Movie Review: The WildFlower preaches against rape, domestic Violence

When you see a movie that has minimal celebrities, you are either very impressed and very disappointed. For The Wildflower, let’s see where it falls.

Nollywood Movie, The Wildflower is the story of a young, ambitious girl, Rolake, who had always craved working for a leading architectural company. Rolake finally gets to work as a Personal Assistant to the CEO, Mr Gowon, and she did her work diligently, including travelling on business trips with him. On the other hand, Rolake lived in a ghetto with another family of 4, where the father was always beating the mother. Sadly, the couple’s two girls had to watch their father beat their mother all the time, and this continued until their father eventually killed their mother. 

Out of compassion for the two girls, Rolake takes them into her home and begins to take care of them. Rolake was forced to leave them when she went on a business trip with her boss (which her boyfriend strongly advised against). 

While on the business trip, Mr Gowon raped her and then threw money at her to take care of herself. After so much convincing from a doctor, Rolake eventually put out a video exposing MR Gowon, and in defence, Mr Gowon sued her for defamation of character. 

Did Rolake win the court case, or was Mr Gowon able to win her with his money? You should find out yourself. 

The Wildflower is a well-written drama which passes a message against Rape and Domestic violence. Although with little or no high and low moments, The Wildflower aptly passed its message across without trying to do too much or complicate the storyline. The writer wasn’t interested in scripting aesthetics like suspense, but wanted to just go straight to the point; if you ask me, it is not much of a big deal. The plot structure, character development and storyline were good enough. However, some unanswered questions almost made me believe the writer was beginning to rush the story toward the end. What happened after Mr Gowon met with Rolake’s boyfriend? What did Rolake’s boyfriend discuss with the doctor? What is the relevance of those scenes to the plot development of the movie? Regardless, the story wasn’t bad.

Time and time again, Biodun Stephens has positioned herself as a good director, especially with Dramas, and her past works are testimonies to that. Despite that the film didn’t have a lot of suspense, the director tried to create suspense. An example was when Rolake and one of the girls were going to be raped at about the same time. We saw the two situations happen simultaneously, and it kept the viewers curious to know what happened after. In short, the director of The Wildflower did an excellent job. 

As for the acting, the actors did a fair job, and no doubt, Deyemi Okanlawon is a good actor, and he did justice to that role. Damilare Kuku should be on the screen more often because she did a good job, and although I believe someone else could have killed the role even better, Damilare definitely put her best into bringing that character to life. Toyin Abraham and Kiki Omeile also did well with their roles. Other actors like Imoh Eboh and Etinosa weren’t bad either. Let’s just say the acting was fair and believable—nothing spectacular to be honest. 

The cinematography was good, but the customier needs to explain why certain outfits were worn in certain scenes. For instance, Rolake was in her house, her room, preparing to travel the next day and she was fully dressed? That wasn’t believable at all. 

As a whole, The Wildflower would pass for a good drama, and if you love dramas, you will love the film. However, for ratings, it will get a 7/10.