TWO BRIDES AND A BABY: A DILENMA TUCKED IN MY MOVIE RACK BY CHIZITERE OJIAKA

Imagine you’re bored out of your mind on a certain day. You’ve probably had many rounds of sleep and walked around thehouse pilling junk in your system along the way. That kind of boredom that comes at a point when you have run out of ideas on how to spice up your life but suddenly, in the heat of things you catch a glimpse of the pack of  “Two Brides and a Baby” sitting on you CD rack. A warm sensation of relief pours through your veins and you smile as you proceed to pick it off the rack… DON’T DO IT! Screech to a halt before you ruin what is left of your state. You don’t watch this film when you are bored. You watch it when you are serene and sedated.

Since the revolution that has swept the Nigerian movie industry, popularly referred to as Nollywood, we have witnessed the birth of improved movie productions. We now have more movies with tremendous improvement in picture quality, use of props, storylines, location, casting, as well as acting. Most movie producers and directors have become more conscious about the quality of the work they deliver and Nigerians are growing less tolerant of mediocrity. It is within the niche of this novoueau cinema that Tow Brides and a Baby settles in quite nicely.

But the movie, “Two Brides and a Baby” making the coveted list of high budget/high quality Nollywood movies isn’t reason enough for one to watch it. A good movie, as well as any good work of art is supposed to resonate truthfully and excite the right kind of emotion. The pictures in their very texture have to speak to us to the very core of our reality. Perhaps it is the film’s success in depicting the reality of the African patriarchal situation that would hit the unsuspecting watcher with a coup de foudre, an instantaneous love that is sustained throughout the movie.

The story as its title implies is about two brides and a baby but the angle from which the story was written is a lot more interesting than the title merely suggests.  Keche (played by Keira Hewatch), the bride to be has her wedding plans distorted when she finds out she isn’t the only bride her fiancé, Kole(played by O.C Ukeje), has . Keche is hit with this surprise when Kole’s other woman, Ama (played by Stella Damasus), shows up at their wedding rehearsal. The story complicates further when Ama’s baby equally comes into the picture. The rest of the riveting plot is worth any movie watcher’s time.

It is my opinion that the acting was generally fair. One could see some of the actors downplaying the over expressiveness that makes stage acting different from film acting. An over expressiveness that many have considered to be vintage Nigerian. The casting of this movie was flawless. And I did strain my neck to catch the usual costume change blunders and goof that Nigerian movies are well known for but saw none. Scripted in simple language the movie succeeds in communicating the confusion and pain of the proverbial triangle.

Considering that the events in the story took place in the space of a few days, the locations were well rotated with the sequences following each other in good order. Weak delivery of character by some of the actors, some slaughtering of grammatical convention and certain ridiculous and unrealistic twists to the plot notwithstanding, the enjoyability of this film is scarcely diminished. On a scale of One-Ten, I’ll score this movie a Five. But my critical taste is more stringent than average being quite hard to please.

Produced by Blessing Effiom and directed by Teco Benson Two Brides and a Baby promises to take one on a normal journey in an exciting way. It does not completely live up to this promise, but it really did make a good try. This in some ways qualifies the movie as a success…

I must confess that although I had a good experience watching this movie, still, I wouldn’t recommend it for anyone who is looking to cure boredom.

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