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Adoration Bizure (left), Rairo Gunguwo and Mudiwa Mutandwa are part of the ‘Deception’ cast

Lovemore Chikova Christian Entertainment
I felt a little bit flattered recently when Adoration Bizure called me enquiring if I had watched his latest movie. “My brother, you have to watch this film, it’s a Christian movie with a very strong Christian theme,” he said.

I have watched local Christian films before and I have not been impressed by the lack of creativity and quality. So, I wondered why Adoration was pestering me to watch his movie simply titled “Deception”.

I got a copy of the movie and I have never regretted the time I spent watching it. It is a fact that Christians in Zimbabwe are starved of quality entertainment when it comes to movies. In most cases, Christian movies are hard to come by and the country can go for ages without producing such a local movie.

Yet the market for such movies is readily available considering that the majority of Zimbabweans are Christians. This is why I was excited when I watched “Deception”, a film which explores various aspects of modern Christianity and the complexes associated with it.

The movie tackles the case of modern day prophets, sexuality and the dilemma facing church youths as they search for entertainment. Well, I can say that this movie touches on real issues that are affecting society, especially the youths and the church.

The film opens with a young pastor from the rural areas, Pastor Denver, getting an invitation from his church’s headquarters in Harare to be posted for further studies in New York in the United States.

The character Pastor Denver is played by Bizure, an H-Metro reporter who is also the producer of the film. Pastor Denver had to fight hard to convince his girlfriend Maka (Rumbidzai Musarurwa) that he will be back to marry her after completing his studies.

The two exchange gifts and pledges before Maka’s aunt and Pastor Denver leaves for Harare. In Harare, Pastor Denver, fresh from the rural areas, is confronted by the clear disparities between Christians in the rural areas and those in towns.

At dinner, he is clearly taken aback that his host Pastor Marcus (Charles Muzemba)’s family freely discusses their daughter Stacy (Rairo Gunguwo)’s boyfriend. In fact, when Stacy gets into the house during dinner and sits besides Pastor Denver, it is clear that there is an awkward absence of chemistry between them.

Stacy is a caricature of a modern city girl, while Pastor Denver exhibits a rather out-of-sorts character, ignorant of modern trends.

Pastor Denver is presented as a straight forward Christian who is after the word and his gifts are noticed in the house when he prophecies about Stacy’s unhappiness with her father.

But soon Pastor Denver is warned by Pastor Marcus to desist from prophesying, saying he did not want false prophets in his church. This was after Pastor Denver told Pastor Marcus’ wife Tracy (Dzidzai Sithole) about the death of their children in an accident and that Stacy was bitter about it.

Although Pastor Marcus chastises Pastor Denver, it is clear that he believes in him after he got healed from his long time ailment when he prayed for him. Pastor Denver suffers rejection by the church youths after Pastor Marcus introduces him as the church’s new youth pastor.

At the forefront of despising Pastor Denver was Stacy and her boyfriend Trevor (Mudiwa Hood), who was the leader of the church’s hip-hop dance group. What is shocking is that Stacy and Trevor were already staying together in Stacy’s apartment and it seems everyone knows about it without any qualms.

The rejection of Pastor Denver by the youths emanates from that he is seen as too backward and far removed from the realities facing urban church youths.

Pastor Marcus was quick to notice that and had to devise a way to ensure that Pastor Denver blended with the rest of the youths. He had no choice but to turn to his daughter Stacy and manages to convince her to take Pastor Denver for orientation. Stacy starts by sprucing up Pastor Denver’s image by taking him on a shopping spree.

And before we know it, Stacy and Pastor Denver are embarking on a relationship that soon takes a strange turn. Along the way, we also discover that the church’s hip-hop dance group members led by Trevor spend most of their evenings in nightclubs. This brings to the fore the dilemma facing today’s Christian youths when it comes to entertainment.

Should Christian youths take joy in spending their time in night clubs instead of doing church activities? From the unfolding events in the film, the answer is a clear no. Trevor is not really impressed that Stacy is slowly drifting towards Pastor Denver.

He makes sure that Pastor Denver is thoroughly beaten when Stacy brought him to the night club where the other youths from the church were enjoying themselves.

This proves to be the turning point of the saga as it becomes clear that Stacy is now drawn further apart from Trevor and is inclined more towards Pastor Denver.

Upon noticing this, Stacy’s mother, Tracy, arranges that Trevor eliminates Pastor Denver so that he can marry Stacy and soon after marriage they are posted to New York instead of Pastor Denver. Trevor fails in that bid and is taken to task by Tracy.

While all this is happening, Stacy manages to lure Pastor Denver to her apartment where they drink wine and find their way into bed. In the meantime, Maka arrives at Pastor Marcus’ house looking for Pastor Denver and it dawns on Tracy that he might be with Stacy.

Tracy leads everyone else to Stacy’s apartment where they find her still in bed with Pastor Denver. Pastor Marcus reacts angrily and sends Pastor Denver into the streets and cancels his trip to New York. And within minutes, Pastor Denver’s dream of going to New York is shattered.

Stacy manages to convince her father to forgive them and finally Pastor Denver finds his way to New York. The film, which premièred in Harare recently, raises conversations around sex and relationships in the church. Is the “don’t do it” message which churches seem to be known for, especially in youth ministry, not working?