Title: PRINCE OF BARMAH (1 – 3)

AKA: PRINCE OF TAMALE

Starring: Jackie Appiah, Elikem Kumordzie, Kofi Adjorlolo, Okawa Shaznay

Synopsis:

A woman who was promised the Prince’s hand in marriage exposes all of the royal family’s secrets when he is betrothed to someone else.

Review:

It’s the Prince of Tamale’s 25^th birthday and his gift was to meet the bride his father had chosen for him. She was the offspring of royalty but the Prince (Elikem Kumordzie) wasn’t keen on marrying a woman that he hardly knew. Little did he know his father had promised him to Rita (Okawa Shaznay). 

Rita was a beautiful woman that sought power and position. She was around the Prince’s age but she had an affair with his father hoping that he would divorce the Queen and marry her. When that didn’t happen she insisted that she marry the Prince instead. 

Rita approached the King in private to voice her disappointment in his choice of a bride for the Prince. She threatened to expose their affair and other secrets if he didn’t arrange for her to marry the prince. When things didn’t go her way, she wrote a book that exposed all of the royal family’s secrets. It was fictional on the surface but mirrored the prince’s life. 

Rita managed to get the book to the Prince. When he read it he realized the similarities the book had to his life. The Prince in the book wasn’t the flesh and blood of the King and Queen and it provoked him to question his own paternity. 

The plot also involved a budding romance between the prince and a pretty painter. Their relationship was one of discord at first but things turned around and the prince eventually fell for her. “Happily Ever After” never entered the picture thanks to the woman’s unwavering commitment to a boyfriend that mistreated her and physically abused her. 

Let’s Talk. Another royal shebang. The backdrop is all about kings, queens, power, money and servants but the story itself was pretty bland. The prince was betrothed to someone he didn’t love (yawn…) but he chose to love Lamisi (Jackie Appiah), a struggling painter. Although he showered her with expensive gifts, her feelings for him were that of gratitude and she chose to stay in a relationship with her obnoxious boyfriend. 

The core of the story centered on the paternity of the prince. It turned out that he was a stolen baby and his parents raised him as their own. The movie ended abruptly and the titles displayed on the screen informed the audience of the outcome of the characters. As I’ve said many times, I think this is a cheap way to end a movie. In the end, the prince’s father went to jail and his mother was forced to leave the Tamale kingdom. 

We also learned that Lamisi waited seven years for her criminal boyfriend to be released from jail so she could marry him. All I can ask is what kind of ghetto royal movie is this? She tossed a handsome prince aside so she could be by herself for seven years while she waited for a broke ass boyfriend that beats her? Really?? She might as well have been in jail too if she was willing to punish herself like that. 

It’s understandable that Lamisi kept it real and she just wasn’t in love with the prince but what did she love about a guy that continuously slapped her around? She needed to be rid of that fool and his prison sentence was the perfect opportunity.  

It seems that the writers were trying not to be predictable and that led to the characters making stupid decisions. The attempt at adding humor to the story with the buffoonish servant (Bismark Nii Odoi) also didn’t work. 

Part three of the movie opened up to about seven minutes of dialogue free scenes. Seven minutes may not be a long time but it’s an eternity when it comes to the screen. These scenes were an attempt to interpret the scandalous book that Rita wrote. It was disorienting and annoying to have to watch these characters (from the book) that we were unfamiliar with and not be able to hear what was being said. Sigh…

The acting? It was pretty much a star-studded cast and the acting sufficed for the most part. There’s something about Jackie Appiah when it comes to playing underprivileged women. She tends to nail such roles and she was the most convincing performance in the movie. I must admit that Elikem Kumordzie has something charismatic about him but I think his best acting is yet to come. 

Overall, the story was not captivating yet the movie was attractive. It was rich with African dance and traditions and was easy to watch thanks to its cinematography and sound.

Long gone are the days of classic royal movies like “Real Wives” and “Princess Tyra.” I can appreciate all of the royal trimmings in “Prince of Barmah” but I didn’t come away from the movie with a sense of satisfaction. EJECT