Moses the Black

by Mike McGranaghan

I am utterly baffled by Moses the Black. The film is an unholy combination of Menace II Society and God’s Not Dead. What possible circumstances could have led to the existence of something like this? Whatever they are, they’re doubtlessly more interesting than anything happening onscreen. Mixing an inner-city gang drama with a pious faith-based tale would be tough to pull off with a luminary like Martin Scorsese or Spike Lee directing. Putting it in the hands of any lesser filmmaker is a recipe for disaster.

Omar Epps plays Malik, a notorious gang leader from Chicago’s West Side. Newly released from prison, he returns home to seek revenge for the killing of his best friend. His beloved grandmother, hoping to discourage any further violence, gives him a picture of Moses the Black, whom she describes as a gangster-turned-saint from Biblical times. (That’s true, although her wording is an oversimplification.) Malik starts seeing visions of Moses in his dreams, suggesting that God might be trying to tell him something. Meanwhile, a rival gang leader (rapper Quavo) is looking to wipe him out. Another rapper, Wiz Khalifa, plays one of Malik’s henchmen.

The ineptitude on display here is staggering. Dialogue consists of either the most tired “hood” cliches imaginable or contrived, unconvincing religious platitudes. Characters plan to kill other people one minute, then break into spontaneous conversations about the Bible the next. There are also endless scenes of Malik staring into space and the title character standing around in the desert looking baffled. It’s like no one ever taught the director how to say “cut.”

More inexplicably, Moses’s story is never explained, so the flashback scenes come off as pointless. If his transformation is supposed to inspire Malik, glossing over it seems counterproductive to the plot.

As for the acting, it’s negligible. Epps, who has done a lot of great work in the past, mumbles his way through the role of Malik. He’s just mediocre. A supporting actor named Cliff Chamberlain, on the other hand, gives one of the worst, most over-the-top performances I’ve ever seen as a crooked cop. He’s ridiculously out of place here, like something out of a broad comedy. Everybody else leans on "gangsta" tropes in lieu of actual characterization.

Moses the Black ends by quoting Matthew 21:31 – “Verily I say unto you, that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.” This is revealing because the movie was written and directed by Yelena Popovic, a white woman. If her presumed point is that the most sinful people can still get into Heaven, what does it say that she chose Black men as her subject? Why not go with a group she perhaps has more familiarity with? Popovic is clearly writing about a world she knows nothing of aside from what she’s seen in other films, and doing so with objectionable shallowness.

If nothing else, the film does succeed in facilitating prayer. That is to say, you’ll be thanking God when it’s finally over.

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