Review of Of Gods and Men (2010) by Kong M — 28 May 2012

This film should deserve better. But it didnt. Problem lies in the importance of significant events are not captured properly. For example, there is too much time allocation on menial tasks, which is okay, but when scenes significant to the flow of plot surfaces, I just dont understand why the director did so little and allow certain cliche, unrealistic actions to take place.

This is especially true to the terrorists who I believed were not portrayed in the correct way. The priests themselves, while collectively they have been given enough character study, by showing that even priests are like human beings who can be conflicted with each other and with their faith under fear and life-threatening circumstances, are still below my expectations.

For example, some of them had expressed enough cowardrice at the beginning that I expect some sort of betrayal to happen but it did not. I questioned the motives of why some of them ended up becoming priests, and there was not enough reason to justify why those who desperately wanted to leave changed their minds later.

The movie failed to addressed these in full. Maybe the pace is too slow for me, but I think the movie could have done a little more given the amount of time it was allocated.