When injustice takes away the ones you love, and when what you relied on abandoned you, it can be hard to open up again. Breath of Life is a story of a man that has gone through this, a man betrayed by both God and the colonial powers that once celebrated his talents, but he finds new purpose when his hired househelp enters his life. While the cast is great, the choice to stick completely in English feels disarming, some of the events that follow go down cliche paths, and the solutions found feel contrary to its intended message. Breath of Life has an interesting point, but the themes don’t mix as well as they could have.

It’s surprising that Prime Video’s first collaboration with Nigerian film studio Nemsia Films is faith-focused, and Breath of Life is definitely created with conversion in mind. That being said, the film doesn’t just slap on a message and call it a day. There’s something intriguing about how Timi Johnson is able to succeed in every possible standard the Western world and British colonial powers have thrown at him, until he acts contrary to their wishes to seek justice. The film rightfully acknowledges this, and how this injustice continues to be perpetuated, but the way the film approaches each of the needed solutions goes into well-trodden, melodramatic territory. It could have been a moving contemplation on faith as a response for justice, and it’s certainly a unique one, but execution keeps Breath of Life from truly shining.