The long-awaited reload of romantic “Love in Every Word 2—The Wedding,” finally featured on YouTube last Friday. By this Monday morning, nine million have watched.
The pleasing performance of Uzor Arukwe (Obiọra) and Bambam Olawunmi-Adenibuyan (Chiọma) in Part I garnered over 29 million viewers in seven months. Getting a girl’s phone number with an ogene music crew and a good love story without soppy smooching and simulated-sex scenes stand out the movie.
Part II begins with love blossoming into business, Odogwu’s terrain. Achalugo’s dedication speech at the grand opening of Arena Scents is superb. A teleprompter could have magnified her intellectual poise: “And this is for my Odogwu: A scent made of stillness. Of safety, kindness that doesn’t ask to be witnessed. Of love that holds you, even in chaos. A love that isn’t a performance. It doesn’t need a stage. It just shows up, present and patient. A love that is my peace.”
The three-hour long production is unusual for producer Omoni Oboli. Her usual brief but poignant intro holds attention: a bastard in Igbo culture and Odogwu being asked to choose between his fiancée and his title? No way! It stays with you through the high and low, the twists and turns of star-studded extras.
The concept of “bastard” does not exist in Igbo traditional family. Every child belongs to an agnate—a patrilineal kindred. Just because a man does not marry the mother of a girl does not make her illegitimate. Biology is nature’s blueprint; economy, environment, and experiences nurture.
When the matter pops up, it is handled well. Odogwu’s mother, played to perfection by Patience Ozokwor, won’t consider a daughter-in-law “born out of wedlock,” “a bastard,” “a child of adultery,” or “a child of shame.”
Being the family “matriarch and monarch” and a benevolent but strings-attached wealthy widow, arguments that Odogwu is the traditional head of the family as a firstborn, diọkpara, will not sway her.
An honorable elder says it all: ”And with all humility, I must add, in our tradition, there are no bastards. If a child’s father doesn’t claim them, the child automatically belongs to the mother’s people.” Case closed, except that Odogwu’s mother must have her way, not listen to “custodians of traditions and culture,” who are her beneficiaries.
The movie is a good study of Igbo marital protocols. The tradition is complex but with simplified straightforward segments. When Achalugo finally finds out the true story of her birth from her mother (Thelma Chukwunwem) and reconciles with her biological father (Emmanuel Ayalogu), she forgives his absence, invites him to her wedding, but insists that her maternal kindred must give her away. Cultural heritage beats biology.
The main event is the traditional wedding: Ịgbankwụ. As in many Nollywood movies, the ending is rushed. New spraying style is lame! With the major sponsors, UBA, MTN, Coca Cola, Vaseline, Knorr, Lipton, Peak, etc., the producer should afford Flavour, Ejyke Nwamba, Zoro, Phyno, and or Wizboyy at a big village square.
Igbo traditional wedding deserves an elaborate cinematic depiction. A great book awaits: “Love is All Things” by Akụnna Madụeke. It is welcome development that corporations continue to sponsor moviemaking. Kudos to the African diaspora communities that generate premium viewership, thus injecting money into the sustenance of Nollywood.
The liberal use of Igbo language, accompanied by English equivalents and closed captions/subtitles in English, provides an effortless comprehension. This is a welcome development in an era that Igbo-language movies are almost extinct. Ironically, it is an Igbo-language movie that created Nollywood genre: ‘Living in Bondage.’
@OkaaMoe
Monday, October 27, 2025
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