By Ali Baylay
A Venus Film productions. Starring: Jackie Appiah, Majid Michael, Kalsoume Sinare, Psalm Adjetefio, Naana Hayford; Editor: Dapo Ola-Daniels: Music Score: Austin Erowele; Producer: Abdul Salam Mumuni; Executive Producer: Abdul Salam Mumuni; Director: Frank Raja Arase; Screenplay: Phil Efe Bernard. 145 mins.
William Shakespeare died in 1616, then Caroline period, then Commonwealth, the Restoration, Enlightenment, Romanticism, Victorian, Modern, Post Modern and Contemporary period have all come and gone; well contemporary is still here. And Ghana became independent from the British in 1957 but by watching Tears of Womanhood, it seems this former Brirtish colony is stuck in the throes of Britain and its colloquial performing art form.
Don’t get me wrong, Tears of Womanhood is an outstanding narrative. It tells a story, except for its preachy dialogues that sometimes hit the ear like recital of a Shakespearean tragedy.
Tears of Womanhood, is a story of a rich christian boy, David (Eddie Nartey) who falls in love with a muslim daughter, Samira (Jackie Appiah) of the maid in his household, against the will of his father, Mr. Daniel Boateng (Psalm Adjetefo) who thought he could bethroth a wife for his son. David sticks by his muslim girl and he’s thrown out of the family, leaving both his 
father and mother, Tessy (Nana Hayford) heart broken.
By a corny plot device, the younger brother of David, Dennis (Majid Michael) while now at university, happens to run into a hot campus brunet, Khadija, ( Yvonne Nelson/Playboy/Princess Tyra ) a spoil brat, who happens to be the younger sister of Samira, David’s wife. Khadija and Dennis get beat up and end in a hospital, and this unfortunate incident brings the prodigal son, David and his parents together after ten years, in a tear-jerking and hair-raising scene, at a private clinic . In passing, I’d like to give Yvonne Nelson (AMAA nominee for Best Up and Coming Actress Award) a thumbs up for a remarkable performance in this movie.
It is not clear if the theme of this story is religion or “in defence of principles and institution”, (Heaven knows what principles) as the fountainhead character of Dainel Boateng could say so in one of his theatrics. Or the writer himself subliminally attaches christian religious tone to the story by christening all major male actors: David, Daniel and Dennis.
There’s also the presence of rampart religious motif in this story: the solemn face of the statue (Mary) in both Boateng’s family and David’s prayer room, that stand out as a shrine, and also the use of Tasbir by their muslim counterparts. We however, can’t claim the story to be a domestic crusade (muslims versus christians).
Or better yet, with a slap in Tessy’s ear, she asks Daniel Boateng, “Is that what you call principle and culture?”. One thing I do observe about this film is that the head of Boateng family is trying hard to hold on to his personal belief-not christian, even though he couldn’t allow the call of salat in his household- but whatever belief, still slips through his fingers the same way the characters in Orson Welles 1942 production of Magnificent Amberson, struggle to hold on to the values while time changes around them.
Ones again, I’ll emphasize here that Tears of Womanhood, is a better narrative than most stories I’ve watched. Phil Bernard put whole lot of effort in this compostion, the weak point however, (can we blame it on the editor?) is by letting us lose sight of prinipal players for a good while in part two, and carry on and on a long campus rigmarole of college girls fighting one another. Commercial films use economy of scale in telling their stories. A remarkable point of observation though, this 140 mins flick has almost 158 hugs. It means there’s a hugging for every minute of this film!