Firstly, from the trailer alone I was intrigued. I couldn't wait to see how this story would unfold as well as I prayed they could do our culture justice. Not often do we see such a big, international production correctly embody who we are as people. So to see this film achieve this was impressive.
The story of the film was easy to follow and entertaining to watch. To me the story itself was a 'Trini.' And I say this meaning that it came with its dramatic ups and downs, funny moments, sad moments, party animal moments and moments that made you say, "what he really doing?' The rise and fall in action could have been a bit more intense for me, but it had a good enough impact to make me a bit angry. The love story was interesting and romantic to watch, as a young writer it gave me a bit of inspiration to write something similar and hopefully just as interesting. The way it all wrapped up at the end just made you feel good, and even makes you wish you had a type of little forbidden love story at some point of your life.
The acting was quite good and the casting was perfect. Each actor was well suited to their character especially 'Nikhil.' He played the role of the villain very well but somehow made me see the good in him at the same time, it was interesting. 'Anita' was well casted also, she was so soft spoken and graceful, you could tell that she wasn't used to our culture but she grabbed the bull by its horns and was successful. As for the character of 'Lee' I questioned Machel Montano's acing abilities a bit at first but I would say that he pulled it off so well that I couldn't see anyone else in that role.
The locations in the film we all so beautiful and well put together, props to the location scout as well as the set designers. The costume designer did a really good job, the traditional Indian ware were colourful and suited the character's personality.
Our culture is well represented throughout this movie. Each song made me sing along and dance a bit. The vibrancy of colour throughout the film was pleasing to see. How we gather and party even with strangers was well expressed and it just shows how we sometimes are able to forget differences when carnival al comes around and just join together as one. Since my favourite scenes were based around our people and carnival elements like J'ouvert, it show how well culture was represented and it was able to make me feel like I was part of the partying. Also, side note on the little product placements in between, it didn't go unnoticed, very nice advertising there.
Overall Bazodee was a good experience, it made me proud to see Trinidad and Tobago so well represented on screen. Ain't nothing more Trini than love, unity and a bit of drama.