‘Mirror of Life’ Shuns Sex, Prostitution, Abortion

Mirror of Life is a tale of good girls gone bad.

Nneka, played by Mercy Johnson, is a poor village girl whose chance encounter with an old friend drastically changes her life.

One day Nneka runs across an old school friend called Rosemary (played by Queen Nwokoye) who pays her sisters hospital bills. Indebted and wanting to provide for her family Nneka follows Rosemary to the city and makes her transformation to Rihanna, a runs girl (prostitute).

As a runs girl, Nneka falls victim to the lure of money. In her defense, the lure is altruistic. She has good intentions to use the money to pay for her kid sister’s medical bills, to buy clothing for her sister and her mother, and to pay her mother’s rent.

But make no mistake, director/screenwriter Michael Jaja does not believe that the end justifies the means. Nneka’s using her sexual appeal to gain money from men is never rewarded, no matter how the rewards are spent. Quite the opposite, as Nneka’s fate ends in tragedy.

You are a woman with good upbringing. Don’t let hardships and other things you are going through derail that. -Ferguson

Although Nneka doesn’t end up sleeping with Ferguson (John Dumelo) for money and befriends him instead, she suffers from leading a double life. She lies to her family about where the bulk of the money is coming from and names her ex Tunde (Ken Erics) as the source.

This causes her little sister, Jane (Amanda Dilo) to feel immense gratitude toward Tunde. She wants to thank him and plus, if he would give her big sister all that money, wouldn’t he do the same for her if she gave him something in return?

Nneka warns her sister against men, as her focus should rightly be on getting into the university. But Nneka’s words fall on deaf ears, for Jane sees the tangible results of Nneka’s encounters with men. It is their money that Nneka uses to buy fancy things, not her knowledge from her studies.

This film’s a bit risqué by Nollywood standards – profanity, brief nudity, and lots of innuendo as well as some more explicit scenes. One of the more troubling scenarios is when Rosemary solicits the help of a male friend to get Nneka drugged up and film her as a porn star. They use this tape to blackmail her and break up her relationship with Ferguson.

Mirror of Life suggests that relationships should be about more than sex, as Nneka tells Tunde before she breaks up with him in the beginning of the film. Like other Nollywood films, it also takes a staunch opposition to prostitution and abortion, two practices that Jaja hints can only lead to tragedy.

In the end, Nneka loses her sister in a botched abortion (the father = Tunde) and their mother collapses from hearing the news of Jane’s passing.

In tears, Nneka speaks out to God in confusion and in supplication. She has no one except Him and wants no one else, even Ferguson.

Unlike many films where the bad guys get what’s coming to them, in Mirror of Life the wicked girls never learn. Rosemary and her escort clique get away with robbery and blackmail.

But maybe that’s part of the lesson for Nneka. Evil is evil.

Jaja makes it clear that any innocent village girl should keep her distance.

[youtubegallery cols=2000]
Part One|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oA_CYjy7NMg&list=PLAA7970C9FFF5DEE5&index=1&feature=plpp_video
Part Two|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uix-Ou8X6cA&feature=BFa&list=PLAA7970C9FFF5DEE5&lf=results_main
[/youtubegallery]

[youtubegallery cols=2000]
Part Three|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAmSRz4R_z8&feature=BFa&list=PLAA7970C9FFF5DEE5&lf=results_main
Part Four |http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3T_STzfC3M&feature=BFa&list=PLAA7970C9FFF5DEE5&lf=results_main
[/youtubegallery]