Lawyer, TV anchor and public affairs analyst, TUNDUN ABIOLA, reviews ‘The Man of God’, which had its exclusive premiere on April 9 and debuted on Netflix yesterday, April 16, 2022.
So many themes resonate with me in this film, ‘The Man Of God’ by Bolanle Austen-Peters.
What jumps out as a mom of two boys with different personalities is the nature vs nurture argument.
Samuel (Akah Nnani), the lead character, was a rebel from childhood when you’re at your most authentic.
Samuel was not Daniel, and neither was he his dad. His father’s harshness is obvious, but his mother’s passiveness is more insidious. If only we could accept our children as they are rather than force them into a mould they will only shatter and shatter violently in his case, we’d have a healthier society.
We heap opprobrium on mothers who turn a blind eye when their children are sexually abused but give a pass to those who mutter and murmur, wringing their hands while the father tries to beat the life (literally/figuratively) out of the child.
That double standard never occurred to me until Rakiya (Dorcas Shola Fapson) asked Samuel what his mom did to deserve being rejected.
The lovely Laila Johnson-Salami, in her introduction (as the MC at the film’s premiere), referred to the parable of the prodigal son, which I’ve read hundreds of times, but it is this movie that got me thinking. No one would just flounce off like that. The prodigal son may have also been sorely provoked as Samuel was.
That said, I’m in no position to condemn anyone’s parenting. We’re all doing the best we know how. Samuel’s dad calls to mind a line from “Wuthering Heights”, “Fear made me cruel”.
It does.
When fully grown, Samuel’s dad saw that the embryonic instincts within his son would destroy him. This was how he tried to save him, harm the body, and preserve the soul. Samuel’s charismatic performances of devil’s music recalls Lucifer, the first musician and supreme archangel, so beautiful and so gifted. That musical talent can lead to hubris and a mighty fall.
Music intoxicates, and he who creates it seduces, as we saw with Samuel’s tragic conquest, Josephine. If only Samuel had channelled his power into winning souls for God’s glory, not his.
Samuel’s Vineyard of Love Church reminded me of Dostoevsky’s “The Brothers Karamazov” where the Grand Inquisitor encounters Christ in whose name he had been conducting the Spanish Inquisition, burning “heretics” alive. He told Christ to leave town, or his sentence of being burnt at the stake would be carried out. He said the church no longer needed Christ, and him showing up now will ruin their mission. “We are not with Thee but with him,” The Inquisitor told Christ about Satan. This was Samuel’s church, like so many others.
It’s a critical service to humankind that the movie portrayed this. Equally important is his redemption arc (one hopes – a sequel, please). “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” This is the power of God’s love. As his father and brother’s embrace demonstrate, a distant second is that of the family. He might have had a different reaction if he walked in to meet Teju (Osas Ighodalo) or Joy (Atlanta Bridget Johnson).
The ladies in his life and his relationship with each one are as fascinating as the actresses’ performances were riveting.
The homie-lover-friend, Rakiya, who lived fast and died young, is easy to judge. Without parental guidance, it would have taken a miracle for her to have turned out any other way. Teju started with an unrequited crush on Samuel – and stayed that way. Even while married, she never really got the guy, and she knew it, the poor dear.
This woman saw irrefutable proof of Samuel’s infidelity and couldn’t even confront him, much less breathe a soul to anyone else. Such was the strength of her wilful blindness. I was proud when she grew a backbone, threatened to destroy him and made good on that threat. It just goes to show that everyone has their limits.
Although why she imagined a man she knew had cut his mother off wouldn’t eventually discard his wife is beyond me. As for Joy Girl, this is the first time I’ve seen a different side to the undeniably cruel practice of ghosting. She had no choice. Samuel would never have let her go without a messy fight, and she might have caved, seeing as she didn’t leave because she didn’t love him.
She didn’t see him as the pastor she would have wanted to be married to, and she was right. Even while he headed an organisation, he was a charlatan, and that sham wasn’t a church. Might things have been different if he married Joy?
It’s possible but highly doubtful.
No amount or manner of nurture from her as his wife would change that nature he demonstrated from the jump. She made the right choice.
The performances were superlative. As a director, Bolanle Austen-Peters outdid herself there. There were no weak links. Akah fully inhabited all the facets and contradictions in Samuel. Teju’s evolution or devolution from wide-eyed girl next door to ostentatious First Lady, then scorned woman was deeply satisfying. I was amazed to hear that Dorcas struggled to speak as Rekiya and that the director needed to coax her. She nailed it so perfectly that one might have assumed she was typecast.
Atlanta’s soulful performance maintained Joy’s purity of heart and intention throughout. The audience fell in love with her just as Samuel did. The characters were fully realised. The entire cast was fantastic, as was the crew.
I’m incredibly proud of all Austen-Peters has achieved and how she continues to outdo herself. I’m excited about her next project and can’t wait to see what it is.
I really love this movie, ‘The Man Of God.’