The Delivery Boy (2018)

The Delivery Boy
DirectorAdekunle Adejuyigbe, Adekunle Nodash Adejuyigbe

Plot

After the opening credits, two men are sitting together in a small room. One of them (Jammal Ibrahim) is staring out the window. The other (Charles Etubiebi) is eating something and making conversation, which the first man participates in sparsely. The men hear the call to prayer ring out, and so they pray in the next room. During prayer, the second man starts to shake and announces he has been poisoned to the first man, who he calls Amir. When Amir refuses to retrieve the first aid kit, the first man realizes that Amir poisoned him.

In the cabinet with the first-aid kit is a journal, which Amir and the second man fight over the key for. The second man locks the cabinet and swallows the key to the cabinet before passing out, which frustrates Amir. He goes to a barrel and pulls out a suicide bomber vest, which he then straps to himself. Amir leaves the building.

The camera cuts to a car on a city road, where a man makes use of the services of a sex worker (Jemima Osunde). After he's done, the man throws some money at the sex worker, and she walks into the nearby St. Luke's Hospital. There is a donation box on the receptionist's (Aina Oladeji) desk to “save Chidi’s life,” and it's indicated on the box that only a small portion of the needed funds have been donated. The woman donates 1,000 Nigerian Naira (placing the movie definitively in Nigeria) and updates the sign. A large amount of swelling on the right side of the sex worker's face is revealed by the camera, and she rejects the receptionist's offer to see “him,” Chidi, who she just donated to save.

The camera cuts to Amir, who walks down a city road, reads a piece of paper he's holding, and then hides under a truck. Amir gets a phone call, initiating a flashback where a much younger Amir (Master Adebulugbe), in his childhood, is hearing a ringtone in the room. Young Amir grabs a piece of paper and quickly hides it in his hand before a man (Jude Chukwuka) comes in the room to pick up the phone. The man, who is named by the caller as Mallam Sadan, is speaking with a woman he calls Sister Dorcas (Kehinde Fasuyi), who tells him “the papers are ready.” Mallam Sadan requests that she “take them to Ofili at the new house,” but cannot find the address for "the new house" written down anywhere because the paper with the address on it is in Amir's hand. Mallam Sadan says Ofili will send the address to Sister Dorcas. Mallam calls for Amir, who says his name is Joseph. Mallam says that his name in his new family is Amir, and that Amir and Mallam are “father and son now.” Mallam embraces Amir and the flashback ends.

A car pulls up next to the truck where Amir is hiding. The driver (Chris Iheuwa) is complaining that the gate to the building he's arrived at is closed. Amir runs up to the car and holds a knife to the driver's throat, who panics but holds still. Amir demands to know where Mallam Sadan is. The driver argues, and so Amir stabs him in the leg. The driver says he doesn't know and that he only handles “minor logistics.” The driver advises Amir to speak to Sister Dorcas, for she might know.

Another man (Abiodun Falana), who the driver calls Sule, comes out of the building, but Amir threatens to kill Sule if he comes closer to Amir and the driver. Sule returns inside, which makes the driver sob harder. Amir demands Sister Dorcas’ address from the driver. Once Amir has the address, the driver uses his possession of a vehicle to offer to take Amir to Sister Dorcas’ house, bargaining for his life. In another part of the city, some sex workers, including the one from earlier, are patrolling the red light district of the city. She's not getting any customers, which makes her feel sad. Finally, after a lot of waiting, she gets a customer. The customer negotiates her down from her offer of 6,000 Naira to 1,000. The customer refuses to pay her at all, so she hits him with a crowbar and takes all his money, then runs away.

The driver is taking Amir down a dark road, and begging to go to the hospital, for he is losing a lot of blood. The driver passes out from loss of blood, and crashes the car. Nearby passersby notice this. Amir checks the driver for a pulse, stabs the driver, and then runs away. The passersby collectively decide to chase after Amir because they saw him stab the driver. The sex worker's customer is chasing her to get back the money she took from him. Amir and the sex worker both hide in the same small, open carriage.

They look at each other quietly for a while. The sex worker introduces herself as Nkem. Amir introduces himself. Amir asks if she knows the address he extorted from the driver. Nkem asks “what’s in it for me?” and Amir offers her cash. Nkem says she must change her clothes from her sex work outfit before they go to the address. Amir doesn't tell her what the address is for.

Back in the house where the film started, the man Amir poisoned is conscious and calls Mallam Sadan. He reports Amir gone from the building, and reveals to Mallam that the poison Amir slipped him was only a sedative, not lethal. Mallam infers that Amir “lost his nerve.” Mallam insists the operation go forward as planned, and says “the package” must be delivered by tomorrow morning. Mallam says he will send another delivery boy to get the package. However, the man alerts him that Amir has taken the package with him. At this point, it becomes clear that “the package” refers to Amir's suicide bomber vest.

Amir and Nkem arrive at Nkem's house. Amir scolds Nkem for undressing in front of him, calling her “shameless woman” in Hausa. Nkem responds, revealing that she understands Hausa. While Amir is shifting his clothes around, Nkem spots his suicide bomber vest. She says she's not sure why she's not afraid, now that she knows he is a suicide bomber, and that she's paid to take him to the address given to her.

Cast

Wikipedia

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