Title: BRIDE’S WAR (1 – 4)

Starring:  Ini Edo, John Dumelo, Nonso Diobi, Tonto Dikeh, Yvonne Okoro, Frank Artus

Synopsis: 

A recently married doctor is raped and later faced the decision of having to perform surgery on the very guy that attacked her.

Review:

The movie opened up on an upbeat. Katy (Ini Edo) had just married Pete (Nonso Diobi) and was surrounded by her jubilant wedding party. After a day of champagne and dancing the movie suddenly cut to the rape scene, which was jarring.

Katy,  a surgeon, was on the way home from the hospital one night when she had car trouble. A group of men saw her on the side of the road and instead of helping her, they took advantage of her.

Katy was then faced with the trauma of rape and the stigma attached to it. Her husband suffered alongside her with his own personal agony. Their relationship changed for the worst when Katy’s husband was no longer affectionate toward her.  

One of the attackers, Junior (Smith Nnebe) was stabbed in a later incident. He was taken to the same hospital where Katy worked and she was faced with the decision of treating him or not.

Since the patient/attacker lost quite a bit of blood, Katy operated on him. He died during the surgery and the cops turned his death into a murder case when his mother blamed Katy for her son’s death. The question of the day became whether Katy intentionally killed her attacker or not.

Let’s Talk. This is a drama that focused on a bride that suffered the trauma of rape. The subplot explored marriage and relationships. There was banter between the men and women that was honest and hilarious. The women complained about men and vice versa. One of the funniest questions asked by one of the women was “why were men created in the first place?” 

In this story, it seemed that most of the brides were at war with their husbands.  Susan (Yvonne Okoro) was married to unemployed Greg (John Dumelo). She nagged him and treated him like a slave because she was fed up of him not working. Their constant arguing drove him to cheat with Clare (Annie Macauley).

There was also the very married Boyd (Frank Artus), who was a pastor. He had a squeaky, clean image and while his friends looked to him for advice he was secretly having an affair with a member of the congregation.

Pete’s (Nonso Diobi) mother always had encouraging words for the couples and she advised that men lack discipline. She stated “that’s the way they are and there’s nothing you can do.” That statement was weak and enables men to continue their cheating ways. It also sends the message that men will be forgiven once they’re found out. 

I think the writer should have flipped the script a little and have one of the women cheat and then the movie would have offered a fair analysis on adultery. At the end of the day cheating is a game. You play until you can’t play anymore. You play until someone loses.

“Bride’s War” turned out to be a thorough story and all loose ends were tied. One of the bothersome details however, was the rape scene. It seemed that Katy was on the road for long enough to call for help or her husband. What the hell was she doing under the hood of the car for so long?  And if her husband felt that the hours she kept was too late then why didn’t he pick her up from work? Also, how come no other cars drove by during the ordeal?

Another minor gripe was how long the opening credits ran before the movie actually started. The credits went on and on for about five minutes!! After having to wait for all of the previews to play the audience then had to wait an additional five minutes for the credits to play on a blank screen.  Ugh.

In terms of performances there isn’t much to complain about. The cast was basically star-studded with the usual Nolly/Ghallywood actors. Ini Edo did an awesome job playing a rape victim and Tonto Dikeh deserves an honorable mention for always bringing such authenticity to the characters that she plays.

See it! RECOMMEND

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