Title: UNCONDITIONAL (Full Story) 

Starring: Uche Jombo, Dakore Akande, Chika Chukwu, Ruth Kadiri, Annie Macauley

Synopsis:

What should have been a time of joy turned into an all out battle when a mother finds her kidnapped daughter eleven years later.

Review:

Gina’s (Uche Jombo) three daughters were under the care of a nanny when she received terrible news  – one of her twin daughters had been kidnapped. The baby was taken from the backseat of the car while the nanny turned her back for a few minutes. Naturally, Gina was distraught and the ordeal was reported to the police and the search was on.  

Eleven years later the child had not been found. The remaining twin grew up to be a normal little girl and was aware of the unfortunate circumstances surrounding her sister. One day she noticed a girl on television that looked just like her. When she called her mother to see, Gina recognized her kidnapped daughter right away. She didn’t waste a second to investigate and upon doing so she learned that a woman named Mrs. Peters (Dakore Akande) adopted her daughter and named the little girl Amanda. 

Mrs. Peters produced adoption papers while Gina argued that she reported the same child missing eleven years ago. Of course the adoption was verified illegal and Gina wanted her daughter back. Mrs. Peters was reluctant to let the child go after raising her for eleven years. Although Gina was the biological mother, Mrs. Peters was the only mother that the young girl knew.   

The subplot in the movie was about the woman that ran the adoption agency where Mrs. Peters was a client. As the woman dealt with a failing marriage to an unemployed man she also found herself in the middle of the feud between Mrs. Peters  and Gina. 

Let’s Talk. In a nutshell this is a drama about a kidnapped child that was found eleven years later. A decision had to be made as to which mother the child should live with – the biological one or the one that raised her. 

The movie used the common formula of two separate storylines that eventually intertwined but somehow the two plots didn’t coalesce. The kidnap story evoked a sense of concern for the child while the adoption agency plot seemed to be an attempt at humor. It was off-putting to have to watch an overweight woman ill-treat her skinny husband during the wait for the kidnap story to resume. 

The story execution was choppy and with too many flashbacks it became cumbersome. It was obvious that the adoption agency would play a role in the kidnapping and this aspect of the story made the movie predictable. 

In terms of the story, the baby was kidnapped when one of the children had to use the bathroom. How did the kidnappers know that the car would stop on the road in that location and at that time? How is it that they were right on time to steal the baby? This seemed improbable and too convenient. 

The most appeasing element of the movie was the acting. Uche Jombo and Dakore Akande gave good performances as two mothers fighting for paternal rights. Their scenes conjured up the most emotion but unfortunately, their scenes weren’t enough to elevate the movie to “must see” status. 

The drama affirms that when a journey doesn’t end well it doesn’t mean the journey wasn’t worth taking but the crucial message is to always make decisions that are best for children. Although there were scenes that were touching, the movie itself wasn’t impressive enough. EJECT