Bed of Roses, directed by Pascal Amanfo, was premiered at the Accra Mall on the 8th of July. The movie starring Ghanaian acting goliaths such as Majid Michel, Adjetey Annang, Yvonne Okoro, John Dumelo, Martha Ankomah and Joselyn Dumas manipulated this advantage to create very good publicity. Thus, the crowds that were drawn to watch to the premier were indeed large.
Bed of Roses, apparently based on a true story, is about a woman whose husband was cheating on her with her half-sister. The half-sister was played by Martha Ankomah, while the loving wife was played by Yvonne Okoro. The cheating husband was played by John Dumelo. To this true story were added many embellishments to make it into the action movie it turned out to be:
First of all, the character of Majid as an underground, all-knowing, all-powerful, gangster used as a sword of justice.
Also, there was the inclusion of a mysterious and dramatic pair of narrators who directed the story and its events using a nine-lesson scheme.
Next, there was the inclusion of Martha’s best friend and her husband who cheated with a nanny of sorts.
A love story between Adjetey Annang and Martha Ankomah was inevitably coined in.
Finally, the revenge of the wronged sister crowned it off.
Despite the movie’s examination of important life truths, such as betrayal, revenge, unfaithfulness, and death, there were too many knots untied. In the director’s bid to establish a heavy tone of mystery and suspense, he fell into the common mistake of exaggeration and leaving some stones unturned. For instance, a complete stranger walks into a person’s living room and the owner of the house asks “who are you?” sitting comfortably on a swivel chair, placed oddly in front of a couch, with her back turned to the stranger! In one scene, Majid locks two girls up in a house yet the keys are not outside the house but right next the bodies inside! So how then did Majid get out? In one scene, Martha, in a house with two of her friends, orders them to call up more girls for a party. She was going to take them all out and in fact “the party starts here!” As soon as she says this, a bevy of girls come from nowhere and music turned on full blast from nowhere.
Perhaps, there are suitable explanations for these but it simply means there was a poor attention giving to Continuity.
Another major hitch, in the otherwise interesting movie, was the needless display of woman flesh. Martha Ankomah really did not have to be barely covered to go and arrange for a spy for her sister. In one scene finds Martha sitting across the spy’s thighs (Majid) and rubbing lips on his face. There was no previous notice that there was going to be any sexual relations between the two, nor was there any continuity of this out-of the-blue sexual devouring. In another scene, the camera zooms in needlessly on girls’ buttcracks and breasts. Nudity can be used advantageously in a film in a realistic way that would enhance ideas of sexuality truthfully. Nudity can also be used cheaply to draw public attention in order make sales.
The love scenes between Martha and Adjetey were quite corny and a perfectly good love story was paralyzed with clichés.
On the whole, however, most of the actors in the leading roles were very good. There were problems of exaggeration but that is the African cross worldwide. Martha really caught everyone’s attention in her role as paralyzed. She truly drew pity and some moments of disgust when she acted out her incapacity for speech and movement.
The movie ended with lesson number nine, “You can’t know everything!” Perhaps this is the answer to our questions above!
Pascal Amanfo would be premiering another movie on the 29th of July, titled Single Six, starring the controversial Mzbel.
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