The 355 movie review: Inside the dangerous and intriguing lives of female spies

What is it like to be an intelligence officer or super spy? Oftentimes it is the embodiment of what you would get by breeding a hardened battle soldier and a nerd.

In simple terms, think of it as the brain of Sheldon Cooper (The Big Bang Theory) in the body of Dwayne Johnson (The Rock)… well at least that’s what many films have led us into believing.

I invite you to the front seat of an adventure of what it means to be a female spy as brought to you by Kenya’s very own Lupita Nyong’o in the movie, The 355.

A scene from The 355 Pulse Live Kenya

She is ¼ of a team of all-female spies recruited by CIA operative Mason "Mace" Browne, a character played by actress Jessica Chastain.

Lupita plays the role of a cyber intelligence agent and former MI6 operative and helps Mace recover a key hard drive that falls into the wrong hands.

Among the one-liners that are easy to remember from the film is one that summarily describes the work of a spy; putting themselves in danger so others are not.

The film sheds light on the dangerous life of a spy featuring betrayal, doublecrosses, plot twists, and a turn of fortune.

The 355 is mindless fun as the take-no-prisoners women show grit and fight hard. But the real secret weapon here is Lupita Nyongo's character - Khadijah - who is smart, clever, and often dryly amusing.

Lupita’s involvement in the team causes her to lose her dreamy boyfriend who gets shot as the ‘bad guy’ forces information about the powerful device out of her accomplices.

A scene from The 355 Pulse Live Kenya

As the film builds to its literally explosive finale, there are a lot of unexpected plot twists.

Lupita, in an exclusive interview with Spice FM’s Olivia Otieno, explained that The 355 movie title is symbolic of the first American female spy.

“The term 355 was a code that was given to the first American female spy and that was a long time ago. It is in the spirit of that, that we were called The 355. Women have participated in espionage for a very long time and it is high time we reflected that in the cinemas,” the Oscar Award winner explained.

The movie opened in Kenya on January 7, and is now showing across all cinemas.

The film, brought in by Century Pictures Ltd, premiered on January 8 and was attended by members of the Nyong’o family including her mother Dorothy Nyong’o.

Other celebrities included Nairobi Woman Rep Hon. Esther Passaris and media personality Terryanne Chebet.

Nairobi Woman Rep Hon. Esther Passaris, Kisumu First Lady Dorothy Nyong'o and Spice FM's Olivia Otieno after the screening of The 355 on January 8, 2022 Pulse Live Kenya