Anointed Liars

Originally uploaded by NollywoodForever

Nigerian Movie Review
Anointed Liars ~ 2009
Story – Stephen Anozie
Screenplay – Paul Anyaegbu
Director – Innocent Chinagorom

Starring:
Oge Okoye – Cynthia
Mona Lisa Chinda – Ann
Rose Onyebuchi – Ikaete
Funke Akindele – Flora Yoruba Actress
Dan Ugorji – Jerry
Manfred Uche – Sam
Stella Idika – Doris
Pitchman Akuta – Brother Dan
Lilly Ebeh – Lucy
Edyl Anoele – Mama
Cynthoon Manta – June
D.D Jameson – Gilbert
Ndubuisi Onwuemena – Gideon
Dan Adili – Livinus
Paul Anyaegbu – Robert
Uche Chibuzor – Misete
Maureen Uche – Uru
Uche Okonkwo – Habekuku
Stephen Anozie – I.K
Kelechi Ude – Driver
Ndukwe Ude – Abino
Chizoba Okeke – Attendant

Themes:
Ritualism in Nollywood Movies
Charms in Nollywood Movies
Fraud in Nigerian Movies
Mugu Nigeria
Christianity in African Movies

My Rating 19%

A bunch of con artists comprised of a bus driver and two fake passengers scams an unsuspecting Reverend Sister, played by Oge Okoye on a bus. The bus driver tricks her into thinking that a female passenger is carrying illegal money. He refuses to let anyone off the bus and threatens to go to the police to hand over the money.

It is then that the woman carrying the dollars confesses to having thousands of dollars in the Ghana must go bag because she stole it from her fiancé, who obtained it as a result of rituals, who mistreated her and refused to marry her after 7 years. She says that she is willing to share it if one of them can neutralise the charms.

This is where another passenger who is in on the scam tells them that he knows a “man of God” that can neutralise the charm. The Reverend Sister does not want to be involved initially but eventually she is persuaded by the others as she believes that perhaps the man of God can find “her husband.”

*************SPOILERS************

If you are wondering how a nun can have a husband, believe me I was wondering about that too. Cynthia the nun explains that it is a “long story.” It is a story that we never get to actually hear.

There were so many stupid things that happened in the movie. When Cynthia refuses to be involved in the money sharing initially one of the fake passengers tells her,

“Have you thought about what dollars can do for you? Wait!”

She then waits and is listening to them persuade her and even though she tells them,

“I’m not interested in that money. That money is devilish.” She is still standing there. The woman who is pretending to have stolen the money then tells her,

“Sister please you can’t leave me.”

This whole exchange is downright RI-DI-CU-LOUS! Since when does one beg to give away thousands of dollars in Nigeria? If Cynthia didn’t want it there would be more to share amongst them. Of course it was a scam but anyone would have realised as such if they were being begged to take money.

When Cynthia goes with the other fake passengers to the man of God she is given a drink which is spiked. When she is unconscious she is robbed and wakes up in hospital. We see her being treated by her friend Ann, played by Monal Lisa Chinda, who is a doctor at the hospital and recounting her ordeal. She tells the doctor that she thought the drink they gave her was “Just water.” Ex-Cah-yooooouuse me? How is water deep deep red so deep it is almost purple-black like red wine?
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The doctor Ann has her own story to tell. From here the movie goes into Ann’s story, and we never even go back to Cynthia’s story. Her story is even more stupid. The basic premise is that Cynthia had a fiancé that was duped. She too by default was duped because she listened to what false “prophets” were telling her and her fiancé to do. She sold her family’s houses to give the prophet money to wipe a curse from her (that never existed), trekked to Abuja to be duped again and in the end lost her fiancé when he was killed in a bar brawl after confronting the conmen.

She meets another man Sam who recovers her family’s houses. Lets be serious how nonsensical is that? What did he do? Did he buy them back? She sold them to get money. It wasn’t like they were sold by someone else. She then marries him but he goes to the USA and has been missing for 3 years. She is still waiting for him although her cousin is intent on hooking her up with someone else then surprise surprise! One day he turns up with a story about being locked up in prison in America and they are reunited.
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We see how people use the supposed word of God to fit their own agendas. Cynthia is being toasted by all the brothers in church. Brother Dan tells her that they are meant to be together because he was told by God. When Cynthia expresses her disinterest he tells her,

“Don’t you believe in the word of God again?”

I am surprised that Cynthia does not fall for this line considering that she sold two houses to give money to some fraudsters who claimed that by selling the houses her fiancé would win a 2 million dollar contract. After losing all that the fraudsters send her to Abuja to be conned again. That is what you call a true mugu!
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I would not recommend this movie. Jerry played by Dan Ugorji was simply awful. At one point he is trying to chat up Ann and reeling of lines about her beauty and not even looking directly at her when trying to woo her. I had high hopes in the beginning. I was looking forward to seeing Funke Akindele in an English language film and she wasn’t bad but her part was minimal. If I closed my eyes I would have thought that I was listening to Kate Henshaw Nuttall. There was no structure to the movie and the storyline that it started off with was abandoned and never resurrected. It could have been good were the hold fraud storyline properly executed. Other questions I had were, why did they have Oge play a Reverend Sister? What was the point of that? Who was her husband? What is her story? In short a waste of time!