Disappointment and Predestination in SHE IS

 

Somkele Iyamah, lead actor

SHE IS is the first work of a jointly-owned movie production company (Hermanes Media Production) of popular singers Omawunmi Megbele and Waje Iruobe. The dexterity of Doris Ariole, the scriptwriter of this wonderful creative piece must have stemmed from an outpouring of deep emotional concoction that brings us into the consciousness of the struggles of everyday woman against the backdrop of societal pressure and their insensitivity to the utmost pains of the heart about the qualities that tend to define her uniqueness. 

The story opens with a hint into the life of Frances (Somkele Idhalama), a young, successful representative of womanhood in her (very) late 30s. From the first few scenes, we see how she is taunted by her family and close associates about that very one thing which isn’t present---a husband! In Igbo land, in fact Nigeria, it is believed that a woman’s identity and dignity is dependent on her having a husband. Even though a lot of people are refuting this, believe it or not, it is still as strong as ever. So her life continues to unfold, until something even more terrible, far worse, hit her hard. She has just been diagnosed of multiple intramural myoma, a fibroid growth in the uterus (womb) that causes excessive b l e e d i n g a n d p r o l o n g e d menstruation. She weighs her options of having a child before the surgery to take them all out just in case her womb gets cut off in the process or having just the surgery and never a child. The first option seems fair but she’s Christian and doesn’t want a child outside wedlock. Now imagine; peson wey dey find husband kom get fibroid again…that’s real ‘confusion break bones’ like Fela’s music says.

You’ll agree with me that the make-up of a woman is such that, by default, is designed to bear the burdens ranging from her own uniqueness to familial relationships, commitments, career and personal fulfillment. This isn’t to say the female gender is disadvantaged as perceived in some quarters, no! Instead, it is blessed to be the driver of reproduction, care, companionship and growth. And considering how enormous these tasks are, one could also say it has been adequately equipped by nature to cope with the circumstances, all or one each at a time. Scientists say her reproductive cycle begins from her days in the womb as a foetus with about 6 million eggs. At birth, it reduces to about 1-2 million and at puberty, all she has left is between 300-400 thousand eggs which she lets out through menstruation every month until there are no more eggs (menopause). The irony of this is that the older she gets, the less productive or fertile she becomes. That also explains why some in the age bracket of 38,39 and 40s go for sperm donors. However nature is nature, it is just what it is. 

The receipt of this information and the amount of time she (Frances) has to have a baby completely crash her defence. She becomes desperate; extremely vulnerable to slimy insults like the one she gets from her gatekeeper who tries to hook her up with his cousin and a lot of disappointment from the menfolk. We see this in her entanglement with a pretentious, jealous, borderline lunatic, Pastor Chike (Uzor Arukwe). In the end, he assaults her just right in front of his gate. Another is Rowland (Mawuli Gavor). Through her friend Ojugo (Chigul), she discovers he is a father of many nations! Now that her attempts to do it right by getting a husband have failed, she reluctantly opts for a donor but doesn’t get through with it. Eventually, as designed by Providence, Frances changes her mind. She has a successful surgery, her womb remains intact and she’s gifted that one thing shortly after---a husband!

Our everyday life has more than enough wahala but women kind of have a little more when they think about mother nature and the society. The married but yet to procreate ones among them even feel the pressure more. That notwithstanding, science is science, man is man and God is God, He always is. If we all had the opportunity of knowing the deep things that are way beyond our understanding or how things have been programmed to happen in our lives in varying degrees or quantum, maybe we won’t kill ourselves over many of the things we crave for and just let God be God.

REVIEWER: Olumide Labulo