Originally uploaded by NollywoodForever

Immoral Act

(A Kenneth Okonwo Production)

Story/ Screenplay – Alex Mouth

Director – Obi Okor

Starring:

Kanayo O Kanayo

Francis Duru

Steph Nora Okere/ Falana

Moses Armstrong

Anita Hogan

Themes Explored:

Infidelity

Karma

“saving face”

My Rating: 85%

Woman works as a maid and is “let go” when her oga’s wife leaves him, after he refuses to take an impotence test to determine why they have not had any children. As his wife leaves she screams after him,

“When we got married did you tell me you would sacrifice out unborn child for money?”

Infertility in the movies is almost always blamed on the person’s character. Not having children is karma’s way of wreaking revenge on evil deeds, or they have made a pact with the devil to gain riches. It is never just down to the sperm not fertilising the egg at the right time!

The maid is unemployed and her oga is drowning himself in self pity. It is only when he sees his wife out of the street pregnant and in another man’s arms that he decides to rehire the maid. His main concern is that publicly he will become an object of derision, so his plan to rehire the maid holds a more sinister motive. He wants to impregnate her to prove his “manliness.”

The maid does not know this initially and is excited at the prospect of having her job back. Things are looking up doubly because her husband after being unemployed for a period of time finds employment in a bank.

*************SPOILERS AHEAD*************

The maid ends up losing her husband after falling for her oga’s plan. She is thinking of the riches and ends up pregnant, leaves her husband and begins living with her oga full time in his house. Things are supposedly looking bright for the future. The wife does not even think about the husband and children she abandoned. However before she is able to give birth she suffers from a miscarriage. As all her oga cared about was “saving face” and producing a child the maid has now become useless to him. She is slung from the house and her oga marries his other mistress.

It is only after this misfortune that the maid begins to reflect on the error of her ways, and returns to the village in a bid to track down her husband and children and reunite with them. She does find them, but her husband has moved on. She sees him with his pregnant wife and her children. The scene is a far cry from her own existence. Her husband, children and his new wife appear bright, effervescent, healthy and happy in stark contrast to her wretchedness.

It is Karma come true, because each get what they deserve. We know the husband deserves to be happy because he was a virtuous man, loyal to his wife until she betrayed him with her oga. In one earlier scene he is staying over his friend’s house and we see his girlfriend’s friend try and seduce him. He is curt and refuses the girl’s advances, following up with a lecture on respecting herself.

On seeing the husband’s new family the wife is shocked and distressed. She was hoping that he would take her back. If course this is not going to happen and she has the audacity to exclaim,

“We are not even yet divorced!”

I would definitely recommend the film. It teaches us to treat people as we expect to be treated. The performances were superb and the film flowed. The one criticism that I had was The AGE MISMATCH issue, which is a major flaw in Nollywood. Here we have a married couple played by Francis and Steph yet Francis looks more like he could be her son than husband. This aspect of the story is lessens the believability factor and ruins the film experience to have the thought constantly swimming around your head your head “BUT SHE LOOK LIKE HIS MAMA!” If they had to choose those same actors to play that same role then they should have thrown in an age gap relationship subplot!