TEARS OF A PRINCESS

REVIEWER: AKINNUGA O.R

MOVIE TITLE: TEARS OF A PRINCESS

PRODUCER: PAUL AFUBE

MAIN CAST: OLU JACOBS( Chief Emmanuel Marshall), NGOZI EZEONU( Emilla Marshall), INI EDO (Irene), TONTO DIKEH (Annabelle)

LENGTH OF THE MOVIE: 1 hr 44mins

PRODUCER: PAUL AFUBE

DIRECTOR: AFAM OKEREKE

YEAR OF PRODUCTION: 2009

GENRE: MELO-DRAMA

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: PAUL EJIKE

ASSOCIATE PRODUCER: IFEANYI EZEH

STORY LINE/PLOT

The film “tears of a princess” is about two rivaling sisters, Ini Edo called Irene in the movie, and Tonto Dikeh called Annabelle. Annabelle envies Irene success, Irene was in love with Edward; due to the jealousy Annabelle planed with an unknown man to destroy their relationship. Irene finally accepts her hope and her sister the way she is. Irene, the opposite of Annabelle, has a high sense of morals, humility and manner.

Five years later Irene found new love, after rejecting men’s proposals past the years. The new relationship grew stronger and it blossomed. As the relationship grew stronger it brought about planned marriage which is the climax in the movie.

In the planning process of the marriage, Annabelle became jealous because her boyfriend which was supposed to proposed to her gave her the shocking news that he can’t marry her because of her lose manner and attitude. Annabelle’s jealousy was rooted to the fact that Irene would get married before her, Irene would be the next queen of their community which their mum would never want. Irene’s mum, Emilla, thought of a way to stop the marriage so to prevent Irene from being the queen.

Emilla brought up Irene’s history as a source of threat. Irene’s Fiancé, is the prince of Ogboko community soon to be king when he gets married. Irene was never the biological daughter of Chief Emmanuel Marshall, she was adopted by his first wife, Helen since she could not have children, and Helen died childless.

At the end of the day, Irene married the Prince when it was revealed that Chief Marshall was her biological father.

THEME: cultural hindrances, jealousy and hatred.

SETTING: NIGERIA

SHOTS AND ANGLES: The movie is a mixture of different shots and angles. However the medium shot was more dominant. Preference was made for focus on a main object. There were series of long shots and about one or two extreme long shots where they showed the house in which the couple lived. The angle mostly used was the mid-angle. Subjective angles were also used to show what the actors were looking At when Chief Emmanuel got into his house.

LANGUAGE: English. The language and diction of the characters were encouraging, appropriate use of words and diction enhanced the beauty of the movie.

CONCLUSION: The movie title tears of a princess do not go with the story line because there was never a princess in the movie. Irene’s father was only a chief which does not make her a princess.

STORY LINE: The story line is a very good one because in Nigeria we still have communities that practice culture that in a way or the other hinder the full practice of fundamental right and freedom. There has always been flux of culture as time goes, but no permanent culture that would be acceptable in every part of Nigeria due to its heterogeneous nature.

Cultural conflict, can’t marry an adopted lady cause she is equal to a slave could be accepted in other communities. This cultural conflict shows our Nigeria needs advancement in science and technology in order to wipe out cultures that would be depreciative to human dignity.

Movies like this should be encouraged so as to unravel dishonoring culture in our society.

SOUND TRACK: The sound track of the movie was good, because the sound track reflected the mood of the story and actor.

LOCALE: Some settings are not to good, the same house of Irene and Annabelle when they were in school is the same with their father’s house. Man in charge of Location in the movie is Chidi Okugbo.

MAKE UP: Uche Nancy the make up artiste did her job. The character faces were not into the mood of the story because of the amount of makeup applied e.g., when Ini Edo was weeping over the reason of the called off wedding, make up was all over her face she was not looking sad, because the makeup livening her face.

COSTUME: Ndidi Okere gave the perfect costume to fit in the mood and tone of the film. When Irene and Annabelle was a student they dressed exactly like students.

CHARACTERIZATION: The characters interpreted their role well, they were into the movie which made it look real. Olu Jacobs (Chief Emmanuel Marshall) is known to be the father of Nollywood, even in his 70’s would still fit into any role. AKINNUGA O.R