Pastor Clarence stands before the closed casket of Cody Bertran.
“There have been moments when I’m standing here that I have no conviction, because the person who died, died in Christ. And that person was a good soul, who God would welcome with open arms,” Clarence says.
But Cody was not such a person.
That’s why Clarence felt the Holy Spirit calling him to read, instead, Luke 16:27-28. It’s one of Jesus’ teachings, and it speaks of a rich man who finds himself in hell.
“He begged the prophet [Abraham], pleading that he would send word to his brothers so that they would try to do right so that they would not wind up where he was—in hell,” Clarence explains.
It’s Pastor Clarence’s earnest warning to the rest of the Bertran family, all of whom sit scowling in a nearby pew. They’ve got a reputation around town for their wicked deeds—according to Clarence, they’ve stolen, raped and maimed people. In fact, Cody died when a woman shot him as he attempted to rob her. In Clarence’s eyes, his grim ending should prompt the rest of the family to turn from their evil ways and get right with God.
But instead, their hearts only grow harder.
The family matriarch, Linda, shouts at the pastor and orders her four remaining sons to carry Cody’s body out of the church. They bury him in an unmarked grave on their own land.
It was a hard day for Pastor Clarence—but the week would get even more difficult for his daughter, Ava. She married one of the Bertran brothers, Dallas; the perceived slight at Cody’s funeral has only caused festering emotions within the man to boil. And while at a fancy dinner with friends, Dallas screams that he wants a divorce.
The demand hits Ava like a load of bricks. She’s endured plenty of pain and suffering at Dallas’ hands in the hope that her patience and love for him would nudge him toward becoming a kinder man. But as Ava’s friends and family help her to see the trauma that Dallas put her through, she eventually learns to move on with her life.
Meanwhile, Dallas’ heart continues to harden. And despite pursuing the divorce, he cannot stand to see Ava happy, especially as she begins talking with another man.
And if we apply the lesson of Luke 16 to the situation, not even Cody rising from the dead to warn Dallas of the consequences could convince him to repent of his evil.
When Ava moves back home to process her divorce, her parents help her work through the aftermath. Their relationship onscreen redemptively illustrates how parents can be a great comfort to their children, and a refuge to fall back on as well. Ava’s mother weeps upon hearing about the pain that her daughter endured at Dallas’ hands; her father likewise reminds Ava how proud both of them are of the woman she has become.
Ava’s intent to say with Dallas is initially motivated, at least in part, by her belief that she might help him become a better man by modeling patience and love.
But Clarence points out that the relationship has had the opposite effect. As he shows Ava home videos of herself when she was younger, Clarence points out that she lost the happy side of herself after she got married to Dallas, who remained unrepentant in his selfishness. What grieves Clarence most is how Dallas disrespected Ava and her inherent value as a person. She gradually embraces the belief that the divorce was not her fault. In fact, she tried everything to make the relationship work, even as Dallas simply refused to treat her with the love of a real husband.
Several people directly confront Dallas and protect Ava from him, with some going out of their way to ensure her safety.
For as many content issues there are in Tyler Perry’s latest release—and there are many, as we’ll see—we can’t deny that Clarence’s sermon at Cody’s funeral refuses to shy away from confronting the Bertran family with reality: that all those who die outside of Christ will have to give a personal account for their sins and will be found guilty before God.
During the blunt message that he delivers at Cody’s funeral, Pastor Clarence warns the Bertran family to repent, lest they join Cody in hell. He says he was prompted by the Holy Spirit to read Luke 16:27-28: “And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house—for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’”
Admirably, Clarence refuses to shy away from confronting the Bertran family with reality: that all those who die outside of Christ will have to give a personal account for their sins and will be found guilty before God apart from Jesus’ saving grace.
He warns the family—and the rest of the congregation—that God will judge our deeds. But before he can point them to the solution who is Jesus Christ, Linda tells Clarence to be quiet. However, he stands his ground, responding that he would be failing as a pastor if he did not speak God’s truth (reminiscent of Acts 5:29). He likewise quotes Matthew 26:52 when he says, “If you live by the sword, you die by the sword.”
When the Bertran family leaves with the body, Clarence quiets his church. “They can have the body,” he tells the congregation. “God has already passed judgment on the soul.”
When Clarence encourages Ava get a divorce, she calls him out for preaching that people should remain married in accordance with 1 Corinthians 7 while counseling her otherwise.
Clarence gives another sermon on enduring suffering joyfully (reminiscent of James 1:4-6). Ava wonders if her father wrote the sermon because of her struggles throughout the divorce; but her mother, Gene, tells her that her father writes the sermons a week in advance (before they knew about the divorce or that she’d be in town to hear the sermon).
“That’s how God works,” Gene says. “He will get a message to you.”
We hear conversations about prayer. Clarence’s church sings a song about joy. Someone says that they’ll meet another man’s soul in hell. A family is called “devils.”
Ava develops a relationship with another man named Benji. And while Benji initially comforts Ava and rejects a couple of her advances, he comes on quite strong and quickly when he learns Ava is in the process of getting divorced. It feels like he’s exploiting her vulnerable emotional state in order to start a relationship with her.
Benji and Ava eventually have premarital sex. They say that they’re in it “only for sex” rather than any real relationship. Nudity is avoided, but we see the pair engaged in explicitly sexual movements and hear sensual sounds. They passionately kiss, and at one point, we see a shirtless Benji taking off Ava’s underwear. Elsewhere, Benji admits that he is aroused when Ava asks to have sex with him. We see a brief flashback of Ava and Dallas having sex, though nothing is shown.
Ava taunts Dallas by telling him that Benji is better at sex than he is. Someone hosts a party with shirtless male strippers. We hear a reference to female genitalia. Someone is revealed to have had an affair.
Ava wears a couple of outfits that reveal cleavage. She also wears a sports bra and tight yoga pants while working out.
Someone gets shot in the leg, beaten with bats and kicked. Another person is shot in the chest and dies. Dallas beats Ava and tosses her around a room. Dallas and Benji get in a fistfight, and one is choked unconscious. Dallas and his brother, Morris, get into a fight, too. Dallas threatens a woman by grabbing her.
We learn via a written list of some of the things Dallas did while in a relationship with Ava. These include spitting on her, hitting his friends and family and breaking Ava’s things when she’d argue with him.
Clarence alleges that the Bertran boys have stolen, raped and killed. When some dead animals are found, we hear that they were poisoned.
The n-word is used 15 times. The f-word is heard nearly 60 times, including 13 instances preceded by “mother.” The s-word is likewise used about 60 times. A crude word for female genitalia is uttered. Other vulgarities, such as “a–,” “b–ch,” “d–n” and “h—” are all used a minimum of 10 times. God’s name is used in vain three times. Jesus’ name is used in vain once.
Someone ingests a weed gummy. A man is noticeably intoxicated and high. Ava mentions that she’d like to get intoxicated. People drink whisky and beer. A man drives while intoxicated.
As mentioned, the Bertran family’s rebellious and hardhearted attitudes are on display here throughout the film.
I’ll begin with the good: Divorce in the Black starts off strong.
The first scene, where Pastor Clarence confronts the Bertran family about the state of their souls, is arguably the movie’s best. I’ll admit that I felt a small twinge of excitement wondering if the film might be a serious analysis of spiritual redemption.
That excitement was quickly extinguished, however, when it soon became apparent that the movie would take a far simpler approach. While there are some redemptive and positive moments elsewhere in the film, such as when Ava’s parents comfort her in the wake of her painful divorce, this Prime Video release ultimately morphs into a copy-and-paste thriller as we await the inevitable final confrontation with Dallas.
But despite the prevalence of characters willing to assist and protect Ava, their positive examples do little to outshine the many other content issues: the violence, a gratuitous sex scene and a whole lot of swearing.
Despite this film’s strong start, it ultimately regresses back into a basic thriller narrative. And with all those red flag content issues that come with it, I’d recommend separating yourself from Divorce in the Black.
Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He’s also an avid cook. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”
