The movie, Deliver Us From Eva , is a family-centered film about a suave man who tries to woo a beautiful woman in an effort to prevent her from meddling in the love affairs of her sisters. The movie stars Gabrielle Union, whose stage name is Eva, and her lover, Ray. It also features the love story of three black men, all of whom are in romantic relationships with Eva’s sisters. Eva is strikingly attractive, but her firm disposition is enough to turn off even the most confident of men. For this reason, she remains single even long after her three younger siblings get themselves into affairs. But Eva is so busy, smart, and intelligent that she pays no attention to what people say. Nor does she resent her relatively narrow-minded view of social life.
Eva stepped into the role of a caregiver at the tender age of 18 following the untimely demise of her parents. She is the eldest of three siblings named Bethany, Kareenah, and Jacqui. Over time, she became so habituated to the decision-making role and continues to do so despite the sisters being grown-ups: two are married, and one is engaged. Her inability to stop giving orders, not even when the sisters are mature enough to make their own decisions, has seen Eva henpecking her brothers-in-law. Eva’s family structure is extended because it includes the spouses of two of her sisters and the boyfriend of the youngest sister ( Galvin et al., 2015) . Bethany is not allowed to live with her boyfriend, while Kareenah is not allowed to get pregnant, all on Eva’s orders. Even Jacqui does not feel free in her marriage with the mailman husband due to interferences from Eva.
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In response, the troubled men plot to get Eva out of their way by sending a man to distract her. The three men pay a charming, suave ladies’ man named Ray to romance and distract Eva with love. In this way, Ray would take Eva’s attention from her sisters’ affairs. Should the plan unfold as intended, they hope that Ray will vacate the area and stay with Eva far away from them. The three men also have an eye on the family’s trust fund, currently overseen by Eva. The plan goes on well as Eva falls into Ray’s charm and the two strike a romantic relationship. However, the plan goes awry when Ray ends up falling in love with Eva. Ray, who is famed for his reputation as a playboy, is made vulnerable by his unexpected emotions and fails to achieve his mission of clearing the path for the three boys. The real attraction between Eva and Ray becomes yet another setback to Tim, Mike, and Darrell, who now have to fight against the newfound affair.
Despite the absence of parents in Eva’s family, several circumstances portrayed therein are synonymous with the daily life of most households in the United States. Most families are built on principles of interdependence. Being an interdependent system implies that two or more people should work together on common activities or towards common goals ( Galvin et al., 2015) . At the family level, interdependence entails role sharing and attending to one another during people’s lowest moments. This is evident in Eva’s family in several instances. The fact that she stepped up into the role of parenting is a show of interdependence in the family. In fact, Kareenah, Bethany, and Jacqui did not stand the chance of flourishing into the successful ladies they are had it not been for the support of Eva. However, as Galvin et al. (2015) recommended that interdependence in a family should go hand in hand with autonomy. Failure to balance interdependence with autonomy deprives a home of its happiness. A state of imbalance of power- for example, where Eva sets all the rules for her younger sisters and forces them to comply- creates a lot of domestic problems. At the very least, in this scenario, the sisters and their spouses feel overpowered, which breeds defiance. This phenomenon is particularly evident in the decision by Mike, Tim, and Darrell to try and push Eva out of their way. Too much intrusiveness and control from Eva has implicitly made her and the rest of the family members estranged. This leads them to make decisions that undermine the interdependence within the extended family. It is an indication that while a family ought to support each other, there must be an element of power-sharing and autonomy ( Galvin et al., 2015) . In essence, the overriding factor is the movie’s attempt to convey the impression that individuals within families ought to address the need to support each other without being too intrusive.
Equally significant is the movie's attempt to build upon character development due to losses. The director uses such character development to show the need for adaptability and cohesion. Most often, the bereaved tend to react to losses within the family by exerting excessive control over people and circumstances around them. It is understandable to act in this manner because a bereaved individual may be trapped in temporary guilt. Losing a loved one makes an individual think that perhaps they could have done something to save the deceased. In this way, they become overly guilty, and this may, in turn, may mar their character development ( Galvin et al., 2015) . Take, for instance, the case of Eva. Perhaps due to the paranoia that she may lose her sisters to death, as was the case with her parents, she grows to be overly overprotective. Her overprotective character grows to unnatural proportions- too much as to write off the autonomy of her sisters. This overrides the very factor of the family as an interdependent system ( Galvin et al., 2015) . Evidently, Eva has struggled to adapt to the parenting role due to some hidden fears of losing her sisters. Regardless, her firm disposition has not harmed the cohesion between the three sisters. In fact, the sisters think that Eva is an angel sent to them by God following the death of their parents.
This family is not built on any rules other than the ones reinforced by Eva herself. It is noteworthy that Eva has staunch religious affiliations, and most of her rules are built upon religious precepts. It is through these Christian principles that Eva successfully guides her siblings. However, the movie seems to support Galvin et al.’s (2015) assertions that even if a family must be steered with rules, these rules cannot cover every contingency. Too many rules in the family can turn out to be distasteful and may complicate interpersonal interactions ( Galvin et al., 2015) . For instance, Eva had set rules for pregnancy for one of her sisters and limited the nature of interactions between her engaged sisters. These rules, though relevant in regard to Christian ethics, are distasteful when examined from a social perspective. The ladies under Eva's strict control were already mature and ought to have been free to make personal decisions regarding their sex lives. It is for this reason that Eva’s brothers-in-law planned to cunningly take Eva out of the picture for them to spend quality time with their respective spouses.
The issue of family rules is the primary cause of family conflicts in the movie. Eva, being the eldest of the four ladies, is right to take up the parenting role. It is a role she takes up without much hesitation, but one that is not met well by her siblings’ spouses. Thus, the conflict in the movie arises between Eva, Bethany's, and Jacqui's spouses, and Kareenah’s fiancée. It is a conflict involving the fight for autonomy in the family. Eva feels like she still has to control major decisions in the lives of her sisters. Eva’s role in shaping her sister's decisions is extremely powerful to the extent that even her brothers-in-law are forced to comply. But Eva does not act on malice against her sisters’ progress in romance. Rather, her strictness is purely out of goodwill. To this end, Eva remains the protagonist in the story despite her extreme intrusiveness. On the other end of the conflict are Eva’s three brothers-in-law. They are not directly affected by Eva’s strictness but still grapple with the ladies’ lack of total control of their lives. They also secretly intend to benefit from the trust fund. This makes them the antagonists in the story. As the conflict for autonomy advances, the three men see it fit that getting Eva out of their way is the best solution. Their move to distract Eva using a playboy is a deconstructive solution to the conflict. The three men are scared of facing Eva with their views and act out of cowardice, which is a deconstructive approach to managing family relationships. Basing on Galvin et al.’s (2015) recommendations, a serious family issue such as the need for autonomy should be resolved constructively through consensus.
In conclusion, the movie, Deliver Us from Eva , not only serves as an item of comic entertainment but also depicts family life in the absence of parental care. It portrays the social issues in the family life of orphans, especially regarding decision making and interdependence. The movie centers on the lives of three sisters who are under the strict control of their elder sister. It follows that while family members should care about one another, the level of intrusion into others' lives should be moderate. Failure to observe such moderation in social interactions yields undesirable relations and sometimes alienation.
Reference
Galvin, K. M., Braithwaite, D. O., & Bylund, C. L. (2015). Family communication: Cohesion and change . Routledge.
