Black Rose

“Black Rose” is the story of a family struggling everyday to make it to the next, while life seems to be waiting at every turn to knock them down a few more inches. The singular breadwinner of the family is the widowed matriarch, played by Ebele Okaro, and around her are her four children.

Her two younger sons are constantly evading being sent away from school for not paying their school fees. Her first child, Ugo, has taken to the streets in an attempt to ‘use what she has to get what she wants’. And her second daughter, Rose, seems to be her major source of strength. This all continues on until one day a young man walks into their lives and seems to be the answers to the prayers they’ve all been praying.

The movie is best looked at in two halves: the first and the second. The first half has all of that true ‘old nollywood’ charm without all of that truly old nollywood ‘drag’. You know what I mean when I say drag: I mean the endless scenes of gates opening and cars driving in and then driving out and a full view of the entire trip to whichever destination. By the drag I mean, the seemingly unending scenes of tears after tears after tears as the director tries to drive home the point that this family is poor and sad – as though the first few teary scenes didn’t quite send the message. It is that old nollywood charm where you feel some form of intimacy with the characters and truly start to root for them.

The first half of this movie was succinct and it was sweet and by the time our ‘knight in shining armor’ (played by Blossom Chukwujekwu) rolls around, your gut tells you not to trust him but you are still kinda thrilled that he has shown up. Because it is that sort of feeling. That sort of feeling where you want poor girl to meet rich boy and for a Cinderella re-enactment to occur. Except, it’s not that type of movie.

The story in ‘Black Rose’ is deceitful. It dresses up as the happily ever after but it’s actually the in-between part. You know the part where you’re not quite at your darkest moments but you’re not quite in the light yet? The originality of the movie is that there are signs through out – from the trailer to the final moment of revelation – that everything is not as it seems. But, until the revelation, the audience is left guessing what the conflict will end up being and how it will arise.

The second half of the movie is where things get dark. It looses the light and bubbly air of the first half and slowly wades into a misty second half. The movie never completely reveals its villain and his true persona till the final moment. Even in the middle of his evil act, the audience might still wonder if he truly is a villain or just a victim of his circumstances. You are left wondering until the one scene where you see the villain play both parts- good and bad – in the same scene. Might I add, hats off to the actor for that scene, because even as I watched him tell his lies knowing fully well that they were lies, a part of me still believed him.

But of course, the movie is not without its shortcomings. One of the most annoying of which was the use of music. As the opening credits roll, you are met with the impressive chords of the soundtrack but as the first few scenes commence you start to wish that they would dial it back a bit and trust the actors. The performances by the main actors in this movie were solid enough to carry it along but for some reason, especially in the early parts, it seemed like someone didn’t quite trust that they could carry it along. There was an excessive use of music in the early parts to force the emotion and mood of those scenes.

Black Rose is a fine and simple movie with an immersive first half and a gripping second. Even though the ending seemed a bit circumspect, it’s a movie that was easy to watch. The only thing is, even after watching it, I don’t know that I would ever feel the need to watch it in a theater.