For like almost three weeks now, my timeline including my WhatsApp status has been flooded with this trending movie, 'Straw' by Tyler Perry.
A lot of people after watching the movie said they cried because the movie was so emotional for them, and some even said it to an extent that if you did not cry, that means you are earless or a psychopath. Well, I decide to feed my eyes to see what they were saying is true.
I won't lie, I like every bit of this movie right from the start to the end. To me, this movie was so emotional like the way people described it to be, while watching it, I wanted to cry at first, but I took a pause and had to continue the next day. Because, why would an elderly man like me start crying. What will happen to my steeze and composure? So I said.
That was how I continued to watch the next day to reduce the emotional effect.
Right from the first scene where they showed Taraji P. Henson who acted as, Janiyah, I could feel her pains, the pain of a struggling mother doing a double work just to make sure that her daughter who has some illness can survive and be among her mates.
Right from her waking up in a flooded apartment that is not well equipped, to bathing her daughter, Aria, who is battling with seizure, to making her breakfast, to her complaining that her teacher in school her giving her leftovers because she hasn't paid for lunch, to her rushing down the stairs, taking her daughter to school, helping a needy man even though she needed a charity herself, to rushing down to work, attending to customers, and her inconsiderate boss lashing out on her, to getting a phone call from her school that her daughter isn't doing well, to rushing down to the bank to cash out some 40 bucks to pay for her daughter's lunch, to a police man to hitted her car, to her been booked for having an expired driver's license, to her car been seized, her landlady throwing her stuffs out in the rain...a lot of horror experience which later led to her been arrested.
Even though, all these things might have seem unrealistic just for a single mother to pass through alone, this also shows that what Janiyah passed through in that movies could be real and a lot of people are passing through it already, though it might not be up to that.
The real problem started when Janiyah took permission from her boss to go see her daughter in school after she got a phone call that her daughter is not doing fine, she told her bus to cut her a check since that day was her payment day, but her boss said that can't be done. She has to rush down to the bank next to her work place, but unfortunately, she was unable to withdraw the $40 because she was told that she has an insufficient fund even though she had $49, but withdrawing $40 will close down her account.
Unfortunately for her, on getting to her daughter's school, she has already been dragged out of the class by the home care agency due to the inability of Janiyah taking proper care of her. She begged them to leave her daughter to her, but she was told it's not possible but the only option she has is to be visiting her daughter.
Well, on her way back to work, she ran into a police who was not on duty who hit her car which led to her been booked by a female police.
She found her way back to the office, but unfortunately for her, she took longer than the time her boss gave her she led to her been sacked. But she instead of getting her payment but her boss said it would be mailed to her. Unfortunately for her, while she was still dragging the issue with her boss, some group of thieves entered through the door, demanded that the boss bring out all the money but Janiyah struggled with one of the thieves but unfortunately for the thief, he was short while the gun was being dragged. However, Janiyah took the gun, but while her boss was accusing her that she knew the thieves, she decided to gun her boss down, took the check and went ahead to the bank to cash out the check.
While In the bank, the cashier instead that she must see her ID card before she can approve her check, but Janiyah was not with it and she brought out the gun from her bag which made the cashier panicked and the other person in the bank. Unfortunately, the manger saw this and called the police.
The police got involved, and instead of speaking violence, the female police on the phone spoke with compassion and relate Janiyah situation with her's while growing on and this shows that, even the best of us have been through though time in the past and life can come at anybody so fast.
The FBI got involved in the matter which made the situation more worse even though the matter was going peaceful has she has realized almost all the hostages and this shows that, even at our peaceful moment, bad things can tag along.
Even though Janiyah later surrenderd after she was supported by a lot of protesters who heard her story after one of the cashiers went live, the plot twist of everything was that, Janiyah's daughter, Aria has been dead but she was lonely and passing through a lot of grief which makes all the school riot between her teacher, teenage house care, phone calls from her daughter school, her bathing her daughter every morning not real.
It was all greef and loneliness.
For me, what Janiyah did in that movie portrayed realities and resilience even though she was a woman who faced mental health strain, societal indifference, and financial instability.
Was Straw a perfect movie to watch because of the hype, my answer would be, Yes!!!
Did I cried....NO!!! Elderly man like me😎😭 haha
My rating 8/10
Emotional, ill give it 5 ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐.
Thank for reading.
Pics are screenshots from the movie
Posted Using INLEO