Escape

SHOWED ON AFRICAN MAGIC SHOWCASE DSTV CHANNEL 151 ON THE 16TH OF JULY (12:00PM – 13:30PM)

STARRING: SCOTT ROBERTS AND SHIRLEY IGWE

If ever a film were to depict the classic example of eating your cake and having it – this is one. X is depicted as the long suffering beau of an overbearing boyfriend. In these days where women have a plethora of relationship problems to complain about, his main transgression was that he had the nerve to complain about her almost flippant inclination to ease into overly friendly interactions with just about anyone who smiled at her especially members of the opposite sex. This inclination culminates in a relationship with an Uber driver whom she had encountered more than once in the course of traversing the city. When Mark (her boyfriend) had the temerity to complain, he is punished for it by her calling it quits with him. Later she gives him a call with the intention to mend fences and arranges a date with him. While on the date, without any solicitation, she serves the raw fact of her infidelity with Tony as an appetizer. As icing on the cake, Mark gets a call from Tony and the two men express their feeling for her to each other. The ‘Queen’ who on her own accord had called out Mark presumably so that they could start afresh broke the empasse by telling Mark that she needed time to think about getting back with him. He agrees.

I mean, if you have been unfaithful and your boyfriend is not even brave enough to get angry – all you can do is take time to think about whether you should carry on in a relationship with this weakling. …And guess what – after her deep soul search, she settles for Tony, the Uber driver. Don’t feel sorry for Mark yet because she discovers after sleeping with Tony that she feels nothing for him and decides to go back to Mark. This story leaves me wondering what planet these crafters of stranger than fiction stories migrated from. It’s not enough that they imbue X with this capricious personality but they also allow her get away with her transgressions. She falls into bed with a guy at the snap of a finger, she wavers between Mark and Tony and at each point, each guy just waiting around with a forgiving heart and arms wide open to receive her back. Yet our fair lady has no redeeming qualities that makes it understandable why she is so indispensable. Sure she is good looking but so too are several ladies out there.

In the movie there was not sufficient fleshing out of characters to endow her with a sellable personality. She was not depicted as strong or supportive, sweet or caring, dependable or fun-loving. In fact she was so bland and one dimensional it was a struggle to remember her name even while watching the film. Her character was so not solid that she didn’t see anything wrong in having a phone conversation with her Uber boyfriend in total disregard of her ‘touchy’ boyfriend and their mutual friends on their night out. Her personality is so vague you don’t know if her disregard and flirtatious tendency comes from an apathetic nature, if she is naturally flippant or that is her idea of friendliness.

Nigerian scriptwriters need to get real – for real. For me, this work completely lacks moral direction, a realistic approach to the dilemma of being torn between two men and has no life lessons to offer. In as much as this is a work of fiction, it is not Avengers or Terminator and even in those they try to be as realistic as can possibly happen before going for entertainment value. Fact is as much as we will all like to be in a relationship that afford us opportunities to do whatever we like, whenever we like. In reality, meaningful relationships demand some level of fidelity – that fidelity also makes it mandatory to operate within certain confines of decorum and respect for our mate or spouse. We don’t inadvertently indulge in behaviours which have the tendency to upset our mate, flaunt our disregard in their face, question their right to react and cap it by feeling righteous indignation. Enough of this trend that seeks to paint a world of action without reactions and incursion without repercussion.