Street of heaven, movie review

Happy Sunday evening, hivers! Here's my honest review on this movie. The title of the movie is "Street of Heaven," a Nigerian Nollywood movie by Ruth Kadri. I don't know why the title of the movie is "Street of Heaven" because, to me, the movie didn't go with the title. But maybe my readers can tell me why it's named "Street of Heaven" at the end of my review.

The movie starts with the husband preparing dinner before the wife gets back from work because it's their wedding anniversary. When the wife came back, she was not surprised at all and wasn't even happy about it, which showed me that their marriage is having problems. They've been living like strangers in their own house, and the husband is trying to make it work again, but the wife isn't having it.

The wife's name is Grace (Ruth Kadri), and the husband's name is Paul (Daniel Etim). The wife came back from work and, after freshening up, went to her daughter's room to take their temperature. I was wondering why she had to check her daughter's temperature every day. Along the line, I realized that both daughters are sickle cell warriors. This is why their marriage has become a home of strangers because they had no rest every single day, and the wife always blames her husband for the genotype of their children.

The wife was in the office one day having lunch with one of her colleagues; she forgot to take her phone along. She came back and found missed calls from their family hospital. Immediately, she knew something was wrong, and she rushed out of the office to the hospital. On getting there, the doctor pronounced their first daughter dead. She cried her eyes out, and the husband was depressed and sad.

After some months, she got back to the office, and her colleagues were trying to make her happy. During this process, she began to talk to her colleagues about her life, and they flashed back to when she just graduated from school and went for an interview – that's when she and her husband met. But they didn't talk much until they met again in church. Grace was a new member in that church, invited by a friend, and she met Paul again in that same church.

From there, they got along, and Paul would wait for her after church to take her home. They became close friends and finally became lovers. They went to tell their pastor about their relationship and their plan to get married, as every church would do. Their pastor requested that they go for a medical test to see if they were medically compatible.

After the test, they realized they were both AS and couldn't marry, but Paul didn't want to let go. Grace was deeply in love too but was ready to let go because she couldn't bear the thought of bringing a child into this world and allowing the child to suffer. But Paul claimed God told him Grace was his wife and that they should continue with their wedding plan. Every time Grace talked about it, he manipulated her with "God says," making Grace look like she didn't believe in God or have faith.

After many talks, arguments, and sleepless nights, Grace agreed. They lied to their pastor and got married. After marriage, Grace got pregnant but was scared her child would be a carrier of sickle cell. Paul told her not to worry, claiming God wouldn't allow them to give birth to a sickle cell child because he had prayed. Grace went to the hospital against Paul's wishes for a test to check the genotype of the twins while still in the womb; both of them were carriers of sickle cell.

She decided to abort the pregnancy, but Paul sweet-talked her out of it, continuing to claim he heard from God. They gave birth to sickle cell twins, and that's when their struggles and pain began. There was no more peace in their house because they visited the hospital every time. Their marriage became sour because Grace saw her husband as the wicked person who manipulated her and put their child in pain.

A few days later, the other daughter was also rushed to the hospital, and she didn't make it. She was buried, and Grace packed her bags to leave her husband's house. But Paul begged her to stay and start over again by doing IVF, which he had rejected before.

I learned a lot from this movie. I learned that telling each other your genotype should be the first thing when a male and female want to enter a relationship. That's why everyone should know their genotype.

Sometimes love is letting go if the love will later hurt or bring pain to someone. Their child lived a painful life because of their selfishness and ignorance.

I believe there is another good man for a woman and another good woman for a man, don't say you can't do without someone, you can let go instead of letting a child to pass through pain, and there will be no peace in the family. Another thing is that many women have entered wrong marriages because of how some men have manipulated them with "God says," especially Christians. I'm sorry to mention a religion, but I think it happens more in Christianity – ..the issue of "God says you are my wife, you are my this." Everyone is a child of God, and anyone can go to God to pray and ask questions. When a man tells you as a woman that God says, use your head, go to God and ask. Many "God says" are lies; don't allow them to manipulate you.

Lastly, if you love yourself so much and you're not medically compatible to get married but you want to get married, don't have a child of your own. You can do IVF or surrogacy, simple as that. Have pity on that innocent child because the pain of being a carrier is unbearable. Don't be selfish because of your love; their pain is more painful than your love.