WIVES ON STRIKE 3: The Uprising
Omoni Oboli’s ‘Wives On Strike’ Sets West African Box-Office Record
Anger is a powerful catalyst for change. A teenage girl’s forced marriage to an older man sparks outrage among a group of market women, resulting in a collective decision to deny their husbands any sexual relations as a form of protest. This spreads quickly and before long, it becomes a nationwide women’s protest. That was the premise of Omoni Oboli’s 2016 Wives on Strike which has spawned two sequels and cemented its status as a social satire. In the latest instalment, Wives on Strike: The Uprising, Oboli tackles fresh themes, channelling the wives’ outrage into an emotional story of loss, sisterhood and revenge. Coincidentally, the film exists during a period of heightened national consciousness; it’s not just the wives that are angry— Wives on Strike: The Uprising echoes a people’s collective discontent with a society in turmoil.
On the surface, Wives on Strike: The Uprising may tell a common story of a bright-eyed university graduate kidnapped on his way back home and his mother’s relentless pursuit of his freedom. But it gets worse. Ayo (Folaremi Agunbiade) is a communal property; he doesn’t belong to his mother alone, so we have a whole drama tactfully laid out by Oboli. The husbands of these wives are not whining this time about their wives’ refusal to have sex with them; they are as interested as they are invested in the situation that kicks off a chain of tragic events that almost spirals out of control. Or does it?
Wives on Strike builds beautifully on proper story development, Omoni Oboli kept it simple as there was no overdoing, It was impressive to see the money had no unecessary scenes as we are used to in Nollywood sometimes.
Cinematography gave what it was supposed to give. Everything was delivered in the right amount. The colours were just perfect for my anisometropic vision. The camera angles were simplistic enough to tell a story of this genre. I appreciate that we weren’t overwhelmed with dramatic pans and movement shots that could have been quite distracting.
Directed and Produced by Omoni Oboli and Tomi Adeoye, the film stars Omoni Oboli, Chioma Chukwuka, Uche Jombo, Ufuoma McDermott, and Hilda Dokubo in lead.
The movie was really across cinemas on October 18, 2024
Star Performer(s)- Hilda Dokubo
Hilda Dokubo is not a veteran in the industry for nothing, it was nice seeing her fiercely on our screens again.
From All of Us at RealNollywood, we rate the movie a 71%
