Anchor Baby

Anchor Baby, according to the Fifth Edition of the American Heritage Dictionary is an offensive and “disparaging term for a child born to a noncitizen mother in a country that grants automatic citizenship to children born on its soil, especially when the child’s birthplace is thought to have been chosen in order to improve the mother’s or other relatives’ chances of securing eventual citizenship.” This summarizes the intent of this movie but everything went the other way because of deceit.

“Anchor Baby” a Nollywood movie set in the United States, was produced by Lonzo Nzekwe staring Omoni Oboli as Joyce and Sam Sarpong as Paul Unanga who both had high hopes that with the help of an immigration lawyer, they would be able to evade capture by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), give birth their baby, secure a United States passport for the baby and then return to Nigeria. But on a fateful morning when Joyce went out for a walk, Paul was arrested and eventually deported, while Joyce was left behind to ensure she had the baby before returning to Nigeria.

But just when bureaucratic bottlenecks made it practically impossible for her to get prenatal care and a decent accommodation, she met Terri Oliver (playing Susan Backley) who turned out to be her benefactor. However the turn took a twist when as the rest of the movie showed, nothing good comes free, and Joyce was faced with the dilemma of returning Nigeria without the baby, in a very sophisticated plot that defrauded her of her baby.

Cast List

Omoni Oboli  as Joyce Unanga

Terri Oliver as Susan Backley

Sam Sarpong as Paul Unanga

Colin Paradine as Tim

Mark Cassius as Attorney John Rogdougougan

Santiago Lopera as Joey Rosario

Joshua Teixeira as Chris Castello

Michael Scratch as Agent Castello

Chris Patterson as Agent Rutherford

Rachael Ancheril as Agent Labinsky

Ben Bessong as ICE Agent #1

Godson Okojie as ICE Agent #2

Dan Bowers as ICE Agent #3

Peter Botteas as Factory Worker #1

Tara Browne as Factory Worker #2

Ashok Dhiman as Factory Worker #3

Randy Murton as Immigration Holding Cell Guard

Jeremy Hood as ICE Van Driver

Steve Rankine as Landlord

Sofia Gian as Clinic Receptionist

Bunmi Jubril as Suya Restaurant Waiter

Alaba Jubril as Suya Restaurant Waitress

Warrington Preston McCalla as Baby Uche