Children of God

The Good; Lead actor is cute. A refection of how homophobia is alive in the Caribbean and fueled by religious hypocrisy. The Bad; The lead actor is obviously not gay and uses that to show a character who has so many odd personal issues. But all of his issues are inconsistent, ironic and for that cause very unrealistic in his bi-polar behavior (one minute he is timid and the next he is outspoken). Film starts with a white boy who is not privileged (and expressively so), from school situation to housing and the next he has a car and money to get around a pay a tour guide. Really!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The conclusion was a cop out that lacked creativity and imagination.

I can understand a film being rushed for budget purposes, but time should be taken to rewrite and put a story together as a package before filming and not be a bunch of conflicting scenarios just to make a point. Did anyone bother to read and try to make sense of the whole script before committing to it?

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.

Is it that people are disappointed in the lack of sex or why is this pretty amazing first gay feature film from the Caribbean so much panned?

It's not the gay love story that's at the center here, but pseudo-Christian homophobia, and I would venture to say that no film has so far taken this issue to such lengths. True, that makes for a bulky watching experience, what with the issues all the characters have: The fag-hating preacher who is a closeted homosexual himself, his STD-infected wife who diverts her doubts into anti-gay action, the sensitive painter, the free-and-easy closeted opportunist... it really feels like a play, but quite intentionally so.

And none of these characters are so far away from reality - if you're from a hyper-Christian environment, then you will know for a fact how much hypocrisy and denial they endorse... a lot of preachers in my native Romania talk just as hateful as those in this film, and a lot of them are likely to be closeted homosexuals themselves.

'Children of God' is less of a story than a statement, so don't watch it if you're asking for serious character development or story structure in a film. However, if you're wondering how the equal rights issue can be addressed in an environment where PC doesn't protect you, then this is your film.

It's rare that we get a glimpse into the various social strata of Bahamanian life, so this film had an immense amount of promise to it. However, the overall acting and situations were just a bit too "out there" to be believable. Yes, I'm sure there are closeted preachers and thugs who prey upon the fears of gays by day and prowl for men at night. But the depths of the hatred from these characters in the film made them seem more like villainous caricatures than 3-dimensional people. But I'm giving 5 stars for effort, as well as the allusions the film made towards spirituality and the afterlife...the only non-preachy part about this film that respectfully and intelligently left it up to the viewer to decide.

Ooooh i so enjoyed this movie. Everything about it was wonderful. Love the actors, black and white. Love the melancholy in everything you see. Love the beautiful scenery of the Bahamas's and really loved the music in the back. This movie has so many dimensions. It is a love story but it is also a statement that shows that homophobia is harmfull for the people we love and that gay people are everywhere.

Being gay i could really relate to Johnny because i now how it feels to be left out. So that performance was really convincing. The role of Romeo was also pretty convincing. I've learned that there are gay people acting like they are straight around others but when you are alone with them they hit on you.

The only thing i hate in gay movies overall is that the gay character always dies in the end. That is so cliché and it spoiled the fun.... a bit. Because all the other things are sublime i forgive the director for this bit.

Overall it is a very good movie and one of my recent favourite gay flicks. I would certainly recommend it to anybody who loves a gay romance movie or people who need to open their minds about the gay topic. Well done!!!!!