{"id":2419060,"date":"2026-05-16T02:50:41","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T02:50:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2419060"},"modified":"2026-05-16T02:50:41","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T02:50:41","slug":"is-god-is-lets-black-women-be-furious-and-free","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/is-god-is-lets-black-women-be-furious-and-free\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Is God Is’ Lets Black Women Be Furious \u2014 And Free"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Warning: This piece contains spoilers from \u201cIs God Is.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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For far too long, Black women onscreen have been expected to show up as anything but defiant or fully human. Particularly when Black women\u2019s rage enters the conversation, the dialogue too often turns to whether it feeds into the \u201cangry Black woman\u201d trope, rather than acknowledging us as complex beings who, like anyone else, have the right to be mad sometimes \u2014 as Solange once eloquently sang.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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By society\u2019s standards, it\u2019s alright for us to be strong, intelligent, witty, ambitious, resilient, caring and nurturing. But when it comes to anger, we are rarely allowed to express it openly and without apology.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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To be a Black woman in this world is to have our anger constantly weaponized against us, used as a means to silence, undermine and dismiss our reactions to injustice as irrational or completely unwarranted. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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We, for instance, saw it when <\/span>Serena Williams was punished for showing emotion<\/span><\/a> at the 2018 U.S. Open, and we continuously see it <\/span>across reality television<\/span><\/a>, a space where Black women are often forced to police our tone and actions to avoid being reduced to a stereotype.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Seldom is our justified fury recognized as something liberating or empowering. But that\u2019s what makes Aleshea Harris\u2019 \u201cIs God Is,\u201d a tale of two sisters channeling rage into reckoning, such a radical disruption for the times.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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After screening it twice, I can say the filmmaker\u2019s directorial debut \u2014 adapted from her award-winning stage play of the same name \u2014 delivers an engrossing experience unlike anything I\u2019ve seen in cinema in recent years. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Not just because it artfully fuses Greek tragedy and mythology into a story led by an all-Black cast, but also because it offers a deeply compelling exploration of Black female rage and its origins through equally difficult subject matter.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Harris\u2019 film is uncompromising in the way it confronts the trauma faced by women and young girls surviving domestic violence and abuse. It\u2019s fearless in imagining a world where Black women choose to put themselves first. And it\u2019s especially bold with its night-and-day protagonists, each representing a different form of rage born out of deep-seated pain and suffering.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Watching women who look like me reclaim agency over their own lives, what resonated most was the film\u2019s refusal to suggest that Black women need permission to feel what others are almost always allowed to feel without criticism. There\u2019s something refreshing about a story that so decisively rejects the \u201cwhen they go low, we go high\u201d philosophy so many of us have been conditioned to embrace in the face of adversity.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But above all, what makes \u201cIs God Is\u201d especially arresting is its unwavering insistence that, despite everything Black women are taught to suppress, anger can sometimes be our superpower \u2014 especially when vengeance is involved.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Kara<\/picture><\/div>\n
Kara Young’s Racine (left) and Mallori Johnson’s Anaia boldly plot to kill their father after he burned them as children in an act of violence in “Is God Is.”<\/figcaption>
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Amazon MGM Studios\/ Patti Perret<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

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\u201cGirls, ima make this real simple,\u201d a woman named Ruby (Vivica A. Fox) tells her daughters in the film. \u201cMake your daddy dead. Real dead.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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That\u2019s far from the boldest line uttered in \u201cIs God Is.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But that audacious demand is what sets the tone for Harris\u2019 over-the-top revenge thriller, a genre-blending mash-up of Black Southern gothic and spaghetti western adventure. Such a request isn\u2019t without reason, as we soon learn from 21-year-old fraternal twins Racine (Kara Young<\/a>) and Anaia (Mallori Johnson), who receive a letter from the mother they had long believed died in the house fire that left them burned and scarred as children.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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They journey to the Dirty South to reconnect with Ruby, searching for answers about their fractured family after years spent bouncing between foster homes. Instead, they find their mother, whom they call God, on her deathbed, her face and body encased in a cast that hides the scars from the night their abusive father came home and set her ablaze in a bathtub.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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As harrowing as the memory is, Ruby tells the girls that he left them there to watch the horrific scene, too, hence their own burn scars from trying to save her.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Ruby<\/picture><\/div>\n
Ruby (Vivica A. Fox), whom the twins call God, instructs them to settle the score with their father after years of suffering from his abuse.<\/figcaption>
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\u00a9MGM\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

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Racine bears marks only along her arms, back and neck, making them easier to hide from the world. Anaia, however, carries the lasting wounds of that night across her entire face and neck, with the freaked-out stares of others always serving as a constant reminder of what she\u2019ll never have again.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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All the more reason for the twins to want retribution against their father after years of misery, though they have different approaches.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Racine, known as \u201cThe Rough One\u201d and the more protective of the two, is fueled by pure fire and fury, eager to kill their father in the most brutal way she can imagine so she can ensure his punishment fits his crime(s). Meanwhile, Anaia, \u201cThe Quiet One,\u201d is more conflicted about their God-given mission. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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She wants to follow her sister\u2019s lead, as she always does, but she\u2019s quick to remind Racine, \u201cWe ain\u2019t killers.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI am,\u201d The Rough One replies coldly in the film, too devoted to the woman who gave them life \u2014 and her own thirst for revenge \u2014 to listen to reason.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Racine,<\/picture><\/div>\n
Racine, “The Rough One,” is the twin fueled by fire and fury. Anaia, “The Quiet One,” is, however, more reserved in how she moves through the world because of her visible burn scars.<\/figcaption>
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\u00a9MGM\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

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With these sisters as polar opposites, Harris creates space for two nuanced portrayals of how Black women carry and process our lifelong trauma, at times to our detriment. Sometimes it manifests as a chip on our shoulder (Racine). Other times, we internalize so much of what we\u2019ve endured that we convince ourselves survival in this world means shrinking into invisibility (Anaia).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But by laying bare the source of the twins\u2019 trauma, the film makes clear how a dying mother could ask her daughters to kill the man, their own flesh and blood, responsible for so much of their collective pain. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cKill his spirit. Then the body,\u201d Ruby instructs icily. \u201cLike he did me.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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This isn\u2019t revenge for revenge\u2019s sake, which is what smartly elevates \u201cIs God Is\u201d beyond mere entertainment. Here, audiences gain a deeper understanding of how a victim of abuse can arrive at such a harrowing point, where rage becomes both a survival instinct and a driving force for payback.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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What Harris\u2019 film captures in totality is an epic pursuit of justice \u2014 something women, especially Black women, are too often denied in this life. And in doing so, it allows Black women and our rage to exist unapologetically and without limitations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s because I understand that that\u2019s not allowed,\u201d Harris explained during a Q&A at a Los Angeles screening of her film on Wednesday, hosted by Black Women in Entertainment<\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s against the rules, as I understand them, for Black women to be very expressive in our rage,\u201d she added of her film\u2019s ethos. \u201cI think people pathologize it, they stereotype us, they\u2019re dismissive of our anger, and they\u2019re not curious about where it comes from.\u201d Or what lies beneath it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But \u201cIs God Is\u201d wants to change that.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Man's<\/picture><\/div>\n
Man’s violence extends beyond the twins, with his lawyer (Mykelti Williamson) also feeling his wrath.<\/figcaption>
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Amazon MGM Studios\/ Patti Perret<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

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And so, the film sees the twins set out on a rage-fueled road trip to hunt down the one they call Man (a chilling Sterling K. Brown), determined to settle the score and finally put their family\u2019s painful history to rest.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Along the way, they cross paths with one of Man\u2019s ex-lovers, Divine (Erika Alexander), an eccentric pastor so far removed from reality she can\u2019t recognize that she, too, is one of his victims, still clinging to the hope that he\u2019ll one day return to her and their adult son (Josiah Cross).<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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They also run into Man\u2019s shady lawyer (Mykelti Williamson), who helped him walk free after the fire that destroyed their family. But as the attorney shares more disturbing truths about their father \u2014 he, too, survived a near-fatal encounter with Man, who ripped out his tongue to ensure his misdeeds would never be spoken aloud \u2014 we see the fire in Racine rage on, as she arms herself with her signature weapon (a rock in a sock that soon bears the blood of several victims).<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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From this point on, every second Man remains alive only reinforces for her that her dying mother is still suffering, trapped in the aftermath of his destructive cycle that has yet to be answered. It\u2019s an unfortunate story many can relate to, and Harris handles it with care by humanizing Racine\u2019s actions rather than vilifying them. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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She wants to meet violence with violence, seeing it as the only form of justice fit for a remorseless abuser. But this raises some unsettling questions in the film as the twins reach a crossroads.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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How far are you truly willing to go in pursuit of revenge? What happens when unbridled rage consumes you to the point of no return? Is it a cause worth dying for?<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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And perhaps most crucially: Once that rage has run its course, does it lead to any real healing?<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“Is God Is” ends with a brutal, cathartic moment that sees the twins finally break free from the pain and torment they’ve endured from their father.<\/figcaption>
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Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

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The climax of \u201cIs God Is\u201d confronts that question head-on in a bloody, brutal showdown between the twins and their father. While it brings a harrowing chapter to a close with a conclusion I won\u2019t spoil, it delivers something even more powerful. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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By the film\u2019s end, there is a profound catharsis in watching these two young Black women \u2014 who have endured a lifetime of suffering in the shadow of an abusive monster \u2014 seize a chance to break free from the pain, trauma and torment that have shaped their sense of self and the way they believe others see them, all rooted in what their father stole from them: their family, their confidence and, above all, their peace.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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And yes, the result is an undeniably vicious act of violence \u2014 though one could argue the film frames it as quite necessary.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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That kind of moral complexity is something we hardly see afforded to characters like Racine and Anaia in cinema these days. Largely because movies like \u201cIs God Is\u201d are rarely given mainstream attention, let alone the opportunity to be made. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The fact that Harris\u2019 film exists at all feels like a miracle in itself.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“Black women deserve to live through the edges of ourselves and the full measure of our humanity should be honored,” said “Is God Is” director Aleshea Harris, “and that includes our rage.”<\/figcaption>
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Amazon MGM Studios\/ Patti Perret<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

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As a first-time director, Harris impressively achieves what so many films have <\/span>struggled to do with Black women protagonists<\/span><\/a>: allow them to be the authors of their own stories. Not in the conventional sense of heroism, but by giving them agency over their destinies, whether that leads to personal healing or the fulfillment of a long-overdue mission.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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At the heart of her wild odyssey is an undeniable message about Black women\u2019s right to rage when the moment calls for it, freely and unapologetically \u2014 whether the playwright-turned-filmmaker intended it or not when she wrote her screenplay.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWhen I wrote these characters, I wasn\u2019t thinking message at all,\u201d Harris said at Wednesday\u2019s Q&A. \u201cIt was really, \u2018What is activating them? What are their given circumstances? What are they moving through?\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cBut I do think it\u2019s worthwhile to sit with the difference in the way that these young women responded to trauma, [which] is the reason for the bifurcation of their relationship,\u201d she added. \u201cAnd I also want [audiences] to sit with what it costs a person who\u2019s seeking revenge to seek revenge.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cIs God Is\u201d may occupy a lane all its own for now, but here\u2019s hoping Harris\u2019 achievement opens the door to more stories that delve into Black women\u2019s pain and anger with humanity instead of treating them as something to suppress.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI think that Black women deserve to live through the edges of ourselves and the full measure of our humanity should be honored,\u201d the director concluded, \u201cand that includes our rage.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cIs God Is\u201d is now playing in theaters.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n