Power of Deceit

Originally uploaded by NollywoodForever

Power of Deceit ~ 2009
Story, Screenplay, Director – Sylvia Ezen Eguakhide
Producer – Sylvia Ezen Eguakhide

Starring:
Desmond Elliot – Charles
Uche Jombo – Ify
Tony Umez – Obinna Okere
Ashley Nwosu – Sunny Onwurdi
Sylvia Ezen Eguakhide – Nkechi
Ekaette Inyang – Mama
Sandra Ezenweani – Susan Okere
Olumide Fafunso – Chuks Onwurdi
Ama Ignis – Stone
Elizabeth Nwogazi – Kemi
Joy Nwogazi – Aunty Ruth
Olawale Aduroja – Lecturer
Royson Okafor – Kola

Themes:
Prostitution
Greed
Materialism
Parental Pressure
Peer Pressure

My Rating – 36%

Susan’s boyfriend Kola gets caught cheating and when confronted by her denies her in front of his other girl and ends up beating her. She is saved from a further beating by his friend Chuks. Chuks and Susan become firm friends after he approaches her for help with his schoolwork on the advise of his school mentor. Despite his initial insults towards her and bravado in front of his friends they soon fall in love. There is however something lurking that threatens to break their union.

In a side story Linda is Charles’ girlfriend but is only with him for money, money that she uses to cater for her lesbian lover. He soon puts her out and moves on but not before she manages to change his life forever.

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

The movie is very disjointed and we see different people introduced at random into the story without any explanation as to who they are or how they tie into the existing plot. For instance 20 minutes into the movie we are introduced to Obinna. We see him driving down the street and having flashbacks. How are we shown this random dude having flashbacks and we do not even yet know how he fits into a campus story which up until this point this movie is?

Throughout the movie we are shown ho stroll clips. Ashewos doing synchronised walking, “sexy” posing, touching themselves up and acting a fool. Granted, Chuks’ first girlfriend was a “runs girl” but apart from that small detail all these interspersed clips do not make sense.

The scenes where Chuks catches his girlfriend doing ashewo business on Allen Avenue dragged on for far too long. We see different men coming to “prize” the girl and then the subsequent arguments as all the men are trying to get discounts and the girls are not agreeing. It seemed that this was all in a bid to show us that Chuks’ girl was not virtuous. It was not necessary in my opinion, since that was a minor part of the story.

Chuks goes shopping for Susan and then one day she walks past the same group of guys that used to insult her for being dry, but wearing her new clothes. See the guys go gaga over her. I call BOOOOLSHEEEET! The girl still looked dry. That was pure falseness and overreaction. The girl is wearing a knee length skirt with trainers, a fitted football jersey looking top and one horrible, dated dry wig. Please tell me, what part of her looked like a hot babe? I wonder ooo!

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Linda is going out with Charles but she is a fat slob. She literally lies on the sofa and drinks and smokes all day. Charles doesn’t seem to like anything about her, so I wonder why on earth he was going out with her. That didn’t make sense to me. What were her redeeming qualities? We don’t see any!

It is not until part 2 that we see a link between the stories. We find out that Obinna is Susan’s father. It is also not until the second part of the movie that we find out that Susan is a sickler. What? That was just thrown in there to create another storyline. It did not seem well thought out as it had never been mentioned or hinted to before.

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The execution of this whole movie was poor. There were too many storylines. They should have focused on one or two and made it work. Editing was poor and the whole feel of the movie was very amateur, on top of that the editing job left a lot to be desired. At one point (23.15 in part 1) there is a complete visual blackout. The dramatic sound effects that were often used took away from the realism as they were too loud and overdramatic.

Uche barely features in this movie despite having her face emblazoned accross the cover.  She has a tiny role as Nkechi’s friend and confidant. I don’t have a problem with no name actors and actresses being used, but the marketers should give people more credit by putting the real leads on the front. They may be pleasantly surprised. If a movie is good then it is good, word will get out. Unfortunately this movie isn’t very good at all. The actors and actresses played their parts well but there was just too much going on with no clear direction or focus. There is a message at the end of the movie about condemning AIDS/ HIV stigmatization. They should have picked one “cause” and stuck to it.

I would not recommend this movie. It is watchable in that you will watch to see just how much more ridiculous the story can get, but ultimately it is a waste of time and money.