Men in Love (film)
4 /10 3 Votes
Country Nigeria | Director Moses Ebere Language English | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Release date 2010 (2010) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Two men in love
Men in Love is a 2010 direct-to-video Nigerian drama film directed by Moses Ebere and starring Tonto Dike, John Dumelo and Halima Abubakar. The film tells a story of how a couple experiencing troubles in their marriage had their situation worsened when a cursed homosexual friend visits them.
Contents
The film is in two parts. The first part tells a story of how a previously promiscuous husband (Charles) became the love interest of his obsessive homosexual friend (Alex). Further, it establish that despite him refusing the advances of his gay friend, Alex persisted and eventually raped his friend. The second part of the film explored what led to the homosexuality.
Plot
Charles (John Dumelo) and Whitney (Tonto Dike) are a young couple with kids. However, their marriage is blurred by the frequent extra-marital affairs by Charles. After being caught in the act with his secretary, Whitney decided to call it quit. Despite conflicting advice from her friends, Flora (Halima Abubakar) and Rina, she eventually accepted an apology from her husband for the utmost time. As a way of rejuvenating their marriage, Charles and Whitney decided to go on a vacation. At the hotel, they walked into one of Charles past lovers, which got Whitney irritated. Charles encounted his friend from University of Ibadan, Alex (Muna Obiekwe) who resolved the issue after some personal conversation with Whitney.
After the vacation, Alex took Charles out for lunch and he began discussing with Charles on the benefits of being gay or bi as a man and countered the religious sentiment of Charles on homosexuality. He ended the converstion by opening up to him that he's attracted to men. He continued making sexual advances towards Charles, who got uncomfortable by the provocative text, calls and touch. When it became clear that Charles wouldn't reciprocate his advances, Alex tricked Charles into believing he will remain just a friend and got him to attend his birthday party, where Alex drugged and raped him. The part one (75 minutes) ends after Charles woke up the next day and angrily left Alex's house, after assaulting him in annoyance, on discovery that he had forcefully had his way on him.
Cast
Reception
Nollywood Reinvented gave it a 2.5 out of 5 rating and concluded that "Interestingly enough, this story is not really as controversial as it was hyped up to be. It in no way addresses the issue of homosexuality in the modern African society.".
Nollywoodforever.com praised the cast and the acting but felt the film should have been renamed to Man under Satanic Bondage, It also felt that the film portrayed homosexuals in a wrong manner. It however gave it a 60% rating.
Controversies
In response to the backlash received for his role in the film, John Dumelo issued a statement clarifying his motivation for participating. He articulated that his primary intention was "to create awareness that individuals who identify as gay might be under the influence of demonic spells." Furthermore, in a separate interview, Dumelo affirmed his attraction to women, categorically denying any personal homosexual inclinations, yet expressed no regret for portraying the character in the film.