Final Whistle (My love is my wealth) is a 2000 Nigerian romance film directed by Ifeanyi Ikpoenyi, starring Saint Obi, Bukky Ajayi, Rita Nwankwo, Emma Anyalogu, Christy Okonkwo, Georgina Onuoha, Padita Agu, Funke Akindele, Elder Maya Njubigbo and Tony Ezimmadu. Inspired by the 1982 Indian movie Yeh Vaada Raha, this was Nigeria’s first musical film.
Plot
Richard returns from his sojourn in Europe and is welcomed by his mother, Mrs Morgan and her domestic staff. One maid in particular, Fina, stands by the corner admiring the warm reunion between mother and son. Richard, noticing Fina, is irritated and shouts at her, calling her a “mere slave”.
Richard continues to torment Fina’s life in the house because he finds her irritating. He slaps her several times, shouts are her, admonishes her, and even sacks her when she mistakenly pours water on him.
After getting sacked, Fina goes to the orphanage she grew up in to meet Sister Naomi, who raised her. Fina begs Sister Naomi to intercede on her behalf to get her job back at the Morgan residence, and Sister Naomi does just that. Mrs Morgan, who is fond of Fina, gives Fina back her job.
One night, while having a conversation with her friends/coworkers – Grace and Angela – they pleaded with her to sing them a song. Fina doesn’t want to do it at first, but after several appeals by Grace and Angela, she does.
Richard, who is playing video games upstairs, hears her singing “The Greatest Love of All” and is enthralled by her voice. He rushes downstairs to find out who the singer is. When he does, he begs Fina to sing some more and offers her a gig as his duet partner for a song he is recording.
The next day, Richard takes Fina to the studio, and after hearing her sing, his producer Ben is so excited that he asks that they begin recording the songs. As Fina and Richard work together in the studio, Richard becomes nicer, kinder and slowly begins to fall in love with Fina.
Noticing the change in Richard and Fina’s relationship, Mrs Morgan becomes increasingly hostile towards Fina. She fears that their closeness would lead to a relationship that would soil the family name, as she couldn’t allow her maid to marry her son. So, before she sets out for her business trip, she demands that Richard rid himself of whatever feelings he has brewing for Fina before she returns.
While Mrs Morgan is away, Fina and Richard’s relationship progresses from a friendship to a full-blown romance. Mrs Morgan returns from her trip, discovering that Fina and Richard spent the night away from home. She is livid and becomes very antagonistic towards Fina.
Fina and Richard go on a date at the Waterfront restaurant, and Fina is worried about Mrs Morgan’s disapproval of their relationship. Richard tells her not to worry and proposes to her. Fina accepts, and they both sing to each other, promising never to part.
Richard returns home to inform Mrs Morgan of the engagement, and she is livid. She goes into the kitchen and retires both Grace and Angela, promising to give them a severance package hefty enough to allow them to get their own apartments and start their businesses.
As for Fina, Mrs Morgan fires Fina on he spot and asks her to leave her house in the middle of the night. Fina pleads with Mrs Morgan, but there is no changing her mind. Fina leaves that night and goes to Sister Naomi’s place to stay. Unfortunately for her, Sister Naomi is on sabbatical overseas.
Fina sits by the side of the road and writes a letter addressed to Richard. After she is done, she tries to cross the road, but she is hit by a car. Richard returns home and calls out Fina’s name, but there is no response.
He asks Grace and Angela about Fina’s whereabouts, and they inform him that she was fired and thrown out that night by Mrs Morgan. Richard confronts his mother, but she denies any involvement in Fina’s disappearance.
Richard tries to find Fina but to no avail. He eventually gives up and begins dating his mother’s choice of a bride for him, Nancy. He doesn’t love Nancy, but he goes along with the relationship because his mother encourages him to and because he can’t find Fina.
Fina, on the other hand, wakes up from a medically induced coma with a severe case of amnesia. She has no recollection of her name or the life she lived before her accident. To uplift her spirits, her doctor, Dr Ojukwu, gives her the name Blessing.
Richard marries Nancy at the urging of his mother, and their married life is fraught with domestic violence. A cycle of Richard returning home drunk every night and beating Nancy to a pulp becomes a constant in their relationship.
After Blessing is discharged from the hospital, she is taken in by Dr Ojukwu and his wife, Lucy. Blessing joins the church choir, and when she hears the name “Richard” in Lucy and Dr Ojukwu’s conversation, she faints.
Blessing remembers bits from her past like the house number of the Morgan residence, Richard’s name and Fina. However, she misremembers Fina as Richard’s sister.
Armed with this new information, Dr Ojukwu begins to investigate, trying to find Fina, whom Blessing referred to as her best friend. Dr Ojukwu is able to locate the Morgan house and visits there several times, asking Richard questions, in an attempt to piece together the information he has.
Eventually, after conversing with Richard the second time, he is able to solve the puzzle of who Fina is: Blessing is Fina. Dr Ojukwu visits Richard one last time with he intention to ask Mrs Morgan some questions. Mrs Morgan denies any knowledge of the letter Fina wrote that was delivered to her. Dr Ojukwu then also reveals that Fina is alive and arranges a meeting between Richard and Blessing/Fina at the Waterfront.
Dr Ojukwu takes Blessing to the Waterfront and leaves her with Richard. Richard is excited to finally be with the love of his life, but she is cold toward him because she has no recollection of who he is. He calls her Fina, but she corrects him that her name is Blessing. So in a last-ditch effort, Richard sings their song “Never to Part” to jog her memory.
He sings it the first time, and there is no change in Blessing. He sings it the second time, and there is still no change. Frustrated, he turns his back on her and begins to curse as he is out of ideas. However, Blessing begins to sing her own verse of the song, meaning that her memory is back. Richard embraces and kisses her.
While the pair is locked in an embrace, Nancy arrives at the Waterfront with a gun, ready to kill Fina. But after Richard appeals to her, she drops the gun, takes off her ring and places it on the gun, bidding Richard goodbye for good.
In the end, Fina and Richard get married, and Mrs Morgan embraces them, accepting their union.
Cast
Saint Obi as Richard Morgan
Bukky Ajayi as Mrs Morgan
Emma Anyalogu as Ben
Rita Nwankwo as Fina / Blessing
Georgina Onuoha as Nancy
Tony Ezimmadu as Dr Ojukwu
Christy Okonkwo as Sister Naomi
Padita Agu as Grace
Funke Akindele as Angela
Uche Obiorah as Lucy Ojukwu
Elder Maya Njubigbo as Steven
Joy Ibeabuchi as Nurse
Crew
Story: Larry Ikpoenyi
Screenplay: Ifeanyi Ikpoenyi, Barnabas Okwara
Additional Screenplay: Chuks Obiorah
Casting: Ifeanyi Ikpoenyi
Transport: Thompson Agu
Location: Vera Kanu
Props: Kingsley Okereke
Make-up: Cowboys Enter-ten-ment
Costumier: Uche Obiorah
Music: Orange Seed Music
Soundman: Tony Edmond
Director of Photography: John OsemekeJohn Osemeke
Editor: Ohis Izebe
Continuity: Iwuanyanwu Chuks
Executive Producers: Christian Ndulue, Lawrence Ikpoenyi
Assistant Director: Kenneth Egbuna
Director: Ifeanyi Ikpoenyi
Final Whistle was a remake
It was a remake of the 1982 Indian movie, Yeh Vaada Raha.
Thoughts: Richard was Satan’s spawn
A huge part of a love story being phenomenal is largely based on the character of the leading man. A charming leading man is the best, a brooding one is good, a toxic one is intoxicating sometimes, but a physically and emotionally abusive classist is a no-go area.
Richard was a physically and emotionally abusive classist. His first sentence to Fina contained the words “a mere slave”. He slapped her for doing nothing, yelled at her for doing her job correctly, fired her for being so terrified of him, she mistakenly poured water on him.
But that’s not all.
While Fina was away, he slapped both Grace and Angela and starved them of their dinners.
When he got married to Nancy, he beat her black and blue for just existing.
When he finally found out that Fina was alive and his mother tried to convince him that Dr Ojukwu was lying, he threatened to beat his mother up.
Richard was a literal psycho.
I watched Final Whistle when it came out back then
And I was a child who was more interested in the songs than anything. But seeing it now as a 30+ year old adult?
Ooh, this did not age well.
Richard Morgan is not a romantic hero. He is the absolute worst human being. If you just sit down for a second and deep it, you will realise that Fina had signed herself to a life of domestic abuse.
Once that love runs out, he will redesign her face with slaps and blows.