Hi guys, how is our week going? I hope everything is under control. I wish us productivity with ease as we navigate through the week. I finally got to see the popular movie, 'The Straw'. Oh yes! I said popular. The way the movie has been trending all over my area and even on the internet, I couldn't but watch it. At the sight of the first scene actually, I thought maybe the movie was over hyped. Seeing it's a mother and daughter emotional family story. I however decided not to conclude like that until I watched it through. But guys, it was worth it after all.
PLOT
The movie was written, produced and directed by Tyler Perry. It centers around Janiyah and her daughter. Janiyah was a loving and caring mother that doesn't joke with her only daughter. She provides her daughter all moral and mental support, except the fact that she was not rich and had to struggle to pay rent and feed her daughter. It wasn't like Janiyah was lazy. No, she was a very hardworking single mother juggling between to two jobs, but when life happens to one, even the most hardworking seems the laziest. Everything was rough for Janiyah. Her only daughter was sick, asthmatic and had other medical conditions like seizure, etc.
. She was born prematurely and her mother was so intentional about taking care of her.
Her situation got worse the day her daughter asked if she was going to give her launch fee, because her teacher had been mocking her for it, in front of her classmates. That day, Janiyah felt worse. She was pained to the marrow. She felt she hadn't tried enough. She felt her daughter should not be a subject of ridicule at school. She promised her to visit her school to pay in the afternoon. She became so desperate and wanted to pay the fee at all cost. That same day, her landlady vowed to trash her things if she failed to pay the house rent. She got to work late and her manager was mad at her. She had to leave the work in no time again to attend to the call at her child's school. She came back only to be fired at work, at this point, she was already a wounded lion. Janiyah asked for her salary but her manager insisted that she had to cash out cheque herself. Having known the stress she would pass through at bank, she insisted that she be given cash. At the peak of their argument, armed robbers entered their supermarket and demanded the money they have made so far, calling the name, "Janiyah" that he read up on her chest tag. During the struggling, Janiyah was able to snatch the gun and shot the robber to death. Looking at the scenario, the manager concluded that the robbery was all a set up by Janiyah. Besides, the robber called her by name. Confoundedly, Janiyah couldn't control herself, thinking the manager wouldn't believe her and would send her to jail, she shot the manager to death.
Hurriedly, she took her cheque and rushed out of the supermarket to the bank to cash out the cheque in order to pay for her daughter's launch fee, but she was not attended to at bank, because she had no ID card. Janiyah became so paranoid and scared the bank attendant with the gun in her hand. Realising, she had a gun, the bank manager contacted the police and everything became worst. Janiyah was asked to surrender to the police and stopped the attempted bank robbery and bombing. But, she couldn't fathom all they were saying. She was not robbing or bombing the bank. She had only come to cash out her cheques. Unknowingly to her that she had been misunderstood. Her daughter science project, that was blinking red had been mistaken for bomb and the gun in her hands, for robbery. In no time, things had gotten out of hand. It was already on the news and she had already been linked to the previous murder in the supermarket. She was already considered a big threat and battalion of police have surrounded where she was. So, she decided she wouldn't go out until, they understand she didn't mean any harm and until the police she ran to earlier in the day who promised to blow her head if he ever saw her again, left.
The police called the bank and she was trying so hard to be understood until a female police, detective Raymond spoke to her and tried to understand the situation. Somebody in the bank had already secretly gone live, so viewers were able to watch and listen to her plight, which made a mob to also gather Infront of the bank to protest for her release. A lot of people sympathized with her including the bank manager that contacted the police in the first place. They all realised she was just a victim of circumstances, and it was a mother's struggle and love for her daughter that landed her in the mess.
It was all roller coaster of emotions but to the police it was no emotion but insecurity issue. It was only the female police, detective Raymond that could identify with her condition and she was persuaded to surrender. She lamented so much on who will take care of her daughter while she would be in prison because she knew already that everything had become worse. It's now an issue of breach of security, murder, robbery and bombing, which is hard to get out from. Yet, she worried so much about her daughter even when she's passing through the fire, and the bank manager promised to take care of her daughter.
Everything seems about to be calming down, until Janiyah's mother called to tell her her daughter was dead. It was the worst news ever, I mean that was the daughter she had committed those grave offences for. The pain, and agony raffled her whole being. The bank manager who was already aware of her daughter's demise couldn't but help to hold her. Lots were happening in her brain. She became so unconscious thinking to do otherwise but saw that the effect might be worst, she came back to her sense, still dumbfounded. She surrendered herself and she was captured by the police. Hmm, The Straw!
REVIEW
The movie is family oriented. Family is the basis of every community and it shows that a broken family, a poverty stricken family and a helpless family can be a threat to the community as a whole. It sheds a great light on the struggles, pain and feelings that trailed parentage. It reveals the strength of mothers and the strong bond they share with their children and how mother's can do and unto just for their children. In the movie, Janiyah greatly cherished her daughter even though she was sick. She loved her so much and doesn't hesitate to spend her last penny on her as evident in how she spent her last dime to get wires and battery for her daughter's science project.
The movie also mirrors the ill treatment and unkindness to fellow human which is rampant in our world today. Imagine, how the landlady trash her belongings outside, without empathy, just because of rent. This ill treatment is not only limited to civilians, even the government officials are doing worse. The police man hit Janiyah's car and still threatened her. Those were the first encounter that ruined her day. Human beings need to do more in their relationship with others. People are going through enough stuffs already, that we don't have to add salt to their injury.
The movie also depicts lack of professionalism in some of our institutions and organisations out there. In the movie the hurt and pain started from the fact that the teacher was mocking Janiyah's daughter for inability to pay launch fee, in front of other classmates. This was not professional and it was so uncourteous. In fact, it is against the teaching profession.
These students are not the ones to pay for themselves, their parents are. The act of embarrassing a child in front of others for the inadequacies of his/her parent is a gross misconduct. This does not only disgraces the child but also discourages from going to school and kills their moral. It was surprising that such a bright and beautiful girl could wish not to stay at home instead of going to school, due to constant embarrassment.
The way through which Janiyah was fired at work was also not the best. It was not properly handled. No letter was given, poor timing. Janiyah was fired out of anger with no respect nor empathy. There was no effective communication and the lay off was done with no emotional intelligence, which later back fire and led to the death of the manager . This shouldn't be, organization should do more.
Laying off of staff could still be done in the most empathic way: communicating effectively, and offer some forms of encouragement. That is professionalism. Also, the police officer that she first encountered should have done better. Such action was not expected of an ordinary citizen, lest alone law enforcement agent.
However, cutting off the head is not the solution to a headache. Humans are to control emotions and not emotions controlling us. No matter what we are passing through we have to be ahead of our emotions, if not emotions will land us in trouble. Life is not always a bed of roses. Things happen and that shouldn't make us become desperate or lose ourselves. Janiyah was trying to care, protect and save her daughter from constant embarrassment at school but she later became the embarrassment. She became a robbery suspect and a murder in the journey. The child she was trying to secure and protect eventually died, and she became a prisoner herself.
Thank God for her kind heart. It was evident that Janiyah was a good person and her goodness followed her. The beggar she used to give alms to testified to her kindness and also her colleague at work, which people heard on TV and rallied round her. It is good to be good, your status is not an excuse. It's good to be good to all around us. It will help someday.
Seriously, it's only God that protect. It's only Him that saves. Human capacity is limited. We can only try our best and call unto God for the rest. There's no place in the movie, where Janiyah called unto God or ask for his help in whatever way throughout the movie. Though it is expedient that we work hard to give our children that best life, we wish. But we also have to take it easy on ourselves, in order not to complicate our own issues and enter problems. It was so pathetic to see Janiyah suffered so much for her daughter, lost her and got arrested at the end and.
RATING
It was a good movie that sheds light to the struggles of a mother, especially a single mother. The movie also calls our attention to the whereabouts of the father. Maybe it would have been a different case, if the husband was in their lives. This emphasised the saying that two heads are better than one. The movie therefore discourages a broken home. If it's not death or domestic violence, a united, good and happy home is essential.
I rate the movie, 8/10.
Thanks for reading.
The poster picture is sourced while other pictures are from the movie screenshot.