Recently released Nigerian feature Dara aims at a story around love in a new city. But this love is hosted in a Nigerian campus and faces the typical struggles there. But this attempt at reviving the Nigerian campus genre fails to live up to expectations.

A plot Thickened on Chaos than Love

Dara: A Port-Harcourt Story’s premise revolves around Idara, a young man in a new city. He finds himself entangled in cultism and romance. Directed by Bobby Rak it aimed at themes of romance and second chances in a setting rarely portrayed in Nigerian cinema. Its setting was very different from the typical choices of Nigerian filmmakers.

The feature opens up with Idara (Emmanuel Edi) arriving Port-Hacourt after gaining admission into the university. Luckily, his old-time friend Chucks agreed to house him. But soon after he gets entangled with pressures from Agama (Raymond Umenze), a notorious cult leader and then Sophie (Tomi Ojo), a classmate he likes. With Sophie, Idara struggles with accepting just friendship at first because of his growing feelings and the different guys he confuses as her boyfriend. But as soon as she makes things clear, their relationship sparks.

With Agama, things get even complicated when Chucks joins a rival cult group and they battle over Idara. But Agama had troubles of his own and soon lost interest in getting Idara initiated. Back home, his mother (Tina Mba) faces possible death as a result of a brain bleed from an abusive husband. And now Agama must raise a sum of five million naira to save her.

This then gets messy when Idara’s rich uncle from the States comes into town. Although a former member of Agama’s confraternity, that doesn’t stop him from being a target for a home invasion. As a result of the robbery incident, the police patrol the area and find Idara, Sophie, Chucks and a member of his cult group. With the fear of being harassed by the police, they all run. However, Idara drops a gun that Chucks had given him earlier that night. The police then open fire with the assumption that he was about to be shot, and this leads to his immediate death.

For a final blow, his uncle and Chucks team up to kill Agama, to avenge Idara’s death.

The Story barely survives the length of time

The story fails to really shine on the love story it promises. Yes, Idara and Sophie end up together after a little back and forth with the other guy she was with. But no actual depth to sell their chemistry or make their love even believable. The movie leaned heavily on the chaos and not even anything remotely close to romance.

It also has a very slow pacing at the beginning, which eventually makes it an uneasy watch. Because one is on the edge for when exactly the real drama starts. And when it eventually does, it is more bloodshed than sweet love.

There is also the obvious gap in the dialogues, which feel very watery, especially for the main characters on whom the story should be anchored on. Agama’s character seemed to be the only character that carried some depth, as we got a feel of his journey into becoming the notorious cult leader that he is. We could even understand the pressures that led to his final reckless moves. But he wasn’t supposed to be the main focus of the entire story. It was meant to deliver an unseen love story.

In all, the shift in focus basically makes it harder to settle in and makes it come off as yet another Nigerian movie that loses its course along the way.

Performances Struggle To Land A Pass Mark

The movie doesn’t do so poorly with its performances, with stand-out delivery from Tomi Ojo, Raymond Umenze and Tina Mba. These three are able to add some depth and intensity to what seemed like a simple story. Mba’s presence was very short, but we could easily catch on to her pain so far in the hands of her abusive husband. And the love she still had for her wayward son, with just two scenes.

Umenze also gave some stellar moves in his fighting scenes, but easily showed a disconnect with his bad boy persona. However, that was easily covered with fewer dialogues and more scenes that required action. Another character that joins Umenze in excelling with action scenes would be Mfon Essiet. His face-off during the home invasion kept his story of once being a cult boy alive. And was also delivered with some level of dexterity.

Emmanuel Edi, who plays the main character Idara, delivers a fair performance. And this falls short on the role he plays and the weight needed from the role he played in tying up everything in the story. There was a great absence of romantic chemistry between him and Ojo, which made the real love story plot fall flat.

Technical Aspects That Outshine The Story

Dara may have suffered in synergizing its story and plot, but with certain key technical aspects, it did excel. For a seemingly average budget it delivered clear-cut pictures and distinct shots. Especially its choice of angles during narrations and fight scenes. That helped us get a better feel of the actor’s tone, mannerisms and state of mind. And it achieved this by including even little things like the heart pulse and hand flickering into the shots.

One could tell that there was a deliberate intent to make the cinematography take some accolades when it came out. Although it would have been much better if the story had been put together better. There was also a unique score choice. From regular Nigerian hip-hop to very hymnal vocals at treacherous points. Again, this helped add some feel and texture to the story as it ran its course. Some might find the sort of hymnal vocals strange especially towards the end. But when one accepts it as an added piece to make those scenes even more solemn, then it wouldn’t be much of a problem.

For a campus story, it puts to play certain elements that make the genre unique. The university setting, the students and the activities are synonymous with campus students. Which gives the story some realism that it requires.

Final Thoughts

It felt like the chaos and fight scenes got all the attention from writing to execution as opposed to the real Port-Harcourt, Love story. It would have been nice if the story in some way highlighted the unseen beauties of the city of Port-Harcourt. And this could have been achieved simply with the romantic couple exploring the city together.

Maybe all that time being dragged at the beginning would have been a good chance for the story to readjust its cause and delivery. Or maybe Agama should just have been the focus of the story.

Verdict

Although Dara revives a storyline that isn’t so common in the industry, it still struggles to land a strong impression. It earns itself a 2 rating from us.

Rating: 2/5