Netflix’s Nigerian film, Gone shows the story of a boxer who returns to Nigeria to reunite with his family after spending 24 years in an American prison.
Plot Summary
Gone follows a boxer Animasaun AKA Ani (Sam Dede), who, after being set free from an American prison, decides to return to his wife, Ngozi (Stella Damasus), in Nigeria. Ngozi had already given birth to a girl (Bimbo Ademoye), Anu. She was carrying a son, Ayo-Chukwu (Gabriel Afolayan) when Ani left for America to pursue a career in boxing. But he was falsely convicted of rape and aggravated assault and sentenced to 40 years in prison. He would get parole only after 25 years.
Ani returns to his wife after 25 years, who now has her own living with her grown-up son and daughter. The son has turned out to be a carefree guy roaming around the streets with his friends without any apparent source of income. His elder sister is the one who helps their mom out with work.
Ani first comes across his son in Nigeria and decides to train him as a boxer anonymously. But soon, his wife finds out about him and, after that, the kids. While the son intends to find out what really happened, the daughter is adamant about not letting Ani into their lives ever again. However, when Ani reveals what happened to him in America (mentioned in the previous paragraph), his family accepts him for his faults.
‘Gone’ Ending Explained
The end of the Gone shows how in a matter of a day or two, Ani’s wife accepts him as his long-awaited lover and husband. Furthermore, both the children address him as “dad.” For someone who has been away from his family for 25 years; for a wife who hasn’t seen his husband this long; for children who haven’t seen their father for 25 years thinking that he was living with another woman, such a reaction might appear surreal to many viewers.
While others may find solace in the fact that they are all together now, a thought still lingers about faith and trust. Although we may question our own faith in doubting the trust the mother and children showed for their long-gone father, we cannot help but be taken aback by the sheer simplicity with which they received him.
Yes, the wife must have felt for Ani after he revealed what he went through. But does this compensate for all the hardship that she had to endure, bringing both the children up on her own, just as she mentions? Maybe this question doesn’t stand right. Perhaps, one cannot judge Ani because he didn’t know he would end up in prison. But he did decide to leave his new wife with the kids and go to America. We can try and accept Anu’s acceptance of her father too, who was there with her mother when her father left, though she was too young.
But what about Ayo-Chukwu? He wasn’t even born when his father left. He had only heard about him from his mother and probably his sister, and that too in demeaning terms. For him to straightaway address Ani as “dad” with only a one-time display of rage (when he finds out that Ani was his father) doesn’t seem reasonable.
Asking for forgiveness doesn’t stand a chance in such a case. All one can do is wait to be forgiven. But then again, it is up to the viewers to judge Ani for his actions or accept him just as his family did. And that’s what the movie leaves us with, a dilemma. But isn’t that what life’s all about?
Gone is a 2021 Nigerian Family Drama film directed by Daniel Ademinokan. It is streaming on Netflix.
