family gets shot and their father dies while trying to get the rest to safety. As they paddle away in terror, they lock eyes with Scar.

Fast-forward to about twenty years later, we are introduced to Shanty town. It is what most Nigerians would call the “inside life” of Lagos. There, we see a community where the word “ghetto” fails to describe effectively.

Scar is the lord of the “Zanga”. He is in charge of everything that goes on in the community and everyone pays obeisance to him. Whether it’s for security, finding clients (for the sex workers), or even housing, everything has to go through his lordship.

Just as Jackie buys her short-lived freedom, Inem returns to Shanty town. However, (as the story will later unfold) she is actually Inem’s twin sister, working as an undercover DSS agent in an attempt to uncover Chief Fernandez’s evil schemes.

The story is a predictable satire at best as it aims to expose the criminal workings of many politicians in power in Nigeria. One would expect a better plot development after the explosive intro the viewer was fed with but nothing extraordinary happens till the end of the play.

The first part of the series however ends on a sort of cliffhanger as the viewers are left with a form of suspense that suggests that the girls’ freedom will only be short-lived.

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The series emphasizes the themes of corruption, rape, sex, human trafficking, organized crime, and a little sprinkle of spirituality.

Now, onto the issues I had with the series.

Issues I had with Shanty Town

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1. Incoherent Plot Development

The story had a good cause to it but it felt like the sequence of events was just patched together to form a whole.

For example, Dame Dabota, a politician also running for the forthcoming gubernatorial elections, had her gang that she ran in the shadows. She was present at the scene of a kidnapping with another corrupt politician that the DSS were after. What were they doing there together? A tea party?

However, we see DSS agents escorting her to safety as if she was not the one that set up the whole riot.

What’s even more annoying is that the same agents attacked and got injured by Dame’s thugs. How do they explain that please? You save the boss and have a karate/judo face-off with the minions? Doesn’t really make sense, to be honest.

2. An All Powerful Priestess licking Vitamin C

I think this part was the height for me. It’s one thing when a spiritual priestess is coughing wildly. Who knows? She could be choking on the blood of one of the many virgins she had used as a sacrifice. Nothing out of the ordinary there.

Where I’m left bewildered is when a woman who is supposed to be the baddest spiritual authority in a ghetto, human trafficking, prostitute hoarding town, is licking vitamin C because of her cough.

I’m not sure what the writer tried to accomplish with Mommy T but one thing is for sure, they shocked the viewers. I mean, was it supposed to be a joke or what?

3. The Charmless Charm

Scar gave a necklace charm to Shalewa to put on Femi Fernandez’s neck. It was supposed to be a “touch and follow” kinda charm. The charm was supposed to get him to go steal his father’s ring.

Why then did he return to the restaurant (many hours later) without the said ring? Wasn’t that the reason why Scar and his men came to raid the place and kidnap him?

Still on the issue. Chief Dacosta Fernandez is supposed to be a vile man that will not give a hoot if his son dies. However, Colorado not only asks him to come but to bring his invaluable ring along too.

And he went!

Not to mention Scar’s apparent pitfall.

If Scar already knew that the chief was still wearing his ring, how did he hope to overpower him or kill him when he was invulnerable? There are way too many holes in the story.

However, there is no question that the movie was definitely engaging enough to sit through six episodes. Not to mention the action-packed scene in episode 6 and great vfx throughout the series. Everything looked frighteningly real.

Nollywood is indeed going far and we all look forward to the remaining five parts of this action-packed series!