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Features: DVD, Widescreen, Aspect Ratio 1.85:1, Dolby Digital (5.1), English, Subtitled
A film about morality, faith, hope and recovery. A young singer returns home to find his father's once-powerful congregation is disarray. With his childhood nemesis creating a "new vision" for the church, he is forced to deal with family, career, and relationship issues that send him on a collision course with redemption or destruction. Starring Boris Kodjoe (Love & Basketball), Clifton Powell (Ray), Idris Elba (TV's The Wire), and Tamyra Gray (TV's American Idol star), and featuring the hottest names in gospel - Yolanda Adams, Hezekiah Walker, Fred Hammond, Donnie McClurkin and new music by Kirk Franklin.
"...a foot-stomping, hand-clapping good time..." Jawn Murray, AOL's Black Voices
"Rousing, affirmative entertainment." Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times
Editor's Note
R&B star David Taylor's (Boris Kodjoe) life at the top of the entertainment industry screeches to a halt when a heavy dose of reality hits him hard in director Rod Hardy's THE GOSPEL. While enjoying the familiar trappings that success brings, David suddenly discovers that his estranged father, Pastor Fred Taylor (Clifton Powell), has fallen ill. Father and son haven't spoken since David's mother died, but when he hears the news, the singing star cancels a tour and returns to Atlanta to see his dad. After Fred dies, it's assumed that David's old school friend, Frank (Idris Elba), who remained faithful to the church while his buddy sought fame and fortune, will take over as pastor. But in a surprising move, it transpires that Fred's last wish was for his son to assume the role. This causes acrimony among members of the church, who are angry that such a highly coveted position is being handed to someone who has lived a life of sin. David responds by bringing some Hollywood glitz to the church, and assumes the position with a vigor that rocks the community. But on rediscovering his faith, and possibly finding true love with choir singer Rain (AMERICAN IDOL's Tamyra Gray), it seems he may turn his back on his old ways for good, much to the consternation of his manager, Wesley (Omar Gooding). Coupling soaring gospel songs with an exploratory look at the way African-American churches operate, THE GOSPEL is both uplifting and educational. Singers such as Yolanda Adams, Fred Hammond, and Gray herself are given plenty of screen time to do their thing, with director Hardy getting the balance of music and plot just right throughout.
| Features | Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound | | Deleted Scenes | | Extended Musical Performances | | Filmmaker's Audio Commentary | | Interactive Menus | | Making-Of Featurette | | Photo Montage | | Scene Selection | | Subtitles: English |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Sony Pictures |
| Release Date: 3/4/2008 |
| Running Time: 103 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 2005 | | Catalog ID: 24294 | | UPC: 00043396242944 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English [CC], English | | Available Subtitles: English | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1 |
| Cast & Crew
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| | Professional Reviews | Los Angeles Times
"Featuring a number of noted gospel singers, THE GOSPEL is rousing, affirmative entertainment." 10/07/2005 p.E10Entertainment Weekly
"It's a rich portrait of a church in transition..." 10/21/2005 p.56 Chicago Sun-Times 8 of 10
"The Gospel" is the first mainstream movie I can remember that deals knowledgeably with the role of the church in African-American communities. It is not a particularly religious movie; the characters are believers, but the movie is not so much about faith and prayer as about the economic and social function of a church: How it operates as a stabilizing force, a stage for personalities, an arena for power struggles, and an enterprise which must cover its costs or go out of business...The counterpoint for all of this drama is gospel music, a lot of it, performed by such well-known singers as Yolanda Adams, Fred Hammond, Martha Munizzi, the "American Idol" finalist Tamyra Gray, and by inspired gospel choirs in full praise mode. If the plot wanders through several predictable situations, and it does, the movie never lingers too long on those developments before cutting back to the best gospel music I've seen on film since "Say Amen, Somebody." Like an Astaire and Rogers musical, this is a movie you don't go to for the dialogue...Rob Hardy, who wrote and directed "The Gospel," obviously knows a lot about black churches, their services, their music, their traditions and the way the congregation interacts with the people on the altar. There are times here where call-and-response shades into put up or shut up. - Roger Ebert
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