Summary
A scattered screenplay comes as a barrier in front of a potentially important story about falling into temptations, which leads you to destruction.
This review of The Man of God is spoiler-free.
“There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof is destruction”. In simple words, if you want to describe this sentence, it is called the temptation. It is a sin to fall into the trap of temptations. Perhaps, we all fall into that trap sometimes in our lives. Maybe for most people this stumble occurs in their youth. At that time, we are amateurs in coping with the systems of the world and wrong decisions cause disarray in our lives. Netflix’s new Nigerian film The Man of God revolves around the theme of this same coming-of-age problem. But despite having a potentially good story, the dull writing and lack of innovation make it a drab piece of drama.
The story of Samuel is relating to his first appearance on the screen. He is the first son of an elderly prophet and everyone around him has a lot of expectations of him. Due to that, he gets a harsh upbringing from his parents (especially from his father). He forsakes this soon to live his own life. But in that process, he finds himself drowning in wrong decisions one after another leading him into destruction.
Though from this synopsis, the story seems to be a potentially emotional drama, the end product fails to make us feel anything for the characters. Majorly the writing is too defective which puts a barrier to being invested in the story. It hastily puts characters on the screen and takes them back unnecessarily without having any motivations around it. The writers take quite a unique approach by giving the traits of a protagonist to a man who is succumbing to greed, lust, and power. It reminds me of the classic gangster drama template, only here they put the religion on the line.
Religion is not a path to salvation here nor something of a belief. It is a mere business for Samuel. Initially, he is reluctant of getting involved in the church’s work. But after he understands how much power he can gain or how much money he can bring to himself, he gets involved in this business of religion more and more. As I previously mentioned the flaws in the writing, the film has an overall average effect, but this motif of religion works as the dilemma and duality of Samuel’s personality is praiseworthy.
Nigeria has one of the largest film industries in the world, which has the reputation to produce a large number of films in a single year. The previous two films from Nigeria I had seen (Chief Daddy and Chief Daddy 2: Going for Broke) are forgettable. With those two films, I am so disappointed that I watch The Man of God with doubt. Despite having the flaws, it can be told that it is a nice try and can be good for a one-time watch.
