Review of A happy Surprise - the film that could teach Ghanaian filmmakers a few things.

February 17, 2022

This was one of the movies I was looking forward to seeing this year. But I missed my chance on January 1st. When I could finally make time to the cinema, I was told it's not screening. Then came my lucky stars, I went to the mall in hopes of catching a friend's poetry performance. But again my timing was wrong. I had missed the performance by a day. So I went to the Silver bird to see what I could watch. While checking films that were showing for the day, I thought to ask again if A Happy Surprise would screen. Then I was told it would on Sunday (3 days time). I asked for time and cost. I was told 3pm and it's free. Apparently a church was showing it to it's members. That information I got on Sunday when I got there. God bless them. Amen.

Now let's get into the review, shall we?

A truly remarkable film for the Christian community was my first thought about the film. I say remarkable for the one reason that the story was not taken for granted. The script is well written. The story was not at all predictable or cliché as I had expected it would be (which in my defense is the case of most of our Ghanaian films) but rather one that can very much pass for a story that could be true.

I like the conflict that was between Kuukua (Martha Ankomah) and Brenda (Amanda Jissih). It was well played. Our main character is hit by pressure from every angle. We could understand her actions based on her conflicts - both inner and external - that we saw her face.

It was a story that portrayed a few true things that show us we are humans - imperfect creations.

It is also a story for everyone who feels they are running out of time.

Acting: I commend the actors for being very relatable, no unnecessary accents. Which contributed to audiences connecting with what they were watching in the cinema. Other filmmakers should take a cue and give us something authentically Ghanaian in delivery and in every sense of it. (That’s an argument for another article)

The first sound score I heard was ‘Ye Obua Me’ and it was a disaster. Don’t get me wrong. I like that song but it was just outright distracting! made it difficult to pay attention to the dialogue between doctor (Joe Mettle) and Esaaba (Alexandra Aboagye) . While I was glad to hear one of our own songs, It felt misplaced, unfortunately.

Now what happened to subtitles? Unless the producers made the film for English and Twi speakers only, it made no sense that there were no subtiles for all the time Kuukua’s mother (Paulina Oduro) went on and on in Fante. That was an unforgivable error!

Locations: I saw great sceneries for this movie it makes me so proud. And that rain when Fred (Prince David) and Kukuaa were in the car… I thought that was bold for them to do that as it brought an appealing dynamic to the movie. If it wasn’t natural then kudos to the crew that made it happen. I was smiling like a proud father in the cinema.

Ghanaians in the cinema had a good screening experience and for that Martha Ankomah, producers and cast and crew should be proud! A lot of reactions which says the people were entertained and paying attention. That is something to definitely be proud of. If people were hardly on their phones and spoke back to characters, I think it is a win to celebrate.

Question to producers or the director, how did Kuukua get pregnant from a 14% alcoholic wine? That was the one scene that was not believable, whatever your reasons are for shooting it that way.

‘I need vitamin U’ was the pick up line guys didn’t know they needed. I thought that scene was very western but still it was nice. The second paper card was not very eligible however.

I rate A Happy Surprise at