"For Maria- Ebun Pataki"

From Ajegunle to Banana Island, childbirth is accompanied with joy. In fact, you are told that you will forget all the stress pregnancy brought the minute you hold your “bundle of joy”. Bundle of joy for everyone? Place to place, elite or ordinary; post-partum depression is a subject Nigerians should be more aware of. The fact that pregnancy and childbirth complications are so numerous yet unspoken is something to be worried about. From shared stories of women who abandon their babies in the hospitals or dumpsites to untold tales of those who cannot carry or feed the child(ren) they labored to bear or even hear their voices, “For Maria- Ebun Pataki” sees you all.

The movie tells the story of a family with a “bundle of joy” that sends both the family and viewers spiraling into a deep well of gloom. With a pretty “supportive” mother-in-law and an equally “supportive” husband, Aderinsola grapples with one of the complications of childbirth- postpartum depression. When the Mother-in-law (Tina Mba) asks “Is anything wrong with her or her breasts” in a bid to get her to breastfeed and advises her not to be a useless mother, all I see is an average Nigerian who wants to give tough love in every situation. Though Fola (Gabriel Afolayan) tries to stand up for Derin (Meg Otanwa), he is not of so much help to his wife as he goes on looking for solutions from unwinding to shopping to a vacation except he doesn’t take the one advise to see a therapist.

The actors in this movie leave us feeling every emotion they personify. I felt the love Tina Mba had for Meg Otanwa when she went to her workspace to anoint it and gave her a forehead peck. The same weird love I felt every time she brought her food. It felt like it was my gum bleeding and my hair falling off. It’s the same way I felt the resigned feeling Derin felt every time she tried to bond with her baby and failed while at it. I cried when she struggled for the baby even though I didn’t understand how she felt. I felt anger at all the advices “strangers” tried to give at the naming without bothering if Derin was okay. Oh, can we also talk about the elderly woman at the shopping mall who gave the agbo advice?

I remember when my friend, Chinaza and I went to the mall at Apo with her baby and a random man called us back and told us to cover his head. I walked off with the baby because “what in the world is your business”? I felt Folas’ pain when he told Derin they had a problem if she couldn’t touch, see or look at her baby’s face. I lost my sense of humor when Fola threw a joke about Derin wearing his shoes. The acting is exactly what was needed for a movie like this.

Oh, the lighting.

It was as blue as the movie. The directors and lighting personnel did a great job of conveying the emotions the movie carries. The blue bathrobe, curtains and subtle lighting succeeded in leading us to where it ended. I love the fact that this movie happened in a regular Nigerian setting. Directors give us a movie with regular Nigerians who have ACs fitted everywhere in their very perfect AirBnB apartment and have a pregnant woman working around in 6-inch heels. This is different in For Maria. We have a regular Nigerian family with a Nigerian home.

This movie is a “must-see” as it brings the much-needed conversation about Post-Partum Depression to the fore again and I hope that every family will see the movie and take it up from there. It’s much more personal for me as I have a much loved “aunty” who suffered from a brain tumor and post-natal psychosis just in 2021. I wish we could learn the train of thought behind the title- For Maria: Ebun Pataki feels like a mouthful and sincerely, I didn’t want to watch it because of the title. It felt a bit disjointed. Having watched it, I know that the title came from a train of thoughts that we may or may not learn.

A child may seem a very important gift but it is left for the mother to decide.