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In the wake of a Nollywood renaissance, the competition for filmmakers to up the ante has been on the increase. For old and new Nollywood bashers, most of the criticism has recently been reduced to static mumbling, but not in all cases.

From the producer of ‘Silent Scandal’ and ‘When the Heart Lies’ comes ‘A Private Storm’ starring Ramsey Nouah, Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, and John Dumelo. The movie, directed by Lancelot Imasuen and Ikechukwu Onyeka, was written and produced by Vivian Ejike. The hype that heralded the film’s premiere made it a must-see for many.

A turbulent affair

The story revolves around the violent Alex (Ramsey Nouah) and Gina, his live-in lover/victim, played by Jalade-Ekeinde. In the first scene, he wakes her up to breakfast in bed, while coaxing her to skip work that day. At this point, the alarm bells start to ring, but who cares? We are here to watch Nollywood romance at its best.

Gina goes to work anyway, only to be dragged back home by a very angry Alex after forcing her to write a resignation letter. He compensates Gina with an upscale boutique, making her the envy of her friends who think she’s got the perfect man, Prince Charming.

Charm is, however, not exactly Alex’s strong point as his anger constantly gets the better of him. He orders his ‘princess’ out of his car at midnight in the middle of nowhere, locks her up in the bathroom and out of the house after she disobeys his order on attending a close friend’s birthday party. He slaps her just because she dares to describe another man as a ‘handsome hunk.’ Shock, horror!

Obviously, no one would expect even an insane woman to sit around and enjoy such violence. Gina soon ‘borrows’ a brain and flees to a friend’s place. A remorseful Alex returns, bearing gifts and asking for forgiveness. Gina is hell-bent on not taking him back. The flashback to Alex’s troubled youth is no excuse for his misbehaviour in adulthood, but foolish love prevails over reason and Gina returns to Alex’s hurtful embrace. Or maybe the beating was just an unshakable part of her destiny.

I guess this is the part where the producers expected us to fall in love again after hating the male antagonist and running mad with anger at Gina’s stupidity. Well, it does not work out that way as we remain in shock at the lead-female’s foolhardiness.

For a movie on spousal abuse, it is shocking not to get the feel of at least one broken bone, a blood-shot, black eye, or swollen cheek, considering Alex is quick to send thunder down Gina’s face in the blink of an eye. Apart from the rouge brightening the ladies’ cheeks, the closest thing to bloodshed that we see is when Dumelo spills red wine on his white shirt.

Other than that, the story of ‘A Private Storm’ could very well be summed up as a romantic melodrama telling the story of an unnecessarily angry young man and his foolish fiancée.

Mr. Sinister

Nouah is not bad in his role as Mr. Sinister. His characterisation echoed scenes from previous tormentor-roles in ‘Above Death,’ where he plays Hilda Dokubo’s demon-possessed child, and a particular scene from ‘Blind Trust’ where he sends his father’s greedy relatives scurrying with a cutlass. The down-side of his acting and the directing is that in some scenes, not a few feel this is a horror flick starring Nouah as a two-legged freak.

Ekeinde’s portrayal of the ‘suffer-head’ Gina also deserves top marks, but I wonder why – with all the fire the character sometimes shows – Gina never hits back at least once. Maybe like one woman said, she accepts such beating as the perfect grooming necessary to make a good wife.

Ufuoma Ejenobor and John Dumelo are the film’s second couple in another miserable relationship: they also break up to make up but for different reasons. As the action unravels, one is expecting to see both couples merge in the plot. Unfortunately, there was no real reason for the presence of this couple but for the comic relief they provided as a departure from the charged action of Alex and Gina’s volatile relationship. All was however, made known at the ‘end’ of ‘Private Storm 1.’

Er, that’s not all, folks

The curse of Nollywood means that even the ‘best’ movie finds a most unfortunate way of disappointing its audience. ‘A Private Storm’ was not wanting in this regard, giving boost to the argument that most Nollywood movies are soap operas camouflaging as feature films.

The movie held some hope at the beginning but soon faltered and almost two hours later, it was not funny to see the final fade with the words ‘… the storm has just begun…’ appearing on the screen. This was followed by ‘teasers’ from the sequel in which we discover where Omotola Jalade’s character ends up.

It was no different from seeing a series’ pilot with a preview of subsequent episodes reading, ‘Next time on A Private Storm.’

Having not seen other productions by Vivian Ejike, I hear ‘A Private Storm’ might actually be her worst so far. I hope so too.

Here’s the verdict: you won’t be over-joyful if you see ‘A Private Storm’ in cinemas. Wait till Part 2 is released; buy or rent both instalments, then spare a few hours to see them back to back. Rewind or fast-forward to your heart’s content so you won’t need to see the full story more than once.