Ijele’s Wife
Tonto Dikeh, Nkem Owoh, George Davidson, Ugochukwu Thomas
Akunpe (Tonto Dike) had a "spiritual husband", who will stop any man from coming close to her. He was the god of the land and no one dares him. Those who did died from his wrath. She lost her son's father because she disobeyed Ijele (the god of the land and spiritual husband) and had a baby with the husband. Ogbansiegbe a poor hunter also fell in love with Akunpe but she warned him to stay away from her to avoid the wrath of Ijele. He paid no mind to her because he found it hard to believe her mysterious story.
Tonto to Nkem: "We don't need your meat. We have meat" Son to Tonto: "Mama this is bushmeat! The taste is different"
The movie, Ijele, has only two parts: Ijele part 1 and 2
Tchidi Chikere
Chinedu Collins Ezenwa
Tchidi Chikere
2012
A good story
No chemistry between the leads
Ijele’s wife is a family movie by Tchidi Chikere that almost returns to that old Tchidi formula of endearing romances, fascinating love stories, and enveloping dramas just without the endearing, fascinating or enveloping part.
It tells the story of a woman played by Tonto Dikeh who had been chosen by a god, Ijele, as her wife without her consent. Now, no mortal man is allowed to marry her and anyone who dears suffers loss. The movie follows her personal trials, her son, and the trials of the unfortunate man, Nkem Owoh, who had fallen in love with her.
This is not the first time Nkem Owoh is being paired with a much younger actress, he has been paired with Mercy, Funke and many others in the recent Nollywood craze of Old+Young love stories; however, this is possibly the least chemistry he’s ever had with any of the female leads.
Tonto Dikeh did try in her role with the crying and the weeping and the bawling (yes, all the same but it seemed that’s most of what she was doing in this movie). When she was doing all this in a scene on her own or with her ‘son’ or Ijele, it seemed fine, however when she was doing this in a scene with Mr. Owoh it seemed a bit less convincing – something about a stronger actor making all other actors look inefficient.
The story behind Ijele’s Wife the movie, is an interesting story but it’s in no way compelling. That is to say that if you’ve nothing to do and you’re sitting watching this movie you could sit through it all, but if something came up there would be no hesitation to get up and leave the movie and odds are you’d probably not return to the movie because there’s nothing compelling you back.
The movie in itself is good however it lacked that feeling aspect. So there’s no connection between the audience and the characters, the movie is just happening in the background. We’re sorry that the characters have to undergo such trials but we don’t pity them. I believe the general low budget production and lack of chemistry between Osuofia and Tonto made it less compelling.
There were also a couple costume errors like Tonto’s tattoo peeking out now and then as well as acting problems especially with the little boy.
ỤNỌ (The F in Family)
Dead Serious
