[Movie] Farmer’s Bride: When the Marriage You Wanted Becomes the Life You Cannot Escape

When I began watching Farmer’s Bride, my whole thought and prediction were that it would be another forbidden love story. But at the end, I was thinking more about the first decision that set the whole movie in motion. Funmi's choice of marriage wasn't Odin, but her mother practically exchanged her daughter for a piece of land, and right from that decision she made, everything that happened after seemed to grow from that first decision that she made because her choice was taken away.

I liked the film setting; it was a 1980s type of setting, and it started with a young lady known as Fummi, who was forced to marry out of her wish to a wealthy farmer called Odun before she met Femi, Odun's cousin, who was attracted to her, and the whole situation was turned darker that very moment.

For me, Fummi was the one who carried this movie, but I won't say she was my favorite. But what I liked about her was how she turned her frustration into desire, which later turned into a secret and eventually desperation. There is no doubt that she was not interested in the marriage, and I totally understood that.

She was still a young lady; she wanted to go after her dream and suddenly found herself married to a man she didn't even like. But after seeing all these, it does not make me support all the actions she took. Her secret relationship with Femi outside her marriage made me question some things, whether escaping one wrong condition can lead that person into making a very bad decision like she did.

Odun looks like a simple man at the beginning of the movie, but he started getting more complicated than I imagined. At first, I saw him as a wealthy old man who bought his way into marrying Funmi. But how safely treated her after their marriage got me so uncomfortable in a lot of ways because he genuinely seemed to her affection.

He gave the marriage all his best so it could work, but all his effort was fruitless because his kindness was unable to create consent where there was none. That was one of the saddest things about Odun. He could easily give her everything she wanted; he failed to give her just the only thing she actually wanted. Which is freedom to choose him.

Odun's cousin, Femi, was a very attractive, young, agile man and just like a perfect match for Funmi. I'll say what are exactly wanted. But I actually like how this movie went because what I saw was that choosing someone because they represent freedom does not mean they are automatically good for the person.

Mercy Aigbe, who played the role of Morenike, well, I also found her so fascinating in a way after the main three. She was more than Odun's sister in-law. She and they were so close, and what she eventually did after Odin passed away, especially the rituals she made, gave some of the scenes in this movie more supernatural and psychological effects and life.

Though Femi and Funmi were having some secret affair, I like how the whole situation changed from a marriage scenario into something much darker. From Fummi getting pregnant for Femi to both of them planning Odun's death and how the consequences sometimes become much heavier for them.

And yes, I can't forget the cultural Yorùbá vintage settings there that gave the whole movie, which made it much more realistic and natural. It was a good job because the whole environment felt lived in.

But I still felt there was some rush in this movie, especially the fast death of Odun and how Fummi suddenly shifted from a young lady who was unhappy in her marriage to a lady capable of going much further than the way she started the movie.

But anyways, that was by the way. Farmer's Bride was a good watch for me because it brought a real-life situation into a movie, and I saw how some people can be forced into what they don't want and those involved expect such a person to be happy with such decisions. I would give it 8.6/10. And it is a movie I will recommend to you, anyhow.

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_{Other images are screenshots from my movie player}