COMFORT MY SOUL

Story – Chinedu Nwani
Screenplay – Amechi Ukeji
Director – Afam Okereke
STILL PHOTO: GENTLE SOUL
WELFARE: AUGUSTINE OKEKE
MUSIC: SEIGHA SMOOTH EBIDE
CO-ORDINATOR: DAVID AGINWA
LIGHT/SOUND: UCHE UWAJU
PRODUCTION MANAGER: IFEANYI NDOKWU
GRAPHICS: JAHBLESS UKAEGBU
POST PRODUCTION: ULZEE DIGITAL STUDIO
ASST. EDITOR: SAMUEL EMMANUEL
EDITOR: JAHBLESS UKAEGBU
PRODUCER: AZUKA ODUNUKWE
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: AZUKA ODUNUKWE AND ULOMA ODUNUKWE
DIRECTOR: TCHIDI CHIKERE
CONTINUITY: CHIJIOKE OKEKE OGUNO
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: EFE EPHRAIM
MAKE UP ARTIST: KINGSLEY GODWIN
COSTUME DESIGNER: CHIEMELA NWAGBOSO
RELEASE DATE: 2010
GENRE: MELODRAM DURATION:1hr,26 mins
Themes:
Love
Battling adversity
LOCATION: NIGERIA REVIEWER: OPARA OKWUCHI DOMINICA
09BE08985 Starring:
Mercy Johnson – Amarachi
Clarion Chukwurah – Monica
Olu Jacobs – Chief Kalu
Van Vicker – Henry
Camilla Mberekpe – Rose
Chukwuma Uchegbu – Father
Ofili Ugbor – Doctor
Emma Emordi – Nonso
Akanchowo Okoro – Chima
Stanley Ekwedike – Chinedu
Paul Umoh – Obi
Osodebe Chike – Operation Man
Austin Okafor – Personnel man
Rita Daniels – Accountant
Esther Ugwu – Secretary
Themes:
Love
Battling adversity
My Rating – 60%
Synopsis:
Amarachi is an orphan whose sole carer her grandmother has recently died. As well as coping with her grandmother’s death she is also receiving unwanted attention from a boy at school called Nonso. Nonso has been chasing Amarachi around school but she is not interested. His clique have threatened to throw him out for being a coward if he does not succeed in having his way with her. The situation turns from him simply trying to toast her into his friends organising for him to set her up into being” taken by force”.
One day she is confronted by Nonso and his clique, taken to the bush and almost raped. Nonso is on top of her when she saves herself by grabbing a sharp tool that she finds in the grass. She stabs him in the neck and escapes. Nonso dies as a result of the stabbing and Amarachi is banished from the kingdom.
Now a lowly and struggling orphan her luck improves when she comes across a kindly priest who takes her into his parrish and organises for the parrish to pay for her education to any level she should wish to study to. Can Amarachi overcome the problems of her past and find comfort in her new life?
SPOILERS
Henry is the son of Chief Kalu and his wife Monica. Now in the movie they come across as a perfectly nice and reasonable couple. I found that the discord created because Henry had chosen to follow the career path of becoming a doctor highly unconvincing. A doctor is a reputable and prestigious profession in any part of the world, so the way they treated him for becoming a doctor seemed a bit over the top.
After all did they not send him abroad to study?. If they didn’t want him to become a doctor they could have thrown him straight into the family business or withdrawn support when he first attempted to embark on his medical studies. His mother calls his choice “medical madness”.This disdain would have made more sense to me if he had chosen to pursue a career in art, writing or acting. I mean seriously what educated and exposed parents would frown upon their kid being a doctor?
_____________
I love Clarion Chukwurah but am so used to her playing wicked roles that I kept waiting for her to break into evil mode. At first it seemed like she was possibly jealous of her husband’s admiration for Amarachi, and so I thought the movie was going to continue along that vein, but instead we see her genuine care and love for Amarachi and she takes on a surrogate mother supportive role. I am not sure if it was meant for her to be shown as jealous in the beginning or I misconstrued it this way?
I feel the movie lacked some clear focus on what Henry’s parents’ problem was with him. It was made out that it was his career path that was the problem, but then a little later in the movie it appears to be his attitude that is an issue. In one scene Monica thanks Amarachi for positively changing Henry and the relationship between Henry and his parents improves under Amarachi’s influence. However he is still a doctor so what is really the issue? It also seemed to me that any issues between them were solely the fault of his parents.
Is Amarachi an angel or a witch? LOL She is the saviour of everything in the movie. Anytime there is a problem from business to personal family problems she is called upon and she always produces good results. There is one instance in which she actually convinces Van to join the business. Her reasons did not seem compelling to me. Chinedu (story) and Amechi (script) should have come better than that. We then see Henry apologising for following his dreams WTF??? As if he was off being an armed robber. I found this highly unconvincing. There needed to be a valid reason and clear focus on what the bone of contention between parents and child was going to be for the movie to really make sense.
____________
At the beginning of the movie we see Mercy’s grandmother on her death bed. Now what I want to know is what was that stuff on her face supposed to be? It looked like she dunked her head in a bucketful of vomit and left it to dry. What was she supposed to be dying of? A skin condition? The way she was coughing you would think it was a lung disease! Why do the movies always have someone coughing before they die?
A funny scene to look out for is at the end of the movie when Amarachi is beating herself up over falling in love with Henry. She is full of fear and apprehension that Henry’s family will think her a gold digger. It is funny because we the viewers have seen that his parents are wholly behind the union and so we know that she is worrying about nothing. Mercy is very convincing and the slow build up of attraction between her and Van is very believable and lovely to watch.
_____________
Conclusion:
Despite its moot points I did like the movie. Mercy Johnson is such a versatile actress. She can sex it up with the best of them but when she is playing miss prim and proper she can do that to perfection too. Although predictable, (it was obvious she and Van were going to hook up) it was a nice feel good movie about a downtrodden individual battling against the odds and coming out on top. We see Amarachi lose her parents, her grandmother, almost get raped, get banished from the only life she knew, to becoming a Masters degree holder, General Manager of a multi-billion Naira company and finding a man who truly loves her.
PERSONAL ASSESMENT: Not bad! I’d recommend watching this.Nollywood P
SOUNDTRACK: My heart will go on by Celine Dion
TITLE SEQUENCE: At the beginning of the movie before the title was revealed the main casts were shown from scenes of the movie with their names written underneath then the title was revealed on a black background.
CINEMATOGRAPHY
SHOTS: medium shot, close up and extreme close up (the extreme close up when henry proposed To mercy In the presence of amarachi, there was more emphasis on Amarachi’s face to show the hurt when his wife said yes).
ANGLE: Medium angle was foremost in the movie though the extremely high and low angles were also used.
TRANSITION: at the beginning of the move there was a zoom out from Debo's shoes to show that he was preparing for an interview, also along the line of the movie there was a zoom in to the wall clock to emphasize how late it was and Subuola had not returned home.
COSTUME: Kofoworola Onifade; the costumes were fit for all the parts played.
MAKE-UP: Regina Chukwu; the make-up for some of the casts was a little too much.
REFLECTION: I was really impressed with the line to which the story took and also the end I myself couldn’t believe I could settle down to finish a Nigerian movie not to speak of a Yoruba one oduction W
PERSONAL ASSESMENT: Not bad! I’d recommend watching this.