Movie Review: Netflix’s Adire Explores Women’s Issues, Empowerment & Church Culture
Adire enlightens and entertains on women’s empowerment & gender issues
Adire is an entertaining and enlightening film on Netflix produced in 2023 and written by Jack’enneth Opukeme and directed by Adeoluwa Owu. It covers many significant topics from understanding the life of a Nigerian sex worker to women’s empowerment through entrepreneurship, then issues around women’s knowledge of family planning and then how a church community reacts to controversies.
In the film, Asari runs away from her past as a sex worker, takes money from the Captain and moves to Oyo Town.
At Oyo Town, she takes on the name of Adire and then endeavours to have a new life through entrepreneurship as a designer creating lingerie from Adire fabric.
Asari’s business becomes a big hit in town with many women patronising her. The women see her lingerie as empowering them in their marriage as they call it a “miracle bra.”
One of these women is Shalewa who was initially sceptical about Asari. She came into her home ready to fight her because her husband Oluwatobi was seeking her services as a sex worker.
However, Asari instead gifts Shalewa with a set of lingerie and from there, the two women form a friendship.
Though some women take to Asari, she encounters challenges with not being accepted by all the women in the town, particularly the Pastor’s wife; the self-righteous Folashade who sees Asari as a sinner in their congregation.
Then, there are challenges with love as Asari meets Thomas who wants to pursue a relationship with her but she remains uncertain about his true intentions.
In the film, we watch Asari navigate her new life as Adire and the difficulties she encounters with being accepted by the Christian community in her church to having her past come back to haunt her when the Captain follows her to Oyo Town.
The role of Adire is played by Kehinde Bankole and Shalewa is played by Yvonne Jegede. The Pastor’s wife: Folashade is played by Funlola Aofiyebi and the love interest: Thomas is played by Ifeanyi Kalu. Also, Simi is played by Tomo Ojo.
Here is my take on important aspects that the movie emphasizes on.
Asari’s Story Signifies that Sex Workers Can Turn a New Leaf & Women Can Be Empowered through Entrepreneurship
With a braided wig and an off-shoulder white dress far above knee length, Asari struts into a bar, sits down and lights a cigarette.
Then, Oluwatobi, a married man approaches her and tells her to join him and his friends at the table but with a smirk, Asari responds “why would I want to do that?”
When Oluwatobi asks her how much for her service, Asari smiles. She’s offended but does not lose her temper as she states in a calm-mannered tone, “Is it written on my forehead?”
Kehinde Bankole does a fantastic job in her role as Asari as she leaves the audience laughing and applauding her for the delivery of her witty lines.
Another scene where we see Kehinde crack us up is when Shalewa storms into her home and cleverly states that she is the wife of the man you are trying to rubbish.
Asari holding a knife and dressed in a black singlet and shorts replies “you are going to have to be specific because there are many men who want to be ruined by me.”
Shalewa calls her an Ashewo and Asari says that at least she has a name as she pulls her Kimono closer to her.
Kehinde plays her role well as she is being scrutinized by the women in Oyo Town.
In another scene, Folashade, the Pastor’s wife is not at all pleased to see her at the outreach event for Abeni and she condemns her for being a Prostitute.
Asari stands up for herself, telling her that: “you gather stones and tear people down but the Lord resists the proud and gives grace to the humble,” and then, she removes her scarf with the flowered dress exposing her cleavage.
Asari’s story is interesting because of her past occupation as a sex worker and when it comes to sex work in Nigeria, the girls and young women who go into it have complicated backgrounds that led them there.
Some might find themselves to be a sex-worker due to poverty or a lack of education. Others might have found themselves there due to sex trafficking or being brought into the business by coercion.
In the film, we watch a scene where Asari is dreaming of her former life. She’s a little girl and someone is calling her.
It’s the Captain who calls her and is holding her hand as he takes her into a room where the group of ladies ask “So this is the girl.”
Then we see Asari as a young child running away while looking back.
The scene implies that Asari was brought into sex work not of her own volition but because of the Captain.
However, though Asari had a past as a sex worker, through the film, we see her become empowered by managing her clothing line of selling lingerie.
Funlola Captivates the Audience in her role as Folashade, a determined and Self-Righteous Deaconess
The writer of Adire does an excellent job as we get to understand Folashade’s character through Funlola Aofiyebi’s superb acting.
Through Folashade’s character, we see two sides of her. One who is hostile towards a new church member with a history of sex work and then another who is passionate about her faith and the church.
When it comes to the way Folashade treats Asari, her acting commands the screen.
From the way Folashade bats her eyes at Asari to how she rudely approaches her in the church during Abeni’s memorial service and puts a black scarf around her knee, Funlola takes on the role of a controlling woman who is not at all willing to tolerate any form of indecency in her church.
Funlola’s acting is top-notch as she gives the audience a convincing portrayal of a self-righteous deaconess.
Then we see another side of Folashade in a vulnerable moment between her and Pastor Mide when she confronts her husband for not taking a stand against Asari and then states that the church should have belonged to her.
She states that the church is not hers because she was not the boy-child her father desperately wanted.
In that intense and beautiful moment, we get to understand Folahade’s temperament, her passions and her pain points.
Church Culture When It Comes to Controversial Members
When Adire moves into a new town, some women are pleased with her due to the lingerie business but not everyone.
At their local church, Pastor Mide’s wife: Folashade is not one of her biggest supporters and she wants Adire to leave the church.
The Pastor’s wife views Adire as a sinner and does not want to dance around with sin.
The reason Folashade does not hold Adire to high standards is because of her past as a sex worker.
Also, in the film, a young unmarried girl: Abeni gets pregnant and is scrutinized by Folashade. That she should be kicked out of the choir.
From Abeni’s pregnancy to how Asari is being condemned by Folashade, we get to question how the church communities take in members who have sinned.
How the Christian community treats those with a “dirty” background.
Should a church be the sanctuary in which those who have sinned can come and seek redemption and be counselled or is the church meant to put shame on its members, alienating them or driving them out?
I think the former should be the right approach because in Luke 5: 31–32, we read that “Jesus answered them: People who are well do not need a doctor, but only those who are sick. I have not come to call respectable people to repent, but outcasts.”
Yvonne Englightens the Audience on the Need for Family Planning
When Folashade admonishes Shalewa for her dressing to Abeni’s memorial service, Shalewa pouts her lips and puts her hands on her chest while nodding her head left and right to signify that Asari should not react.
In the film, Yvonne Jegede is whimsical as Shalewa makes the audience snicker left and right with her dramatisations and facial gestures.
Also, through Yvonne’s role, important messages are emphasized on.
After Shalewa discovers Asari’s business and purchases lingerie, she feels happier and more empowered but before she knows it, she discovers she’s pregnant and it upsets her.
She goes to Asari crying that she knows that children are a blessing but she doesn’t want another child. That she already has five children jampacked in her parlour.
Shalewa laments that the only thing she’s had time for is motherhood.
Then Asari asks Shalewa whether they did family planning and she responds that she doesn’t know much about that. That scene is prominent because family planning is not always something that every woman and couple practices in Nigeria.
However, family planning helps a married couple to have a say over when to bring children into the world and how many.
Adire also brings to light the importance of having contraception as two unmarried girls in the movie get pregnant.
That’s Pastor Mide’s daughter: Simi who gets pregnant and is reluctant about keeping it.
Then, Abeni who got pregnant and died while giving birth.
What I Wanted More from the Film Adire
Adire takes on such a serious topic which is that of the life of a sex worker and what happens when they want to leave the occupation. Though the film was entertaining and informative, it could have been more thought-provoking if it dived deeper into the sex work industry in Nigeria. To understand more about the complexities of the lives of the women.
There’s a scene where we see a group of women lined up and the pimp: Captain played by Yemi Blaq is looking at these girls to inspect them.
Then, there’s another scene when the Captain tries to bring Asari back to the business and we see her in the same bar where she met Thomas but this time, the Captain brought her there for the services of a sex worker.
That scene would have been a good opportunity for viewers to learn more about the challenges that sex workers go through when they want to leave. However, the pace at which the movie moves is rushed and the Captain is soon killed off.
Also, when it comes to the love relationship between Asari and Thomas, it doesn’t feel authentic.
Thomas tells Asari that he doesn’t want sex from her. That he wants companionship as his wife has passed away but Asari is sceptical.
Asari and Thomas are meant to have a connection but more could have been done to develop their relationship through in-depth conversations so that viewers could have felt what he truly saw in her because otherwise, their love story doesn’t evoke romantic emotions.
Even with the meeting of the families, when Thomas’s mother meets Asari, she seems very eager and not at all surprised to meet Adire. She tells her she is part of their family and that she should take care of her son.
That scene would have been more realistic if the mother was a bit taken aback about having her son mingle with a former sex worker.
I wanted more from Adire; from the love relationship between her and Thomas to the depiction of the sex work industry in Nigeria but it’s possible that an expose of the sex work industry in Nigeria would be best explored in a documentary.
In Conclusion
Adire is a good film as it’s entertaining, informative and filled with significant lessons.
We learn that one is not solely defined by their past but anyone can re-write their story and we see that as Asari moves past her life as a sex worker to take on entrepreneurship and get involved in a Christian community.
We also learn that family planning and the use of contraception is important so that children don’t come into a home that does not want them.
Then, there is the aspect of us all being human and flawed.
Asari was seen as a sinner but she was not the only sinner, even the Pastor’s daughter had fallen into the sin of premarital sex. But alas, we say that we should judge not so that we may not be judged.
I look forward to Nollywood exploring more themes on women’s issues such as Nigeria’s sex-work industry and family planning as it does in Adire.
