Title: LETTERS TO MY MOTHER (1 – 3)

Starring: John Dumelo, Kafui Danku, Adjetey Anang, Roselyn Ngissah

Synopsis:

Mike, a mental patient, hasn’t uttered a word in five years but instead writes letter to his mother as a psychiatrist tries to uncover the cause of his state of being.

 Review:

This story is told side by side as Mike is in the mental ward the filmmakers recount his past. 

We are introduced to Mike’s mother played by Paulina Oduro and Angie (Kafui Danku), his fiancée. There is animosity between the women but it’s not clear why at first.

Let’s Talk. This was a slow moving story. It was confusing at first because there were no subtitles to inform the audience that the story was shifting to a prior period. 

After Mike’s mother died was when the heart of the story was revealed. His mother and his fiancee shared a shaded past and his mother knew first hand that Angie wasn’t good enough for him. 

One scene in particular showed Angie in the tub babbling to someone about her misdeeds. She was unaware that Mike was listening to her. This is the one scene that felt contrived especially because she went on and on without a response.

In real life when you are speaking to someone they interject at some point during the conversation. This did not happen which made the scene feel forced. It was too convenient of a way for Mike to learn the truth about the drama going on behind his back.

Also, just as the doctor was giving up on the case, Mike finally uttered his first two words in years. It would have been a better story if the doctor did or said something that resulted in that breakthrough. After all, HE was called to the case for a reason. Obviously, he must have been an experienced doctor and it was believed that he was capable of triggering progress. Why have someone play a doctor just to play a doctor? The movie already had Dream Debo doing that.

Ultimately, the psychiatrist should have been instrumental in the success of the patient. Speaking of Dream Debo, he’s an actor to keep your eye on.

The performances here are okay. As for John Dumelo he went out on a ledge but didn’t jump off. He could have gone in a little deeper with displaying symptoms of a patient diagnosed with schizophrenia. It would have been interesting to see him be a little more cuckoo.  

As for technical issues, there were a few spelling errors in the credits, in particular, Adjetey Anang’s name. Sigh…For more on these types of errors see the “Nolly-Ghally Today” page. 

At the end of the day, “Letters to My Mother” is not a typical Nolly/Ghally movie and its subject matter was a welcome change. RECOMMEND

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