Starring: Genevive Nnaji, Kenneth Okonkwo, Chinwe Owoh
Producer(s): Okey Ezugwu / Emmanuel Ugwu
Director: Tchidi Chikere
Year of production: 2003
Country: Nigeria.
Genre: Traditional/Romance
Language: English
Story: Nnaji plays a young wife and mother who loses her entire family in one day. The village elders accuse her of killing them , and use it as an excuse to drive her out of the village. This is something that they have been considering because they think she is a witch based on the unusual color of her eyes. Even though she realizes she is different, she sees her eyes as a mark of beauty from the gods. Racked with her pain at the loss of her husband and child, her grief almost renders her insane. She ends up in another village where she is labeled a mad woman and treated as such. After much taunting and insults, and a series of painful events, she meets a champion marksman played by Kenneth Okonkwo. He looks past her antics and instead sees a broken woman who needs his help.
Trailer:
REVIEW
Positives: This movie falls into the top three of my most favorite African movies. It’s an old movie but it’s still an enjoyable watch. This movie centered on Nnaji and she proved her mettle. She became this young woman who lost her beloved family in one fell swoop, and had to endure untold pain. For most of the movie, I forgot it was Nnaji I was watching. Okonkwo did an absolutely wonderful job, providing just the right touch of arrogance.
Though the story was tragic, it was wonderfully told. I was a little worried that they would overdo it on the tragedy (make it a tear-jerker) and draw it out but the movie didn’t dwell on that. Rather it focused, as it rightly should have, on Nnaji’s character and the marksman.
Unlike most Nigerian movies, there was character development in this movie, you grow with this character as she struggles through her grief and pain and the uncertainty of her life, and then…healing?
The two lead characters had chemistry and although Okonkwo’s beard was a little distracting, he still did a fantastic job. I’ve always believed that Nnaji is an actress who does a lot with her face and body, she makes you watch her in this movie, because if you take your eyes off her for a second, you miss what she isn’t saying vocally but visually.
I loved this movie because it was a sweet, touching, and moving story. It told of redemption, of love lost and re-gained, and hope. And you leave the movie with a good feeling, and I daresay with a smile, because there are good people in the world, and if you look long enough, you’ll find your Rising Sun.
Some scenes worthy of mention
1) The market scene, where she pushed away those cowries when the woman paid her extra, was extremely heart wrenching. EVEN I BELIEVED SHE WAS CRAZY AT THAT POINT. Here is a woman who is almost mad from the pain of loosing a husband and a beloved child on the same day!!! Who can bear that? Who can go through that and the stigma of being accused of a witch because of, to quote her "a mark of beauty from the gods", being chased away from your home and the one person who believed in you, and still remain sane?
2) I felt like going to her and wiping her tears whenever she cried "I killed him, I killed them”
3)The death of her family was movingly done. Her face when she realized her husband was gone? Brilliant. Brilliant I tell you
Negatives: There were several production mistakes, and the camera work was not very exciting. In addition, the location work showed many signs of modern life (a bad error), and the costuming left much to be desired. They also stuck some pasty white cotton wooly thing on Okonkwo’s face and called it a beard. I’m not sure why he had to have one, but it was a horrid sight.
Also, there were some scenes between the marksman and the widow that should have been improved upon. The marksman engages in some inappropriate behavior that leads to some vey crude scenes. I felt it wasn’t handled right and could have been done differently. Those scenes were insensitive and hampered the development of the movie somewhat.
Themes and worldviews: This movie brings to the forefront, our penchant for labeling anything that we do not understand. We either fear it, or we destroy it. The villagers did not understand the strange colour of Nnaji’s character’s eyes and so they decided she was a witch to be destroyed.
The movie also touches on the treatment meted out to widows and women in some African societies. The mother-in-law’s pleas were disregarded, and even when the widow tried to defend herself, you would see that no matter what she said, judgment had already been passed. The woman just lost her family and isn’t even allowed time to grieve or mourn.
Rating:8.5/10
Availability: Please check with any of these three online merchants, although I don't know if they will have it. I have never seen it with any of them.
Happy viewing - if you do find it.
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