Ehi’s Bitters

***THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS***

Possibly my favorite part of the entire experience of watching Ehi’s Bitters was hearing the song “Bia Nulu” in the soundtrack. I literally screamed out when I first heard it played here and that reaction was immediately followed by tears. Since first hearing this version used in the Nigerian movie Holding Hope, I have been in love. Needless to say, its inclusion in this movie did much to accelerate the flow of tears especially by the time the end credits came along.

Ehi’s Bitters is the story of Ehisoje (referred to as Soje in her early years and Ehi in her later years) a young lady who had a troubling childhood. She was raised by a single mother whose sole purpose was to get remarried in order to earn herself respect in the society and some form of a social standing. Time and time again, she would get rejected by men when they discovered that she not only had a daughter but one who was Soje’s age. She takes out the anger and frustration on Soje to the point of being physically, emotionally and psychologically abusive of the girl.

Young Soje is played to a tee by Debby Felix. She was so good that by the time the movie ended, I realized that I didn’t spare a single thought about her performance while watching the movie. This was because it never felt like she was acting for a moment. It felt like she was living and breathing it and we just happened to be watching. This performance standard is carried on effortlessly into the character’s older age by Enado Odigie who does a beautiful job as Soje. Alongside the supporting cast (save for some moments of over acting by Fathia Williams), the performances aren’t the downfall of this movie.

The downfall is in the fringes. It is in the cinematography or lack thereof. In the moments when two characters are sitting on a couch taking turns to speak and the camera is just sliding like a box from the left to the right and back and forth without rhyme. The downfall is in the makeup and costume that implanted that overtly low hanging baby bump on Soje’s character, and also gave what I assume to be a 60 something year old woman the looks of a 90-something year old (referring to Fathia’s prosthetics in the final scenes).

The story in itself does well to highlight solid societal issues. Issues like the disparity within our society as regards the treatment of women who are single versus those who are married and how that compares to men who are married versus unmarried. It highlights issues of mental health, issues of a lack of welfare in the nation. A situation where a child knows that if she lives with her mother who hates her she is probably going to be injured or die but she can’t run anywhere because she is also going to be injured or be killed if she leaves. A society where there is no social services to support such a child.

The story, at its core is a gem, the realization, however is a few steps short of cubic zirconia. Cubic Zirconia because on first look it appears to be a diamond. It is a hard hitting story without too many unnecessary scenes but the presentation underwhelms.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0-k9Yl334A