MOVIE REVIEW // ADIRE - THE POWER OF THE MIRACLE BRA??

MOVIE TITLE: ADIRE
GENRE: DRAMA
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STARRING

Kehinde Bankole. Yvonne Jegede. Fun Lola Aofiyebi Raimi. Femi Branch. Ypmi Black. Ibrahim Chatta. Kenichi Udegbe. And others.

PLOT

The movie is centred around the struggles of Asari/Adire who was forced into prostitution at a tender age. A role that was seamlessly embodied by Kehinde Bankole. Asari later found a way to snatch her freedom from Captain, her pimp. She stole/took the money she believed was rightfully her hard earned sweat and fled to settle in a small town in Ibadan. The rest of the movie sees the topsy-turvy of the now Adire trying to navigate a new path and a fresh beginning.

She became an entrepreneur as she started her own line of brassieres made from Adire material. Despite her efforts at turning a new leaf, she was vehemently opposed, judged and condemned by the religious fanaticism and hypocrisy of Folasade(Sade), Pastor Mide’s wife as well as the ire of the community women. They all perceived her to be a huge source of distraction/seduction for their husbands and an unmatched competition for them primarily because of her seeming unparalleled beauty.

REVIEW

Personally, the character of Sade played by Funlola Aofiyebi made me think of the ubiquitous strict rules of some christian leaders. How they back-benched any church member who “sinned” especially the ones who got pregnant outside wedlock. Was this really effective at curbing premarital sex? That’s probably story for another day. The role reminds me of those hollier-than-thou Church Aunties in Black American movies.

Another character that caught my eye is Salewa’s played by Yvonne Jegede. That lady’s facial expressions are often apt, undeniably so. When she stood up to Sade for her judgmental attitude and excesses, I gave her a ovation. It was high time.

The movie has themes of redemption, love and acceptance. Sade's self righteousness shows the hypocrisy of religious folks who condemn sinners from afar instead of embracing them with God's Love, while Mide was the exact opposite being open and accommodating to all, even his judgemental wife.

Overall, the movie is really interesting, funny, relatable and worth the watch. The picture quality, different styles of Adire worn by Adire herself, Sade’s diction, Femi Branch’s calmness and patience for his authoritative wife Sade, etc.

Be that as it may, I do have some observations/criticisms

Firstly, this should have been rated 18 and not 12 as seen on the screen of the movie. There were some depictions of sex scenes not suitable for younger viewers. Parental guidance is highly advised.
Secondly, the stereotypical portrayal of women being the only ones to work on themselves, dress well, look good and smell nice to make their marriages work did not quite sit well with me. That narrative has since been challenged. The men/husbands also have their work cut out for them. It takes two to tango.

I was looking forward to how much the community women would mock Sade upon realising that the very same thing she rebuked them for had befallen her too (her daughter’s pregnancy). Somewhat disappointingly, the story did not climax to that point.

The story behind this movie is very good one, however, the scripting went in very many directions, and not one was held unto nor built upon.
Bad progression, terrible character development, mismatched plots, poor story syncing and a lot of other loose ends. These capture my entire thiught on the movie.

Tha narrative that Adire's character was supposed to give fell flat, she was a confused woman, but not once did we see her talk about that confusion and indecision. In short time, she was the town's sweetheart, doing good, offering solutions. Her character had complexities that didn't add anything positive to the movie. But it doesn't always have to be good, right?
The movie felt like so many things all at once: musical, thriller - name it.

Through the runtime of the movie, I did not even faintly grasp how Adire ran away from the captain, entered a new environment and somehow continued(or began immediately) prostitution or something that looked like it, cause at a point, it looked like she was just collecting money from men and doing nothing.

What were the events that led up to captain finding her. And then, even before that, how long had she been gone before he decided to look for her.

As for Adire and Thomas, the build up to whatever they had -which I can't call a relationship - should have been better structured. It was flimsy.

The story lacked a definite path and what would have passed for the main scenes lacked depth.

I mean, it was two hours too long. I mean, we had miracle bras, overzealous Pastor's wife, philandering husband's, runaway sex worker with supposed dreams of becoming a lingerie designer, drug moving captain, a shy and comfort-seeking widower, an ousted pregnant choir member, and so on. Not one of these was fully fleshed out nor had a conclusive end.

Not to forget, Adire had nightmares too. It's just convenient we only saw it the day captain caught up with her.

The relationship between Pastor's wife and her handbag was not really spelt out. Was the guy a psychopath or something?

Even a flashback about the haunted house should have been done. Anything to help us understand what it was that happened there that made the people terrified of it.

I feel like the only redeeming factor in this movie was the acting, the actors did a fine job with playing their roles well.

My best line in the movie is “Who are you? Who are you? You act like God borrowed your biro to write her name in the book of life!” This was said by Salewa (Yvonne Jegede).

Adire encourages women to remain sexy for their husbands, even as wives and mothers, although it subtly reinforces the idea that men cheat because they don't get enough "spice" at home. At the end of the day, the power of the miracle bra is not in the bra itself but in the powerful effect that "packaging" has on a man's mind.

RATING

It was enjoyable and I recommend to lovers of comedy and drama.
I'd rate it a 6/10

All images are mine unless otherwise stated

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