Okey Uzoeshi, Charity Awoke, Nkechi Nweje, Adaeze Chiegbu, Stanley Igboanugo, Olu Kizzy Michael
To avoid marrying someone else, Uloma triggers a cultural clause to marry her absent lover by proxy without his consent
2hrs 4mins
Tope Alake
Onyinye Udezeh
Adaeze Ibechukwu
iROKO TV
You know you have entered real life when you no longer root for the ‘underdog’ when watching nollywood romances. When you see the village girl rejecting the wealthy suitors for her poor indecisive village boyfriend and you want to slap sense into her, then welcome to adulthood.
My Brother’s Wife is the story of Uloma (Charity Awoke) a village girl who is deeply in love with her indecisive and poor village boyfriend, Chibuzor. Chibuzor on the other hand continues to give excuses to avoid being trapped with just one woman for the rest of his life. Soon enough, his well-to-do elder brother (Okenwa played by Okey Uzoeshi), is in need of medical treatment and for whatever reason decides not to go to the hospitals in the city but instead returns to the village for traditional treatment.
Chibuzor goes off to the city to look after his brother’s business in his stead and seemingly abandons Uloma without informing her. In an attempt to prevent being married off to another man, Okenwa decides to pay Uloma’s bride price on behalf of his brother without informing him. While Okenwa is getting treatment in the village he and Uloma get closer and closer and soon enough new troubles enter into the mix.
The movie goes exactly as you would expect it to, and though its 2hr long runtime could easily have been reduced to a 90 minute affair (dare I say, 60 minutes even), it still manages to hold the audience. It entertains you as you wait for the inevitable conclusion to happen. This entertainment is partly due to the ease of watching the characters as portrayed by the actors. Okey Uzoeshi as Okenwa is easy to love. Honestly, for the most part, Okey Uzoeshi as ‘anythiing’ is easy to love. Charity Awoke as our female lead has her weak moments and her okay moments but nothing is catastrophic enough to slow the rhythm of the film.
In the end, My Brother’s Wife is an average storyline and production simply made better by the element of endearment. It does not excite more than any other nor is it more original than salt. The characters endear you into this world slowly and it’s good that it ends when it does because the spell wasn’t potent enough to last a minute longer.
