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The Prodigal Son...with terrific music!

Grady Harp | Los Angeles, CA United States | 01/04/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"There is something about THE GOSPEL that makes you want to like it: some fine actors (Boris Kodjoe, Idris Elba, Clifton Powell, Tamyra Gray, Aloma Wright, Nona Gaye) and some really terrific gospel singing. Writer/director Rob Hardy stretches the biblical tale of the Prodigal Son to the updated story of the son of a bishop of an evangelical church who runs away to become a R&B singing star only to return to his father when cancer of the prostate signals the end of his life. The 'other' son has inherited the mantle of the bishop with special interests deflecting his commitment to the bishop's origins and the Prodigal Son finally finds acceptance in offering his talents to further the original dream of his father.



The script is conversationally pedestrian but the actors do their best to make credible characters. There is a sense of commitment from the cast of extras that leaves a warm afterglow, but in the end this is a slight story saved by some fine music. Grady Harp, January 05"

The Prodigal Son retold with Great Gospel Music

Mark J. Fowler | Okinawa, Japan | 01/29/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Gospel tells a simple story that doesn't twist and turn, but rather falls naturally from the believable characters created in Rob Hardy's screenplay and under his direction. Hardy has wisely filled his movie with absolutely glorious Gospel music created by electrifying choirs and real Gospel greats like Fred Hammond and Yolanda Adams. The movie is never more than one scene away from one with glorious music and as soon as I finish this review I'm going to order the soundtrack.



The story is not difficult to follow. Clifton Powell as Bishop Fred Taylor has built a thriving church in Atlanta, and he is a devoted Pastor. So devoted that his son leaves home as a young man when the Bishop's wife passes away while the Bishop is conducting church services. In the opening scene we see the son, David, telling the Bishop "I hate you. You always have time for the church, but you never have time for us", on his way out of the hospital.



15 years later we see that David Taylor has become a hip-hop singer right on the cusp of megastardom. He's played by Boris Kodjoe as a handsome, brooding man. He has a manager, played by Omar Gooding (with more than a slight resemblance to older brother Cuba) named Wesley who keeps "D.T." supplied with gigs and women. David gets a phone call from his father's secretary, Ernestine (played by Aloma Wright), who tells him that the Bishop has become ill and could David come home.



Against Wesley's wishes, David interrupts his tour as it's gaining momentum to return to the church, where he finds his teenaged friend Charles Frank has become a Reverend as well - associate pastor to the Bishop, married to his cousin Charlene, and the heir apparent to the church.



The Reverend Charles Frank is an arrogant man who is quick with a discouraging word for his wife. Another associate, Minister Hunter (played well by singer Donnie McClurkin), can't understand when the Bishop decides to turn the pulpit over to the brash Reverend Frank, but agrees to stay with the church at the request of the Bishop.



This is the part of the movie that builds sympathy for wayward son David, who returns home with different eyes and sees the noble, charitable work that his father has been doing for decades. He accompanies his father to a retirement home where he's told that the Bishop always comes, at least twice a week, even though everyone there knows he doesn't have time for it.



The movie builds as a battle between the worldly David, who returns home as the performer of sexy secular songs, but builds in determination to not lose the legacy of his father, and Reverend Frank, who "stayed true" to the church and the Bishop, but now seems to have lost the vision of anything except himself in the church spotlight.



By the end of the film the words and body language of all the characters are that "it's all good", and that the strife that has filled the hour and a half preceding is resolved. We know that real life doesn't work that quickly, but we can believe that in real life, it may work out just as well. The music helps. It's reassuring to see a mainstream film made about people of faith and their real-world struggles. If not for the fact that the final scene seems out of place with several rapid "changes of heart" I'd give the film 5 stars. As it is, it's well worth your time - I'd say mandatory if you want to hear some glorious gospel music."