HOUSEBOY FOR SALE

Director: Stanley Anekwe and Chudi Amobi
Writer: Sunny Collins
Producer: Sunny Collins
Associate Producer: Chinedu Anekwe
Executive Producer: Onyinyechi Sunny Collins
Production Co-coordinator: Onye nze
Production Manager: ChumaAjoku
Director of Photography: Samuel Okhakume
Screen Play: Stanley Anekwe
Release Date: 2003

Genre: Melodrama

Name of Reviewer: GABRIEL UNYIME EMILY

Casts: PATIENCE OZOKWOR, CHINEDU IKEDIEZE, OKWUDILI OGUEBU, OSITA IHEME, CHINWE OWOH, ADA BURUWA

Plots: The movie starts withPatience Ozokwor (NNWAYI ORJI) who just arrived a village to supposedly visit her friend. She went to request that her friend release her child to go to the city were he would supposedly be well taken care of and she finally agrees to release Chinedu ikedieze(Onyeka) and this leaves his sibling OsitaIheme(Uche) behind.
Chinedu ikedieze(Onyeka) was taken to his master’s house by Patience Ozokwor (NNWAYI ORJI) to start his job as a houseboy and his masters turn out to be nice people.Chinedu ikedieze(Onyeka) was very hardworking and was bought new clothes,
sent to school and properly taken care of by his masters. Chinedu ikedieze(Onyeka)’s madam had a friend who needed a maid and she referred her to Patience Ozokwor (NNWAYI ORJI) who also got her a maid.
Patience Ozokwor (NNWAYI ORJI) continued in the act and got more children from the village to serve people in the city. She herself was just a random woman who sells kolanut as a means of survival. She later went on to take OsitaIheme(Uche) to the city in pretence that he was going to join his brother and fortunately for her, on reaching the village the little boy happened to be sick which aided her in convincing his mother that if he was taken to the city he would be well taken care of. On getting to the city he started selling Pure water and minerals which was not supposed to be the initial plan.
Patience Ozokwor (NNWAYI ORJI) went to the house where Chineduikedieze(Onyeka) stayed and convinced him to steal from his masters. He began to steal clothes and food items from his masters. She also tried to convince another girl by the name Amakawho refused because of her promise to her mother on not taking another person’s property. After her attempts with the girl failed, she decide to withdraw all the children from their master’s homesand make them serve her and her customers by being roadside hawkers though it didn’t work with Amaka as she reported the stealing case to her aunt. All the masters were deceived that the children’s mothers were ill just for her to achieve her evil enterprise.
Meanwhile the mother of Chineduikedieze(Onyeka) and OsitaIheme(Uche) had not seen them for more than a year and began to get worried before Patience Ozokwor (NNWAYI ORJI) brought her a picture of her children which brought her mind to rest. Unfortunately, she had a dream where her children were carried in a basket labeled ‘children for sale’ by Patience Ozokwor (NNWAYI ORJI) and this prompted her to visit the city so that she could see her children and deliver them out of the hands of the evil woman. She went to the house of Chineduikedieze(Onyeka) former master who helped her look for her children. They found the two brothers hawking and arrested their masters for child kidnapping and child abuse but since they had no inkling to what they had done, they took the police to Patience Ozokwor (NNWAYI ORJI) ‘s house and she was arrested. Finally justice caught up with the evil woman who was a wolf in sheep clothing.
Theme: Poverty, Deceit
Setting: Onitsha, Nigeria
Language: English
Sound track: ChibuzoNwuzo and OsyOsina Production
Title sequence: While the names of the casts were being shown and the music was playing at the beginning of the movie, I noticed that the central image shown on screen wasbold and so was the background.
Set: Solomon Apete
Location manager: ChiomaAjoku
Costumes: Nonyeokechukwu, Ngozi Ike
Continuity: ChilotaOnu
Reflections: I like the way the events came about. The bad was allowed enough time to deceive poor mothers who were not capable of taking care of their own children and finally good prevailed when the wolf in sheep clothing was caught.
Finale: the movie ended in an appropriate manner as all the masters gathered at Patience Ozokwor (NNWAYI ORJI)’s house to her disgrace after their kindness to her was repaid wiyh evil.