Nwaogo the Housemaid

It’s rare to see a simple love story these days especially in the village setting; this movie fulfilled all that nostalgia and more including singing. Bear with me in this review because this is my first traditional review and the elements are definitely different from a modern day film

This is a blatant and shameless Cinderella story. It doesn’t even try to hide it. It is neither original nor new but its charm lies in its familiarity. And its characters, I really love Chioma Chukwuka’s character. She didn’t take it lying down and gave as good as she got, that was a welcome change from the spineless sufferer. On the other hand the story definitely was dragged down by the other storylines that had no bearing whatsoever to the story ,there was much too much  and sometimes it was too loosely connected to the story e.g. the random storyline about the maid and the prince’s servant. What was that about?

As always with Ugezu. J. Ugezu, the world building was absolutely fantastic. If only for that it is a good film he has a talent for creating an entirely different world with different rules and making them all fit perfectly. Not once in any of his films will you question a rule because he makes it seem so natural. The singing on the other hand cannot be condoned, this is not Bollywood. It wastes time and effort and had the effect of making it seem longer.

Acting wise there is no one that dares call Chioma Chukwuka a good actress. She is a great one and the role she chooses to play compliments her. She doesn’t shy away from roles and I wouldn’t mind if she is the one that ushers in more traditional movies. Francis Duru was good also, apart from the singing. The other actors were equal to the task. All in all the acting was satisfactory and the costumes were ingenious. After going for so long without ‘ village films’, it Is just a breath of fresh air to see a current one that is also good. This probably earned it a few points. The soundtrack unfortunately let it down; the singing was almost too much to bear.

In conclusion I would recommend this movie. It moves slowly and drags a bit but it is just so appreciated and long sought after, you can ignore many of its flaws. We just need more of these…