Weeping Kingdom

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There’s nothing more annoying than being misled (there probably are, but for purposes of this argument let’s agree that there isn’t)! The package of this movie says “Weeping Kingdom: Sequel to Heart of a king”. And being a slightly learned person, I imagined that the people who made the package must also know which order the movie comes in, hence I watch Heart of a King first… and then the movie ends… and it seems concluded. Then one begins to wonder, what could they possibly have to act in part 3 and 4 (aka the weeping kingdom in this case). Only to press play on weeping kingdom and find out that that was the prequel not the sequel.

There is a negative to this and a positive as well. Obviously, I didn’t get the ‘enjoyment’ of watching all four parts of this movie and getting the full story. But I only watched the part 3 and 4 and got the gist of all other parts. Then the question arises, again for the umpteenth time what is the purpose of two extra parts when the concluding parts tell it all?

In weeping kingdom/heart of a king, Kenneth Okonkwo is paired yet again with Mercy Johnson in yet another royal story. As events unfold, betrayals set in and hidden secrets come to light one after the other to constitute these 2 or so hours of film (not counting the prequel, ofcourse). From the sequel alone, I was already complaining about the length of the movie. Too many things were untirely unnecessary, for instance I understand the point of adding Bishop for comic relief, and I will not deny that Bishop’s humor has no bounds, but building an entirely different sub-plot for his character? You must agree that is bordering on some kind of ridiculousness.

Speaking of plot lines, so many dialogues and scenes seemed more like dream sequences than actual reality. There’s no need for me to point out examples and ruin the movie for you because the scenes are glaringly obvious. In those scenes, I am simply seated and waiting for someone to wake up and feed me with that lazy Nollywood ending of ‘it was all just a dream’. But to my dismay, it was actual reality. A 20-something year old wishing to marry a 50 something year old woman is reality! A scorned mistress walking into the king’s room and chopping his man-parts as though it was some sort of Japanese delicacy is reality! I kid you not but there is a fine line between artistic freedom and pure undiluted rubbish.

I will, however, give kudos where it’s due. The cast, Mercy Johnson, Kenneth Okonkwo, Bishop, Ruth Kadiri, and Chinwe did a fantastic job. There’s no arguing their ability to portray without fault a role that they’ve only played a million other times in various other Nollywood movies.

I’m still very much on the fence about Walter Anga but I would be extremely unfair to deny that he has improved from movie to movie.

Throughout the movie, there are also recurrences of little things that were out of place like Mercy’s supposed ‘crown’ which looked like the pageant crown for Miss. Teen something, or Walter’s hair that seemed so out of place in the setting, amongst other things.