NOLLYWOOD FILM REVIEW. by Chinyere Obinna

NOLLYWOOD FILM REVIEW By Chinyere Obinna O.

MOVIE TITLE- CRY LIKE RIVERS


"Cry Like Rivers" is a tale of true love gone awry. In this brilliantly cast, skillfully directed film, two beautiful young people fall giddily in love with each other and profess their undying commitment to each other. Then fate intervenes and destroys their carefully laid out plans when he discovers that he is infected with the HIV virus after she insists that they both get tested before moving their relationship toward intimacy. Unable to cope with the torment of life without his love, he ends his life at the end of a noose, throwing her life into utter turmoil. So begins the saga “Cry Like Rivers.”
His wealthy socialite mother is convinced that her son's fiance has more to do with her son's death than the official version of his cause of death, and thus begins her unrelenting quest,
using all the power of the wealth and unlimited influence at her disposal in her mission to try and destroy the woman that she believes is responsible for her misery. Our heroine tries to move on with her life and plunges herself headlong into her work and church as she tries to deal with the aftermath of this mess. That is until she comes face to face with the ghost of her dead lover, who turns out to be his identical twin brother, returned from America to comfort his mother at their time of great loss. He is now attending the same church with our heroine and finds himself strangely drawn to the beautiful young woman that seems to somehow complete him. Our heroine finds herself torn between loyalty to her dead fiancé and the new emotion that she can’t fight toward his twin brother. As he works his way toward her heart, his mother continues to burn with an unquenchable hatred for the woman that she believes is responsible for her son’s death, and in her bid to destroy her, ends up destroying that which is most dear to her.

Cry like rivers is a moving love story beautifully brought to life with brilliant clarity through the screen chemistry between Stella Damascus and Jim Iyke, and skillfully directed by Tchidi Chikere. Brilliantly casted, the chemistry between the principal characters is palpable as the film moves the viewer toward the shocking ending filled with passion, revenge and ultimate disaster. The movie scores points with its socially conscious subtext about social responsibility and sexual restraint in the age of the HIV virus.

Principal actors - Stella Damascus, and Jim Iyke, who plays the dual role of the living and the dead twin brothers. Clarion Chukwurah provides passionate support as the mother obsessed with extracting revenge on the young woman that she believes is the cause of her son’s death, and who will do anything to prevent her only surviving son from making the same mistake. Produced by Collins Ezenwa.




Bottom line: Cry like Rivers is a great family movie that draws in the audience and will move them to tears and anger as the actors skillfully weave their spellbinding magic.

Rating: 9/10