Gospel, The (DVD)
Special Edition
APPROX. 111 MINS. - PROD. YEAR: 2005 - MPA RATING: PG
" Believers feel that Gospel music has a saving power, and that may be true. It certainly saves this film.
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"The Gospel" is a film that's pretty much by-the-book. And I'm not talking about The Bible. There's surprisingly little proselytizing in this upbeat religious melodrama, and near zip in the way of scriptural references. But the plot is so hackneyed and formulaic that "The Gospel" feels like a daytime Lifetime movie . . . until the songs kick in.
With a storyline so familiar and trite, and dialogue that just barely rings true, viewers will likely praise God for the music. "The Gospel" features wall-to-wall, down-home, authentic, hand-clapping, foot-stomping Gospel music with a host of real-life performers that include Yolanda Adams, Hezekiah Walker, Fred Hammond, Donnie McClurkin, Tom Joyner, Myra J, Miss Dupree, and Martha Munizzi, as well as new music by Kirk Franklin. More than most movies, "The Gospel" is awash with high-energy and soulful sound—sometimes in background, other times with full-on performances by church choirs, etc.
Filmed and partially set in Atlanta, "The Gospel" combines two familiar narrative tropes: the prodigal son who strays and returns to the great relief and celebration of his father, and the save-the-(blank) event that pits the old-school purists against business-minded developers or such. You could watch it with your eyes closed and a music-only soundtrack and still not miss a narrative beat, it's that by-the-numbers.
Boris Kodjoe ("Love & Basketball") plays David Taylor, the son of a bishop (Clifton Powell) who was so wrapped up in his congregation that he had little time for his family. When David's mother dies and the father is too busy to even make it to the hospital to say his good-byes, the young man vows not to have anything to do with his father or the church that pulled them apart. Flash forward 15 years and David has become a Bobby Brown of sorts, earning $40,000 minimum per performance and cresting on a wave of popularity brought to him by his latest recording, "Let Me Undress You." It's not blues, but to Bishop Taylor and those who knew David from his choir days, it's still the devil's music.
The plot is set in motion when David receives a phone call from his father's secretary, telling him he's sick. It turns out that Dad has prostate cancer, and David seems to instantly reconcile with his father and decides to stay around—though, of course, in typical melodramatic fashion, the complicated factors of that would accompany a turnaround like this aren't explored. There's not much conflict here. Part of the problem is that David seems so consistently mellow and unflappable that it's hard to believe that 15 years of estrangement have passed, or that working in a business where egos get bruised hasn't hardened him in any way. Though his "show me the money" agent, Wesley (played by Omar Gooding, whose performance bears an uncanny resemblance to brother Cuba's in "Jerry McGuire"), keeps reminding him he's got deals to broker and gigs to fulfill, "D" isn't torn at all. From the moment he hops on a plane and goes to his father's bedside, his 15-year estrangement is magically fixed. His father's accepting, and the son is suddenly understanding and dutiful again.
