Miracle in Cell no. 7... My honest review

 

Miracle in cell no. 7 was a fine movie but I consider it overrated. Feel free to balance me. (Photo credit: Netflix)

Miracle in Cell no. 7 is as absurd as it sounds, a Turkish movie that was about an imprisoned mentally-impaired man and his adorable daughter. It was about the cruelty of humans in the corridors of power as well as the compassion in men.

If you haven’t seen this movie, I’d advise you do for two reasons: basically, to understand my review and to approve or disprove one of my main points on this review, which is the fact that I saw the movie from beginning to the end and still didn’t get the part that got people crying.

No, I didn’t cry and for an emotional man like me, I wouldn’t understand the social media outrage and the campaign for people to shed tears after seeing the movie. Yes, it was an emotional story but it didn’t draw tears from my eyes. I won’t deny the fact that I had goosebumps but no tears.

Let me state categorically that as much as I like the movie, largely due to the little girl and some interesting storytelling, I strongly believe it was highly overrated and wouldn’t get so much hypes from me; sad tales sell better, especially in Africa, and that is why many rated the movie highly.

Here’s the story: A mentally impaired man was accused of raping and killing a 9-year-old girl, of course he didn’t do it but there were close evidences against him, you won’t put anything past a “mad man” so you can make excuses for his accusers but a little forensic examination would easily exonerate him.

Miracle in Cell no. 7 was a remake of a Korean movie of the same name but slightly different story. In this 2019 movie, Memo (the father) and Ova (the six-year-old daughter) both share a bond that made the story quite fascinating, the girl was proud of her father despite his health challenges, that part was touching.

To bring you up to speed and give a rationale to why you’d think Memo killed the Lieutenant’s daughter, Ova wanted a red bag and Memo saved hard for it, the Lieutenant deprived him and his daughter of the bag buy buying it for his own daughter, the Lieutenant’s daughter was murdered and found on the arms of Memo, anyone would think he was trying to get back at the big man for cheating him, right?

How did the little girl die? Memo was herding his flock of sheep, some children were making fun of him but he was enjoying it (of course not consciously), the Lieutenant’s daughter slipped on the rocks and hit her head, Memo tried saving her but ferrying her out of the murky waters, how would he justify himself when no one old enough to bear him witness was around?

Memo was sentenced to death as the Turkish law stipulates because the wicked lieutenant ensured he got a “sanity certificate” that confirmed that Memo was with his senses intact. Memo was thrown into a dangerous cell, no. 7 to be precise but fate twisted things in his favors.

Memo saved the life of Askorozlu, the most dreaded prisoner in the cell when he was attacked by another in-mate and Memo was rewarded with what he wanted most – his daughter’s visit to the cell. Everyone could tell he was happy to see his daughter, the daughter was fulfilled too.

I like the sound effects, the bird chirping, the sound we got when Memo was attacked, the dog barking and some other interesting effects, I like how they portrayed Memo as a happy child who wasn’t even thinking about his predicament and how everyone in the cell got to love him and believed he didn’t commit the crime.

In the end, the in-mates came together to help Memo to break out of jail, that must be the part that got people crying – Nonsense. While I am convinced that there’s no way in hell that would be possible in a real setting, I’d let y’all tell me what you make of the escape plan.

For those that haven’t seen the movie, on the day Memo was to be executed by hanging, another in-mate that was fed up of life due to health issues offered to die in Memo’s place and they managed to bundle the guy to the death-row without showing his face, for someone that a high-ranking public officer wanted dead, I don’t see how that would happen but we move.

In all, I like the movie and I recommend it for you to see if you haven’t but I do not think it’s a 10/10 movie as most reviews suggest, it’s 6/10 at best. See it and give me your reviews or tell me what you think of the movie if you have seen it before. See y’all tomorrow.