Pearl & Paris Company with Destic World Entertainment presents Lota Chukwu (Mitchell), Shaffey Bello (Tambourine), Bobby Michaels (Femi), Enyinna Nwigwe (Roy), Roxy Antak (Paul), Ashafat Salamot (Bolanle), Funky Mallam (Shehu), Kechi Mango (Ike), Segun Mangunbe (Ike), Destiny Amako (Jenifer). Screenplay, Doris Areole; Assoc. Producer, Jude Legemah; Director of Photography, Abdulahi Yusuf; Producer, Bobby Michaels; Ex. Producers, Destic World Entertainment, Bobby Michaels, Director, Blessing Egbe. © 2022.
In my earliest days in the United States of America, a friend, whom we may call a veteran, gave me wise advice from the well of his decade-old experience. “You must be careful, young man,” his eyes squinting as if opening a long-closed library of personal experiences with life in the country he has come to call home. “In this country, you see our city highways and byways, if you make one bad turn at an exit,” he continued, “it will be miles to get back on your route, or you may never get back on the route because chances are you may run out of gas. So, be careful about the decisions you make. Have wise and knowledgeable friends about you. I don’t mean drinking buddies; they are no friends.” he concluded.
Sometimes, we are presented with a situation that will make us suicidal. One Bad Turn sets the stage for a dramatic narrative to keep you on the edge of your seat. The story properly starts in medias res. Our lead character, Michell (Lota Chukwu), convulsively stops her car in traffic and doesn’t care if she gets run over. Her life is in a shambles. She has made the wrong turn in life. A good Samaritan with the queer name, Tambourine (Shaffey Bello) sees such a woman in such a painful situation, rescues her off the street, and brings her to her home. There, we learn about Mitchell’s life and the circumstances that brought her to the suicidal situation on the freeway.
We must analyze Mitchell’s character here. All the characteristics a writer could create in pathos are present in Mitchell. If the idea of pathos is to tickle my emotions, no, you didn’t get me there. Femi places her on a pedestal, which every loving and caring husband could do, not by statutory means, or canonical obligation, but by doing good by a spouse to make her fulfill the goddam goodness God created in her. But as human as Mitchell could be and therefore subject to man’s weakness, she becomes insolent, disrespectful to the hands that feed her, and lets her feelings get hold of her. We can pardon her, oh ye children of Adam. Mitchell sleeps with the serpent out of the Garden of Eden. She’s cursed and couldn’t even bring herself to think about when she and Femi were soaking garri for dinner in college anymore.
Mitchell’s wayward life makes Femi the life of a horror movie. He had given his whole life to Mitchell, but she turned his life into a living nightmare. Femi grows tired of Mitchell and her shenanigans and sets her up with his best friend and best man, Roy (Enyinna Nwigwe), who stood at their wedding years back. It is all a setup. Knowing she is a nympho, he plans to level up with her by setting her up with his best. It doesn’t even take long before she falls for the ploy. After the divorce, she transfers all the 500 million Naira she got in the settlement and her savings into Roy’s account, and Roy, in turn, redirects the funds back to Femi. Mitchell loses everything, not even Bolanle (Ashafat Salamot). You can see her face when Roy tells her, “The movie is over. Do you think I can let my best friend down for you? The man who gave me a second chance in life? I returned everything to Femi. Oh, Mitchell, do not do anything stupid.”
Like any story starting in medias res, Doris introduces Mitchell’s character in a violent exposition, drawing viewers into the story from the get-go. Using writing techniques, she leads us step by step into Mitchell’s life through dialogue with Tambourine, as if on a psychoanalyst’s couch. As the conversation unfolds, Tambourine, like the musical instrument itself, coaxes comment out of Mitchell intermittently. “This is getting heavy,” later in her narration, “We shared boys,” Mitchell weeps as she says. Tambourine belabors, “I don’t like the sound of this.” Later in her narration to Tambourine, she discloses how she had been involved in a threesome. Tambourine sneezes. “I have the tendency to sneeze when I hear something shocking. Now tell me something less shocking.”
Remember what the Oldman told me about making careful decisions and taking the right turn? Mitchell takes the wrong turn: Mitchell and Femi (Bobby Michaels) met at a university in England; he was an engineering student, and she studied law. The relationship was been good. They graduated together and decided to return home, where Femi was awarded an excellent job. Mitchell’s law career didn’t flower. But Femi sends her back to England for a career in fashion design, and she comes back good and sets up an outfit called DNA Fashions. Creative business name. But why DNA? Things start to go wrong. Michell gets trapped in Bright Light Big City (1988) syndrome.
One Bad Turn is a pathos-filled story. Mitchell explains her entire life story, which Tambourine listens to with care. This evokes viewers’ emotions with this poor girl without considering what her daughter and Femi go through. The writer tries hard for us to side with Mitchell’s character. It didn’t quite work. Mitchell’s husband works hard for them to be happy as a family, but she buys into the bright light of city life. It is a weakness manifested in most humans. Her fault is in her character. She becomes insolent, disobedient to her husband, and flaunts the rules of husbands, wives, and mothers. “Yeah, yeah, make it up to her!” she yells back, reeking of alcohol, staggering on her way upstairs when Femi accosts her of not paying attention to her daughter anymore.
If I believe Doris intended pathos to persuade and appeal to my emotions, I accept that Mitchell’s life is a tortured dream, yet I find certain inexcusable and irredeemable flaws in her character. She does not appreciate Femi’s efforts to make her who she is. Instead, she takes advantage of Femi’s excellent and loving heart. I wouldn’t feel any sadness for the behavior of Mitchell, and, as a man, having been in the same situation of paddling a native African girl to wade successfully in the murky waters and reap a fruitful life in America and later spit back at me, she deserves what’s coming to her. I am not being prejudicial, but every good turn deserves another. I’m afraid I must disagree with the author. Mitchell is an unappreciative woman possessed by a demon who wallows in the high life.