‘Is God Is’ Review: Revenge at Its Finest

Aleshea Harris brought her play Is God Is to the big screen in a fierce and breathtaking adaptation. Starring Kara Young and Mallori Johnson, the new film allows its characters to be angry and driven by revenge and it is a beautiful sight to behold.

Twin sisters Racine (Young) and Anaia (Johnson) go to see God, their mother Ruby (Vivica A. Fox). She gives her daughters a mission: Kill the man who burned their family, metaphorically and literally. The man in question is their father, known as the Monster (Sterling K. Brown), who tried to catch his wife on fire to kill her and Ruby’s daughters tried to help and got burned in the process.

Racine’s face was fine in the aftermath. Anaia’s not so much. But it bonded the twins more than their already close relationship and the two embark on God’s quest. What makes Is God Is more than just a revenge film is the love and care that Young, Johnson, and the entire cast put into their characters.

The unbridled rage of Racine and the quiet anger that bubbles in Anaia paint a clear picture of these twins. They’ve been abused, left to live a life completely alone, and they have suffered all at the hands of their father. Instead of making them characters who want to attempt to make their relationship “better,” Harris allows her characters to live in that rage and it then allows the audience to root for them.

You’re watching Racine and Anaia do some pretty violent things to honor God’s request and still every step of the way, I found myself thinking “Good for her.” And that’s the brilliance in Harris’ work.

Abuse on every level and fighting back

Harris uses the women that the Monster has “loved” to show the varying degrees of abuse. Ruby, Divine (Erika Alexander), and the New Wife (Janelle Monáe) all show variations of the Monster’s inability to love and not hurt the women in his life. He burned Ruby and his twins, left Divine and his son behind, and verbally and physically abuses his New Wife to the point that she’s prepared to leave her family behind to save herself.

Each of these women represent pain and struggles women go through regularly. In relationships that are supposed to be “loving” partnerships. And it all makes the rage and anger of Racine and Anaia that much better. These two women saw what the Monster did to their mother, to them, and what he continued to do to the women in his life.

Harris finds ways to bring joy into the lives of these twins. They dance, they dress alike, their both still grounded and connected with each other. And through it all, you find love for them both, even if you don’t support their actions. It is the kind of revenge film that is exhilarating and brilliant on every level.

This is Harris’ vision through and through and it is a brilliant kick off to the summer movie season. Is God Is hits theaters on May 15.

(featured image: Patti Perret/MGM Studios)

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