Frederick Leonard, Onyi Alex, Patience Ujah, Anthony Wood, Ona Iyasara Madubuike
2hrs 37mins
Chidi Chijioke
Uchenna Mbunabo
Ojakorotu Promise Ofejiro
2023
YouTube
In As We Are, Alex (Frederick Leonard) and Amanda (Onyii Alex) are the seemingly perfect couple on social media. With millions of followers on their ‘couple page’ and constant serving of #CoupleGoals, they appear to be living the dream in their marriage. However, Amanda is increasingly unhappy because her husband doesn’t seem to have any respect for her.
As We Are covers the effects of a type of domestic abuse that is not often highlighted in nollywood, and that is emotional and psychological abuse. As far as Alex is concerned he is the perfect husband and has the perfect home because he provides for his wife and never hits her. However, he constantly treats her with disregard and speaks down to her in front of others. To Alex, this is normal because this is how things went in his parents home and they had a ‘perfect marriage’. All this until his wife serves him a taste of his own medicine.
Okay okay, the whole serving you your own medicine thing is cliche. Granted! And Onyii Alex has a very long way to go to become a convincing and effortless actress. Granted! However, there is some sort of inexplicable satisfaction to be derived from this movie and maybe it has to do with watching the victim, Amanda, reclaim her own power. There’s an undeniable satisfaction in watching Alex receive the same treatment he has been dishing out and realize that he actually cannot handle it. But much of the satisfaction in this movie also comes from the side story between Alex’s brother, David (Anthony Wood), and the househelp, Oyin (Patient Ujah). There’s something truly endearing about watching their romance blossom on the sidelines of the chaos between Amanda and Alex. Such that when the inevitable happy ending to the entire movie finally arrives, it is just that much more heartwarming.
As We Are is still a YouTube movie with many flaws. A film that lasts two and a half hours but could have easily been cut down to an hour and a half if some of the repetitive scenes of Alex sending his wife back upstairs to re-do her makeup were reduced amongst other things. The performances are not the strength of this film but just enough to keep you watching and keep the message in center focus. On the other hand, one cannot help but love how the writers have humanized the maid, Oyin, in the writing and also given us a different lens from which to judge the main couple. Even before the Oyin and David story begins, Oyin’s energy on screen is captivating enough to engage the audience.