By Ali Baylay
Executive Image Movies &Franco Films: Starring: Emeka Ike, Juliet Ibrahim, Emeka Akolo, Charity Eke, Nora Ugo; Production Manager: Chininso Okoli; Producer/Exec. Producer: Kenneth Okonkwo; Editor: Ilo Collins E.; Director:Emeka Muangwu; Principal Locations: Ghana/Nigeria. 112 mins; c2009.
What if God grants you the most wonderful, beautiful, obedient, god-fearing , respectful and hardworking wife and because of a preconceived notion about certain types of women, especially those who work in the banks, as planted in your mind by a friend who has a philandering wife, you become suspicious of your own. Being pumped up you become impatient and jealous, and drives her out of the relationship. In exchange, you end up with the most crude, gross and unorthodox girl, who wouldn’t tolerate caress or foreplay in bed because, it is the work of the devil.
Restore My Love is a linear story of Achike (Emeka Ike), who falls in love with a clean-cut and hard working Jeneth (Juliet Ibrahim), but because of a preconceived notion of women who work in banking institutions, he becomes despondent and sends her packing, but ends up with a woman who is a mismatch for him. Actually, his friend Ossy(Emeka Akolo) causes him look at his wife, Jeneth with the wrong eyes. When he finally sees the light, he promises to go back to his wife. Meanwhile, Jeneth had been fired from the bank because she couldn’t give in to an aids-ridden bank manager. At one point, she goes back to the village to her mother but couldn’t stay and have to come back to the city and gets job with a cable company. She’s pregnant with Acheke’s child the whole while.
Jeneth’s hard to forgive Achike but being so in love with her husband, she manages to accept him back in her life and let him hold their daughter in his arms, in their living room.
“An incredible story”, as Janeth herself at length could put it. Yes, an incredible story I can attest to. Here in Restore My Love, Achike has the natural motivation through miseries by associating himself with someone that he’s not at par with, socially. I admire him too in two scenes concerning his self realization and preparations to restore his love. One is in the scene where Achike stands over Ogby: “The party is over…I can’t control you anymore…I want you to leave my life”, even as the uncouth Ogby, could retort to his statement: “Me, a be your wife-o”. And in another scene, he tells his friend Ossy: “I’ll swallow my pride and look for Janeth”. And so he does.
When such linear type stories are told, with not much digressions to unnecessarily hold viewers attention as we witness in other stories, we feel rewarded. I love this incredible story because it has story. The two principal players, Emeka Ike and Juliet Ibrahim fight for their interests against all odds and restore their once precious love. Now a story is told.
I cannot assign a category to this film or relate it to any recent Nollywood or Gollywood flick. It is simply enchanting . I felt pulled into the center of actions from curtain up, and I cried with Jeneth, pity Bob for the blind side he maintains into the character of a wife who dearly loves him and at curtain down, I laughed and rejoiced with both of them and their little one like a big African family. If you’ve been turned off lately by some Nollywood movies, this I promise will keep you good company. Enjoy it!