This Bolanle Austen-Peters flick tells the story of Sam (Akah Nani), a man raised in a religious home by an overzealous clergyman who abused him in the name of religion. When Sam gains admission into the university, he decides to get as far away from his religious upbringing as possible, eschewing his father’s teachings in favor of fast life and a playboy lifestyle. He begins a career as an Afrobeat musician until one of his girlfriends, Rekz (Dorcas Shola Fapson) convinces him that a church business would be far more successful than all his other endeavors combined. He begins his own church and is wildly successful until things start to go awry.
Man of God had the makings of a good story spanning decades of Sam’s life and his eventual journey back to God. It makes no bones about its religiosity and from the very beginning, the audience knows the plot seeks to return Sam to God. While this is established early on, the plot itself loses steam somewhere along the middle. The plot becomes disjointed and a little hard to follow. Sam’s eventual move back to faith was never fully explored nor is the fact that his anti-religious attitude mostly stemmed from the abuse he suffered from his father, a missed opportunity to delve into the damning consequences of child abuse.
While the plot can be criticized, there were some notable high points in the movie such as its outstanding production and location selection. Man of God actually made the University of Lagos look like paradise with well-shot scenes and beautiful framing. The acting in this film is also nothing to sneeze at. It is emotional, riveting, and brings screen favorites like Eucharia Anunobi back to our screens.
If you like Nollywood enough to ignore the ever-present problems of plot holes, this movie is currently streaming on Netflix.
Didi Dan-Asisah is an art enthusiast and critic. She lives in Lagos.
Ayodelé is a Lagos-based journalist and the Content and Editorial Coordinator at Meiza. All around the megacity, I am steering diverse lifestyle magazine audiences with ingenious hacks and insights that spur fast, informed decisions in their busy lives.
