Marital Confusion

Originally uploaded by NollywoodForever

Marital Confusion ~ 2009
Story, Screenplay – Felix Nyemike Nkadi
Director- Reginald Ebere

Starring:
Tony Umez – Chief
Francis Duru – Christopher
Padita Agu – Brenda
Pat Edeh – Maryann
Queen Nwokoye – Ngozi
Ngozi Ezeonu – Mama
Reginald Ebere – MD
Mary Igwe – Stephanie
Noel Oboh – Danny
Annabella Ojiaku – Ada
Gladrine Chinyere Ugo – Helen
Chinonso Uzochukwu – Kenneth

Themes:
Family Pressure
Greed
Childlessness

My Rating – 75%

Two stories told alongside each other about a couple’s marriage issues. Chief and his wife are experiencing marital woes because of childlessness. Chief offers his wife an ultimatum to produce a male child in 2 months or face another woman in the home.

Christopher and Ngozi on the other hand are happily married but facing pressure with regards to financial support for her family. Her sister Brenda in particular resents the fact that Christopher’s family receive more financial support that her family. Little does the family know that Christopher and Ngozi are struggling to make ends meet and that Ngozi intends on finding a job to boost the family’s income.

One day Chief and Ngozi’s paths cross and both marriages are thrown into disarray.

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

Family pressure is a big theme in this movie. Ngozi’s mother encourages her to leave her husband and go off with Chief simply because Christopher has fallen on hard times. She does not seem concerned with his physical violence towards her daughter but rather the fact,

“I’m not getting the benefits of a mother in law.”

Even Brenda is pimping out her sister for gifts from Chief, eager to get her sister to move on from her brother in law exclaiming to her mother about her sister,

“I wonder why they call themselves married couple if they cannot share money the money equally between the two families.”
_____________

Brenda is really ungrateful. Ngozi gives her 50,000 Naira for her upkeep in school and she throws it back at her deeming it, “miserable.” She then has no money for school and ends up asking Christopher’s sister who is her friend in school and who she had previously attacked and called a “miserable crook” to beg her brother for money.

If she needed the money that badly then why didn’t she take the 50 instead of begging Christopher’s sister and only getting 20 in the end? Christopher sends money to his sister after Ngozi has already told her sister that she doesn’t have money to give her and that is when the trouble really starts with Ngozi’s family.
_____________

One thing that I found strange was that after Christopher was accused of embezzlement, they were they still living in the house that belonged to the company after he was fired, with no talk of moving.

The other thing I found strange, or should I say stupid was the threat by Chief that his wife should produce a boy in 2 months or face another woman. HOLD UP! How can a son be produced in 2 months if the woman is not already pregnant, and even if the woman does get pregnant in the two months stipulated, how on earth would it be known if she is carrying a boy or not. This situation comes up a lot in Nollywood and it is absolutely STOOOOOOOOPID!

I wish I could see Tony Umez in one movie where he was not saying “alwight alwight” every minute and Queen Nwokoye in one movie where she is not playing a goody two shoes. She really shone for me in this movie but it would be nice to see her play a more challenging role.

In the end Ngozi returns to her husband’s house with her family’s blessing, after giving birth to a baby girl for Chief and being cut off by him. The moral of the story is to follow your own mind and don’t allow family pressure to cajole you into a situation that is not right for you. Although it must be said that the situation when she left was pretty bad and I wouldn’t recommend any woman stay with a man who is beating them up.
_____________

I would recommend this movie, it moved at a nice steady pace and kept you fixated at all times. It was great to see Padita Agu back after a long hiatus. She really came back with a bang as Brenda and she is even better than I remembered. Thumbs up!