[TV] Seven Doors: When Love Meets Tradition

When this film was released, it caused a lot of stirrups and different discussions about it on the internet. But I had to wait till everything died down before I watched because I don't like watching movies in the midst of tension, and I must say that after I was done watching this film, a part of me felt like it was a true life story because it seems like what actually happened and what I've seen around in my culture..

Just like the previous royal movies that I've watched, I expected this to also be like one from those royal powers fighting wars, politics, and power. But I was surprised when this series took me round about the greatest war that was fought, and it was not between two kings. It was between a man who loved his tradition, what he inherited before he was born, and most especially, his love for his family. And what made the whole situation more interesting for me while watching is that King Adedunjoye did lobby for the king position, and after he was picked by the oracle and he accepted, when he got to the throne of his forefathers, he had to discover being a good man was not enough and that he needed to add other things.

Femi Adebayo, who played the role of Adedunjoye, is one character that has acted in a lot of movies and won many awards, so I had to pay much more attention to him watching this series. I liked the way they introduced him in this movie and how he started as an ordinary man who loved his wife and children before he became a king. And one thing I also like was after he became a king, he believed he could rule with his own power and sense of justice, but the power of his ancestors was not coming in. He made a mistake.
But to my greatest surprise, Ilara, the kingdom he was ruling over has a way of how their traditions worked. And after he refused to accept what he was told and to open all the seven doors, something terrible happened to his kingdom and family.

He married from another tribe. Chioma Chukwuka, who played the role of Amaka, the king's wife. She didn't just play the usual role. She was the one who encouraged him to Adedunjoye when he first refused to accept the throne. But later on, that same throne threatened everything they had built over the years. And she couldn't take it when the king was told to marry six more wives. And I felt her pain after I saw that because she has watched her man choose the throne over her after he was crowned king, and now, taking six more wives as a solution to the kingdom was unbearable to her, which I totally understood her point.

And while watching, I saw how those who were very close to the king become more desperate. Like how Otun became more dangerous and used his powers for personal gain. Prince Adeoye also became desperate by showing his ambition for the throne in a very manipulative way. And I like how the chief priest was introduced because he was the one who was giving the detailed narration of how the present suffering of the kingdom was connected to the sins of one of the past kings who sacrificed all his seven wives for power. And since then, other kings after him must knock on the seven doors. And that alone brought a question to my mind: can someone inherit the consequences of something they didn't do personally and don't even know anything about?

And after watching this series, the part that I kept remembering at intervals was the whole story told by the chief priest behind the seven doors. How one of the ancestors to the throne had sacrificed all his seven wives just to make his life longer. And the consequence was that those wives he sacrificed, all their ages, were added together to his own, and even when he was of age, he didn't die. He grew very old to the extent that he was being sundried every day, and he begged for death. He tried to take his own life, but he didn't die because he was living the consequences of his actions. And the consequences of his actions were still hanging over his generation and especially who would become the king from their family line. And when I think deeper, I see that the title was not an ordinary one. It means more than seven wives entering a palace. But the seven doors simply mean all the unresolved wrongs that the new king has inherited by default.

In a way, I like the way the writer wrote some parts, especially how Adedunjoye handled the whole situation after he eventually got married to those six wives just to protect his kingdom and his only child left. But he didn't like the way they were threatening and treating his first wife, Amaka, who he truly loves. And he had no other choice than to send them all away to protect the woman he truly loves even while he was still battling to satisfy the demands placed on him as king.

What changed the whole direction of the series that I noticed was after the death of the king's daughter because he refused to listen to what must be done. How some supernatural powers came to his palace to disturb the peace, and only he can see them. But he finally understood that what he was told must be done after his only remaining child was attacked.

And while watching, I had to reason far that some inherited problems go beyond royalty. Because sometimes, a lot of people spend their entire lives battling and cleaning up mistakes together who never knew anything about. Just like how Adedunjoye was made king but still had to deal with the past problem from one of his ancestors.

And that kept me thinking that someone can inherit power, position, name, and even wealth, but they can also inherit all the consequences that comes with it. And what always makes the difference is either continuing that way or finding a solution for the next generation.

This was not just an ordinary movie, to be honest, because I learned a lot, and I must say, it's what is really happening today. The series is on Netflix, and I'll recommend it to you if you are a fan of historical movies like myself, coupled with tradition, royalty, and a bit of supernatural powers. It's a perfect movie, but just have it in mind that it has enough substance to make you think outside the storyline into reality.

I'll give it an 8.3/10.

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