The Devil’s Work, directed by veteran Ghallywood filmmaker Shirley Frimpong-Manso, is a detective thriller limited series based on an investigation into the murder of an NGO boss, Madam Judy Laing.
The narrator—the matriarchal voice of the deceased Madam Judy — often interrupts with background insights as the story digs into her mysterious death while meddling with the personal lives and secrets of the woman and her four children, Maxine, Chantel, Jude and Isaac. In charge of the investigation is Detective Mensah (Adjetey Annan) whose personal allegiance to the deceased keeps him longer on the case.
Inside the somber atmosphere of their mother’s office building, three siblings Maxine, Chantel and Jude are seen discussing the murder case with Detective Mensah when a certain man, Isaac, is found lurking in the wardrobe room. The family lawyer arrives and reads the will. The deceased wishes her humanitarian legacy is protected, with the hope that her four children—Isaac being her fourth child by another man, previously unknown to the other children—unite to keep running the NGO. Frimpong-Manso already makes it obvious from conversations in the first and second episodes that Madam Judy, like most humans, had her flaws. But one cannot deny that she succeeded in training her children to always have one another’s back no matter their disagreements.
In the beginning, the postmortem narrator talks about how adventurous she was in her lifetime, a period during which she “tried everything at least once”, adding—in a stroke of sarcasm— that “including getting murdered”. Firm, unperturbed and philosophical in her bird’s-eye-view narration, the narrator often falls into wistful moments as the story progresses. Interestingly, the narrative approach also includes another voice that slips into the background, posing as an interlocutor with the narrator. For instance, in the second episode, Chantel responds when her mother’s narrative voice reprimands her for being the family’s black sheep. From an otherworldly storyteller who doubles as a strong feminine figure to corroborative voiceovers, the unconventional narrative apparatus reveals the producer-director’s norm-defying instincts and confirms her status as one of the progressive filmmakers in modern Ghana’s film industry.
Another narrative tool, flashback, is used to recall key moments such as when Maxine remembers her mother’s attempts to broker peace between Maxine and her unfaithful husband Peter, and when Chantel introduces her lover Melvin to Maxine. These scenes are captured in a monochrome, so they are easily distinguished from scenes set in the present. It’s through the use of flashback that that we meet Madam Judy in person, her immaculate mien and poise is first noticeable when she visits her daughter. One would not have thought she was capable of keeping expensive secrets from her loved ones.
Frimpong-Manso excels in her directorial attempt to circumvent sensationalized acting and conversations amongst the characters. The acrolectal English dialogues are largely unforced and thoughtful, as they produce a sense of routine calm and civility in an atmosphere that could have been otherwise rife with redundant fast-paced thrill. It’s easy, as well, to notice the middle-class air in how Frimpong-Manso’s characters conduct themselves. Their mannerisms are carefully curated. Detective Mensah is gentlemanly in his investigative quest. Chantel remains a coherent whole whenever she engages her siblings and gets involved in the affair of the NGO, despite having an eye for debauchery—a feature that sets her apart from a random lowlife. There are moments when Isaac’s veracity is doubted—such as Maxine secretly taking his DNA sample to verify if he’s truly their brother—yet his cooperative disposition makes him acceptable in the circle of siblings who, for most of their lives, have been oblivious of his existence.
As a family drama with wider sociopolitical implications, the film addresses issues of domestic conflict, marital infidelity, family values, compromise, blackmail, unrequited love, violence and betrayal. The siblings feel betrayed by their mother for keeping secrets from them. When a furious man barges into the office and accuses late Judy Laine of failing to protect him from possible jail for domestic violence, despite receiving a bribe from him through a foreign account, the revelation catches the siblings unawares. Maxine is particularly disappointed when she learns from Isaac and Detective Mensah that her mother often took “generous donations” to compromise and deny victims proper justice.
The director manipulates anger—an emotion described by the narrator as “impulsive” and capable of “irreparable damage or death”—to flaw certain characters and make them either victims or perpetrators of violence. Maxine runs Peter down with her car and breaks his leg, having him confined to a wheelchair. Chantel kills her husband-to-be Melvin after seeing through his gold-digging mission. And as later revealed, Madam Judy’s is killed for being defiant and aggressive after refusing to yield to blackmail.
As the story winds down, the culprit, who happens to be one of Madam Judy’s female clients, is nabbed. The siblings question a staff of the NGO who witnessed their mother in distress, and the lady reveals Detective Mensah was the last to see the woman before she gave up the ghost. Through the use of dramatic irony, Frimpong-Manso puts viewers a step ahead of the siblings, such that they already know Detective Mensah has more information before the siblings discover it .
It is also ironic that when the film ends, the four siblings have been involved in the same crime they set out to investigate. Chantel’s siblings become accomplices by covering up her murder of Melvin. Also, an obviously jealous Peter attempts to kill Detective Mensah, unknown to his wife Maxine, after which their impaired marriage is fixed. The filmmaker ensures that while the main crime is partly resolved, none of the key characters is spared as they all dirty their hands— so it’s either viewers are left begging for more justice or justice remains lopsided and evasive as ever.
The Devil’s Work is produced by Shirley Frimpong-Manso and Ken Attoh, and stars Joselyn Dumas, Jasmine Baroudi, Ethel Bentil, David Oscar, David Mensah, Michelle Hammond, amongst others.