“Is God Is’ Effectively Traces The Subtle Passages Of Pattern Male Violence

 

Is God Is film poster. 

Is God Is masterfully unpacks the narrative on societal protection of all male rage degrees and the women whose bloodthirsty desires to break that cycle with their own kind of violence. If the system refuses to give justice to victims, why not take action? 

Racine (Kara Young) and Anaia (Mallori Johnson) are sisters who hold on to each other tightly, delicately. DP: Alexander Dynan.

Ostracized twin daughters Racine and Anaia survive a gruesome fire as little Black girls, living as scarred adults together in a society that would already disrespect and demonize them sans the scars. Passive and quiet Anaia accepts any form of love that comes her way, preferring to a wallflower’s background, hiding her disfigured face in shadows. Volatile Racine’s a fighter through and through, smothering a simmered testiness that boils and boils. Despite varying personalities, these two sisters have a deep, intimate bond, a pulsing heartbeat that echoes scene to scene. Even during disagreements, their undeniable love for each other remains true.  

Racine and Anaia are employed as janitors, the low tiered, bottom feeding pole job operating in the nocturnal hours, cleaning around cubicles when the higher paid staff are away, usually never to see them. 

Jody (Vivica A. Fox) aka “God” asks a favor to ask her daughters. DP: Alexander Dynan.

Racine and Anaia’s mama Jody summons them at a crucial time. The unemployed sisters take a road trip— Racine excited and Anaia reluctant— and arrive in matching old-fashioned floral dresses, a girlish look that seems an opposition of who Racine is at her core and what Anaia wishes to be yet was robbed of. They’re in for a shock at the state of dying Jody, their “dying God.” She is propped up on a bed, face bandaged, brutally burnt flesh buried beneath a simple cover. The in and out pumping ventilator breathes for her, the attending nurses collective “ooo chile” sighs and tapping nails paint this specific Black authenticity as Jody reveals to Racine and Anaia what their devilish father did to them. 

Now Jody’s testimony spins a shockingly familiar story, a smooth, real charmer of a man who knew how to be a romantic sweet talker. Even with a restraining order against him, he manages to enter Jody’s tidy home, play at tender lover before putting his violent hands upon the woman who dares reject the kindness he has worked so hard to manufacture. We hear about this everyday. An ex lover, a husband, a boyfriend, an obsessive in-law, men at bars, gas stations, everywhere killing women for ending things or for saying no. A woman believing a flimsy piece of paper could keep her safe discovers that it cannot. The strangulation in the bathroom, purposefully bringing the girls into the bathtub, lighting that fatal match, walking away and whistling as the girls all scream with their mama— chilling and surreal. A deviant act of trying to annihilate his own family.

“Make your daddy dead,” Jody says as though her favor means getting the sugar she’s forgotten at the grocery store. 

Of course, Racine and Anaia debate over the task, Racine a bit perplexed and Anaia outright disgusted, the “no” in her eyes. Eventually, Racine warms up to the idea. Anaia needs more convincing. 

Divine (Erika Alexander) stands by a man who has long since abandoned her and their child. DP: Alexander Dynan.

The first stop on the revenge road trip is Divine, their father’s religious ex-girlfriend who doesn’t seem to know she’s an ex-girlfriend. Divine has converted her home into a church, a toxic place otherwise known for implementing manipulation tactics such as forced forgiveness and strategic Bible thumping, poisoned trappings that encourages people to stay with their abusers labeling it “God’s will.” Divine speaks in holier than thou sermons, in volcanic rhymes and rhythms that are more laughable than graceful. Divine’s son Ezekiel illustrates all the patterns of a pathetic mama’s boy, standing behind her, groveling and humming at her every word as though he’s a permanent backup singer. 

Racine and Anaia stay throughout these outrageous antics, soon astonished by Divine’s three strikes. First, she admits to supporting their father during Jody’s trial, believed him to be a genuine person capable of love, and still waits on his return— twenty years later! Talk about hard pills to digest in an introductory sitting from a ex stepmother. The church may lead people astray, turn the most burgeoning mind into ignorant mush, and this evidence bleeds into the next generation of spineless souls. False spirituality does not turn off a demented conditioning. Furthermore, did Divine’s brain stunt at the hands of their father? She has the mental capacity of a teenage girl. 

Having had enough, Racine successfully steals their father’s wallet out from the obnoxious time portal altar Divine has conceived of his belongings. The sisters flee, driving off to their next destination as Divine screams at them, hilarious and sad at the same time. 

Chuck (Mykelti Williamson) who originally thought Racine and Anaia were assassins, tries to convince them to stay off the beaten path. DP: Alexander Dynan.

Racine and Anaia next visit Chuck Hall, the lawyer who foolishly represented their father. While a fixated Divine believes that he will return someday, a tongueless Chuck suffers predicts that their father will come back to murder him. Chuck sees what Jody sees— an evil monster. Yes, it was colossally wrong to get paid to destroy Jody’s family life—lawyers represent horrific offenders all the time— and Chuck deals with the consequences in his own way. Instead of obtaining therapy to help medicate his obvious psychological distress, Chuck prefers violence initiated onto him. Perhaps, ever since the father thrusts Chuck’s head upon that steering wheel, it unleashed a sickly desire to feel the taste of blood between his teeth again. Apparently, according to scientific matters, pain and pleasure operates on similar stimuli. 

Still, Racine and Anaia look uncomfortable around this silent man who scrawls messages on a whiteboard. Chuck appeals to their sanity in hopes of saving them, already noting that Racine holds the same maddening expression as her father, a bloodthirsty hunger that would inject fear way before she lays hands on anyone. Out of the male characters in the film, Chuck appears the most regretful, the most sincere in a world of untrustworthy men. Yet, would Chuck be this person if he hadn’t been attacked by his own client? Would he have advised the girls if his tongue stayed intact? 

Racine and Anaia leave Chuck’s with an address, a bit more disturbed on the numbers their father performed on these complicated individuals, leaving behind a thread of red flags. Divine and Chuck stay trapped in differing disillusionment states, not realizing that they’ve already served a purpose like Jody, Racine, and Anaia. 

Racine and Anaia come closer to their destination until a masked motorcyclist destroys the sisters’ car. The motorcyclist chases them around, this very presence promising only violence. The revelation behind the helmet sends a crystal clear message, “blindly shield the male ego by any means necessary” even if it is a problematic figure they’ll never ever meet. 

The many facets of Angie (Janelle Monàe)— wife, mother, survivor, victim blamer, victim. DP: Alexander Dynan.

Angie, the fed up wife, dutifully plans a secret escape from her pristine glass house— the cleverer maneuver to leave behind monstrous humans. The timing could not be any more perfect. Angie’s spoiled twin sons, Scotch, the active aggressor and Riley, the quiet introvert are turning eighteen. Her money has been stacked. A new job and identity wait for her elsewhere. She understands that filing for divorce from such a husband is simply not possible. Yet, her facade has its noticeable cracks. Maybe she played a particular role for the husband not knowing what terrors he had in store. She’s doesn’t exude warm and nurturing vibes to Scotch. Despite an abrasive softness towards Riley, Angie isn’t mournful to him either. She’s not tossing any sentimental glances to her sons, her eyes are not filled with tears. In fact, she’s all hurry and rush, sentencing the whole house and its occupants to guilty. She no longer feels obligated to stay in a nightmare. 

Fresh from the Greyhound bus, however, Racine and Anaia await Angie on the road, halting the plan. Throughout the messy confrontation, Angie makes a mistake in boasting that her calculated scheme is leagues above Jody’s restraining order. Honestly, both women were correct to take precautionary steps. Jody thought the law would keep her and her daughters safe (which they should have) and Angie thinks a fresh restart will be her rescue. Angie keeps pushing the wrong buttons, her high and mighty persona bristling through icy words that fire up Racine’s anticipatory anger. If only she understood the girls terrible upbringing post-fire, if only she related to Jody a bit more… Angie’s privileges shines bright in the faces of poor, scarred girls. Racine and Anaia could have benefitted from the riches, accessing a stronger educational foundation, wielding better jobs, flawless skin, achieving dreams beyond the station that disfigurement pigeonholed them in. Yet, Angie, housing no genuine compassion for their plight, wants what’s best for herself. And the girls do not like that. 

In the middle of the plot’s near final stage, Racine (or Jody) cannot hold an imperative discussion regarding Anaia’s pregnancy reveal— finances, hospital bills, daycare, postpartum health, and other preparations. This unplanned, life-altering event adds more weight to Anaia’s tragic narrative, accepting conditions in an eagerness for love in any form even if it offers another shard to her fragile psyche. She is not thinking about the perplexing notion of single Black motherhood, the underlying conditions beneath the embedded madness within her problematic extended family. Motherhood is not akin to a sweet fairy tale ending on a chaste Disney kiss. We learn the hard, brutal way that most men expect more than a kiss to be happy. Anaia was practically sleeping with her enemy, a lustful man who couldn’t tolerate looking at her face. Boring a child sans a job and a supportive circle only leads to more eventual trauma, not something to be romanticized or celebrated. Black women lead in high fatality rates. Anaia’s baby sticks a poorly constructed band aid on a wound that’ll continue to keep bleeding. 

Riley (Justen Ross) and Scotch (Xavier Mills) believe their father has sent Racine and Anaia (unbeknownst to them their half sisters) to strip for them as an early birthday gift. DP: Alexander Dynan.

Racine and Anaia reach the last stage of the road trip, dedicating themselves to infiltrating the testosterone packed home, doing as their “God” asks. Racine preys on Scotch’s lust while naive Anaia confides in Riley, a boy who seems more like her than the twin who shared a womb. Back to back violent symmetries temporarily pin the sisters against each other, an unfortunate encompass right before their evil father returns. Scotch embodies their father. Riley’s perceived dormant side explodes out of the grief. Again, Anaia fails another test, her trusting personality fast becoming a liability. The battle between Anaia, Racine, and their father completes the God’s desire, the girls’ expressions wildly transforming hit after hit as though possessed by another entity. Were they no different than their brothers, Ezekiel, Scotch, and Riley? Their father?  

The end is of a great burning metaphor, a startling reminder of Racine and Anaia’s whole path to destruction began by their father’s fateful match.  

Overall, Is God Is received great positive reviews including a ninety-seven percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, having potential to be a box office smash or at least a sleeper hit. Original Black women led films helmed by Black women filmmakers rarely receive universal audience support. If there’s no built in expectations due to this sequel/prequel/remake/biopic culture and no huge big name attached, the odds are already stacked against it. The word of mouth backlash spreading from reactionary Black male filmgoers didn’t help either, much preferring to advocate for positive images of themselves, narratives controlled by their favored patriarchal gaze directors. The topic of Black Femicide has become a daily occurrence yet most Black men collectively speak out and/or make profane jokes against murdered Black women who have nonblack partners. They will scream “choose better” as though men won’t put on “nice guy” acts for years and years in order to retrieve certain benefits. 

Is God Is held up a mirror to their faces. That triggered glass reflects their fathers, grandfathers, brothers, uncles, best friends, barbers, and maybe themselves. to see ingrained behavior that a little therapy could have tried healing. Globally, the world puts a mask over such violence, especially if the offender is rich and affluent. People fight under comments on posts defending complete strangers, watch, listen, and read a known abuser’s work and proudly wear their face on t-shirts and buttons— demonstrating how far complacency goes, an easy acceptance of “genius” over individual harm. Divine and Angie clearly believed in the father’s changed behavior, bought into him being worthy of their love, and finding out that the costume falls off. 

The father (Sterling K. Brown) represents the pattern Black male violence that we cannot hide from. DP: Alexander Dynan.

Aleshea Harris wrote and directed the heck out of Is God Is, based on her award-winning play with Moses Sumney crafting a thought-provoking score. The film also contains one of the most engaging ensembles ever cast in a feature-length film. Everyone understood their assigned role perfectly and breathed authentic life into respective characters. Kara Young (double Tony winning actress in Mariama Diallo’s Hair Wolf and a small memorable part in Diallo’s first feature-length film Master) and Mallori Johnson (the best part of short-lived Kindred) lead with raw, extraordinary performances. Vivica A. Fox, Erika Alexander, and Janelle Monaé play incredible stepping stones into the man’s journey towards destruction. Sterling K. Brown is incredibly impressive as a vicious antagonist— the whistling, the smiling, even down to way he walked exhibited terror. Josiah Cross (brilliant in A Thousand and One), Xavier Mills, and Justen Ross performed their parts exceedingly well, echoing exactly the ranges of anger inhabiting young Black men. Mykelki Williamson’s Chuck was another phenomenal highlight, playing a character who had no voice, relying on body language and facial expression skills. 

Anaia and Racine apply each other’s makeup before parading around their own half brothers. DP: Alexander Dynan.

The limited run of the brave, heartbreaking Is God Is was well worth watching twice in the theater, strikingly poignant and deep on both encounters. This remarkable film stitches together intense thriller with a unique love story between sisters, heavy, relatable drama that dissects generational trauma at its crux. The harmful seeds implanted in the male mind continues to be coddled and protected with women always paying the ultimate price for risking their hearts.