Divine Trials
Critic:
Joe Beck
|
Posted on:
Oct 6, 2024
Directed by:
Omar Tabanjah
Written by:
Omar Tabanjah, Abdullah Tabanjah, Zain Ali, Zuhayr Khan, Saad Khan, Ahmed Effendi, Shan Khan, Laith Mothafar, Asad Qavi
Starring:
Asad Qavi, Ahmed Effendi
Religious films get a bad reputation amongst the filmmaking community. Only in the hands of a select few filmmakers is true spirituality and religious belief properly conveyed with the majesty and gravitas that it deserves. Instead, so often religious films are too full of whimsy and have a cheesy, schmalzy feel to them, playing into every trope imaginable and preaching overtly rather than in any nuanced way. They tend to preach at you, rather than progress your faith through emotion and storytelling. ‘Divine Trials’ unfortunately falls into the latter camp. Whilst it is certainly well-meaning and has its heart in the right place, it only comes across as unrealistic and incredibly cheesy.
The film follows Ilyas, a devoted Muslim who follows the Quran, prays five times a day and is an all round stand up citizen. He gets high grades in school and everything seems to work well in his life, enjoying a strong relationship with his father, playing video games and having good friends. However, when things begin to take a turn for the worse, and go wrong in his life, his faith is rocked. He fails to pass a test - believing that he doesn’t need to study because he prays five times a day - and is beset with personal tragedy when his uncle dies.
These lead him to question his faith and he begins to fall in with the wrong crowd, who introduce him to a host of activities, alcohol, and weed. It is a privilege to live a life in which your faith in whatever god you may believe in is forever unwavering. It will be tested throughout a person’s life, and perhaps that is the biggest issue with ‘Divine Trials’, that it feels unrealistic that a man has never had such doubt before. Ilyas’ belief that he does not need to study for exams seems especially ridiculous, as does the extent to which he strays from his faith.
Furthermore, the film, which is written by several people, paints its characters simply as caricatures, rather than believable, realistic, fully fleshed out people. The crowd that influence and corrupt Ilyas are far more cult-like than the film intends to portray them, and far from any ordinary group of young men. Their intolerance towards Ilyas’ prayers and his refusal to explain what he is doing comes across as odd, as does the way Ilyas falls so easily into the trappings of this group. As a whole, it is a story that is very hard to believe, and that is a reflection of the poor quality script, that revels in schmalz and sentimentalism rather than any sense of realism or storytelling.
‘Divine Trials’ is an unfortunate case of a film that’s quality doesn’t quite measure up to the heart and good will behind it. Though it’s message is a good one it fails to convey this in any nuanced or engaging way, instead following basic genre tropes and falling into fantasy far too many times for a story that is supposed to be grounded in reality.