The Man of God is a 2022 Netflix original Nigerian movie directed by Bolanle Austen-Peters starring Akah Nnani and Osas Ighodaro. It is about the son of a prophet who strays from the godly ways he grew up with and goes into the world to chase his afro-beats music dream much to the displeasure of his family.
The Plot
A young Samuel listens to his father preach on the pulpit and he looks disinterested with the sermon. He's more interested in playing with other kids outside the church until his father catches him, giving him some heavy whooping.
This whooping evidently continues each time Samuel falters in his father's eyes. It's in one of such episodes that Samuel vows that when he finally leaves his father's house, he was never coming back.
Years on, Samuel is grown and in the university, he is seen performing a Fela song and is now the 'bad boy' his father feared he would be. He drinks, smokes, and is a ladies' man.
There are three women in Samuel's life now, Rekya, his lover and a backup dancer. Teju, the one who helps him out with his academics, and her friend, Joy, the youth pastor who Samuel eventually falls in love with.
Samuel's love for Joy isn't enough to sustain a relationship between them and he later gets married to Teju years after university. With Rekya coming back to his life after her sudden disappearance, Samuel is encouraged by her to consider making a business out of being a 'Man of God'.
Armed with all the physical attributes of a pastor and the upbringing under one of the biggest prophets in the country, Samuel goes ahead to head pastor a church and use it as a money-laundering front together with Rekya.
My Thoughts
First of all, let me start by saying how proud I am of Akah Nnani. I have followed his Youtube channel for years and watched most of the movies and tvshows he's been in. I am highly impressed that he finally got a lead role in a movie and I believe this is going to open more doors for him.
Now let's get to the movie. Hmm. Okay, I'll start with the good. I liked the costume in this movie a lot, I wonder why I didn't see people talking about it. The clothes worn in the university timeline were more of the 90s to early 2000s fashion in Nigeria and I think it was a well-done job.
The picture quality is equally as good, but then again, Nigerian movies have really upped their game when it comes to cameras. They might deliver a shitty story or whatnot but they will always come through with good picture quality.
I loved how real the movie was. They depicted hypocritical pastors well enough and I could swear they got material from a real-life controversial pastor here in Nigeria. The movie explored religion and themes like social vices.
The cast did a good job, their acting was really good and I daresay, award-winning, only if the story were more put together.
The worst thing about The Man of God is the fact that the story was so disjointed. It was like three different stories in one and it looked like a poorly done cut and paste job.
One moment Samuel was little, the next, he was in the university being Fela, another moment, he was married to Teju. From where to where please?!
I didn't notice any character development, all they did was catapult me from one timeline to the next and expect that I figure it out on my own. The story transitions weren't smooth at all and it made me lose interest.
The story was also quite boring and a typical prodigal son cliche. It is a bad idea to have a cliche plot so bland and almost directionless. It got worse at the end and looked like one of those dramas I used to go watch in secondary school that were hurriedly brought to an end because we had to go home.
There were also several loopholes to the plot and gaps that shouldn't have been. For example, there weren't smartphones or computers back when Samuel was in the university but we saw that in the house Rekya bought, there was a flatscreen TV. How is that possible? The best one could get then was a box TV, that was a terrible error to make.
More effort should have been made on The Man of God especially in the story. I was disappointed at what I saw even though it was one of my faves in the lead. Anyway, I am happy that it might be his breakout movie and get him better roles in the future.
I'd rate it a 6/10.
Have you seen The Man of God? What do you think?
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