Children of God (2010)

Directed by: Kareem Mortimer | 104 minutes | drama | Actors: Johnny Ferro, Stephen Tyrone Williams, Sylvia Adams, Van Brown, Aijalon Coley, Mark Ford, Jay Gotlieb, Jason Elwood Hanna, Christopher Herrod, Juanita Kelly, Margaret Laurena Kemp, Adela Osterloh, Craig Pinder, Leslie Vanderpool

Who wouldn’t want to live in the Bahamas? All the clichés from the travel brochures come to life here: swaying palms, clear blue sea, picturesque houses, multicolored coral, tropical fish, tropical cocktails, laidback music. The kind of place where you find, or take, the love of your life.

Unless you’re gay.

At least that’s what the Bahamian love drama “Children of God” claims. The film addresses a problem that is urgent in its year of release (2010) in places like the Bahamas, Jamaica and the Virgin Islands. Homosexuality is often prohibited, homophobia and violence against homosexuals is a daily practice.

The story of ‘Children of God’ follows two lines. In one, we meet pastor’s wife Lena, who is caught between the love for her gay-hating husband and the friendship for a much more tolerant pastor. In the other storyline we follow the youngsters Johnny and Romeo. Two young people who seem destined for each other, were it not for the fact that homosexuality is not accepted by the environment. At least as bad: Johnny is white and Romeo is black.

It should come as no surprise that ‘Children of God’ champions love that cannot be stopped by religious, racial or cultural barriers. God loves all his children, that’s pretty much the message. Unfortunately, that message comes to us in an unoriginal way. The biggest homosexuals are latent homosexuals, the people who stick the hardest in their faith are the biggest hypocrites, the most tolerant characters are artists, and so on. The storylines also do not excel in originality, although ‘Children of God’ still has some late surprises in store.

Cinematically and in terms of acting, ‘Children of God’ performs reasonably well. The beaches of the Bahamas are straight out of the travel guide, although it never gets really exciting visually. Editing and acting are sometimes a bit wooden, dialogues don’t always come across naturally. Despite those flaws, ‘Children of God’ is a movie that can be seen. It is rare that we see the shadow side of those sunny islands, a shadow side presented here with complete credibility. An urgent film, in other words, which you can only hope will lose its urgency soon.