Children of God (2011)

Strong and Moving!

A Disappointing Continuation

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

In spite of the tremendous advances in gay rights in many countries in recent years, homophobia is actually intensifying in many place. While first and foremost a beautiful and tender personal drama, Children of God is also a study of anti-gay intolerance in the Bahamas. The main story is about Johnny, a gay art student who's so broken that he can no longer express his feelings on canvas, can't defend himself even verbally, and can't even touch another human being. Faced with losing his art scholarship, his teacher directs him to spend a few days on the island of Eleuthera to reconnect with nature, and hopefully his own artistic spirit. There he meets the aptly-named Romeo, who helps him to discover hope, trust, and love.The second-most prominent story, which lightly touches Johnny's, is that of Ralph and his family. Ralph is a vehemently anti-gay preacher with a secret, driven to stage anti-gay rallies. Lena, his wife, learns she has acquired an STD from him. When she tries to find out what he's done, he turns on her, and to cope, she buries herself even more deeply in his "Save the Bahamas" campaign, hoping to find solace in certainty. In turn, she unwittingly bullies her young son, who becomes afraid that he might be go to hell if he does something "sissy."Children of God isn't perfect. Some of the meetings toward the end seem somewhat forced, and religious dialogue, always difficult to handle well, doesn't sound quite as natural as it did in, say, Wise Kids. And some of Johnny's quirks seem implausible; how can you have sex if you're afraid to shake hands? The most serious flaw is a character named Purple who has no development. The movie would be improved omitting him and rewriting the ending.Yet for all this, it's a very good film. If you don't need Hollywood CGI explosions, and can enjoy small stories of the heart, you'll enjoy Children of God.

I'd read reviews elsewhere that were mostly high in praise of this movie, so I ordered it. I really liked the Bahamian life shown as it is away from the casinos and cruise ship areas. The acting was good, especially by the two leading guys, Johnny Ferro and Stephen Tyrone Williams. There is a great progression of self-understanding in short order. Photography and filming was very good, including beautiful scenery. Editing was good too, with excellent continuity. The music was a treat. It seemed to also be Bahamian. I'll be looking for more from these actors and director. I definitely recommend this movie and am glad to own a copy.

This is a movie that leaves you in doubt as to the intentions of the maker. There's this positive way you can look at it. It could be a love story against the romantic background of the Bahamas. It could also be the coming-of-age story of a shy and complicated young man that struggles with his sexuality, and then is helped and liberated by a more experienced and relaxed lover. These points of view could make for a decent and beautiful feel-good movie.On the other hand there's a rather negative streak to this movie. There are all these very harsh and heavy issues: the religious and cultural bigotry on the Bahamian islands, the abuse of women, discrimination and gay bashing (to extreme extent). And mind you, these heavy issues are not just dealt with in a low-key background-like way, but very prominently and graphic. And to add to all this ambiguity: not one of all these issues (positive or negative) is solved in the end, so as a result the movie ends frustratingly bland, leaving you (or at least me) depressed and very unsatisfied (and the very last scene doesn't really make up for this, it's idiotic and misplaced!).On the good side I have to say that the acting is overall fine and convincing. Especially the supporting cast is quite good. I also liked one of the two protagonists Stephen Tyrone Williams, he's a natural talent with lots of charisma and an appealing physique (not unimportant in the story). But I had some reservations about Johhny Ferro as the other main character Johnny. It's probably mainly due to the script and the direction, emphasizing his supposed shyness, but he appears not to act at all, he just stands about, looks vexed all of the time (even during his one love-scene) and only speaks with a monotonous almost trembling voice. Add to this his (I'm sorry, Johnny!) rather plain and scruffy looks and his skinny frame. Sure, it gives him a puppy-like cuteness, but it still impressed me as a miracle (and as totally unrealistic) that this athletic cool and relaxed Romeo should even look twice at him, let alone lust after him.Johnny's character is supposed to undergo some sort of positive Werdegang: an evolution from neurotic and sexually insecure recluse to a more self-assured being, but the movie never gives us real proof of this. When Johnny in the end stands up in a crowded preaching-house to confront the woman who raves against homosexuals, it looks like a very brave thing to do. But then the script only makes him say silly platitudes, like "Why don't you leave us alone?" or "Who cares about all this?" or "He who is without sin casts the first stone". Not much to leave a lasting impression and the script just leaves it at that, we don't even get to see how the raving woman or the community react to him. When Johnny speaks to Romeo for the last time, he just lets Romeo go on and on with excusing himself and never confronts him with his inconsistency and hypocrisy. And when in the very end Johnny finally stands up to some of his old bashing tormentors, again he only gets to use feeble and cliché lines, like: "you just compensate for your small dick" (my god, couldn't the writer come-up with something better than that!). Not much of a catharsis there. And then this costs him dearly (I won't give it away), which again makes you wonder what the message of the writer/director is. Feels a bit like: don't bother, you never can win.Another disappointment to me was the use of the surroundings. We're on the Bahama's, for crying out loud, one of the supposed great romantic escapes of the world. The whole movie is shot there on location, but all we get to see of the beauty of it is one scene at he beach where Romeo and Johnny snorkel together. For the rest we see endless dusty roads, little dilapidated houses, ugly beach-sides and some local bars. What a waste!! All in all an unbalanced movie with an ambiguous message (if any) and a depressing lasting impression. Oh, and rather bad PR to the Bahamas, I would say. I'm gay and love to travel to sunny shores, but this movie made me see that for gay people the Bahamas are the last place to go to for a holiday.

The characters in this film are all one-dimensional. They are divided into hateful bigots and joyous but equally obnoxious life force characters. And they constantly make speeches at each other. The only exception is the artist hero who is monosyllabic and apparently brain dead (only because he's repressed). Of course, he is redeemed in the end by the joyous life force guy. Why can't people in gay film fest pictures speak and act like real people? Everyone in this toothache of a cookie cutter gay film fest feature acts like he's on stage. How anybody could confuse this affliction with a good movie beats me. Only for the least discriminating of gay film fest attendees. Its IMDb may have something to do with the director's friends and relatives who seem to be legion.