Naman Shrestha
‘God Is a Bullet’ is an action thriller movie that revolves around an insidious cult responsible for killing Detective Bob Hightower’s wife and kidnapping his daughter. Enraged and driven by vengeance, he decides to take matters into his own hands and puts his life on the line by infiltrating the secretive cult to rescue his daughter. Soon, he crosses paths with the cult’s only female victim escapee, Case Hardin, and the two go down the rabbit hole with The Ferryman to complete two main objectives — to save Bob’s daughter from the cult’s clutches and finally get some closure for Hardin from the cult and its leader, Cyrus.
Directed by Nick Cassavetes, the crime film features talented actors like Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Maika Monroe, Jamie Foxx, January Jones, Karl Glusman, and David Thornton, whose performances bring the characters to life and enhance the overall cinematic experience. Cults, murder, and kidnapping are some of the most sinister crimes that exist in real life, and they are the predominant themes that the film explores in detail, which naturally begs the question in some viewers’ minds — is ‘God Is a Bullet’ rooted in true events? Well, we have gathered all the information about the same to put your curiosities to bed!
God Is a Bullet: Inspired by Boston Teran’s Novel
‘God Is a Bullet’ is partially based on a true story. As a matter of fact, it is inspired by the well-regarded 1999 eponymous novel by Boston Teran, which in itself draws from some real-life experiences of the pseudonymous author. The idea for the novel was birthed from his dangerous and real experience of drinking in one of Thailand’s violent dive bars.
There, Teran witnessed a man under the influence of alcohol and drugs spray a line of graffiti on the bar’s wall in his own language. Filled with curiosity, he asked the man for the English translation of the message. He revealed it to the author, “God is a bullet right to the head. You start to feel better the minute you’re dead.” These two lines crawled into Teran’s skin and stayed with him, thus inspiring him to write the novel, ‘ God Is a Bullet.’
Even though the novel and real-life incidents inspire the movie, it must be noted that the storyline, characters, and other specific details depicted in the Nikolaj Coster-Waldau starrer are not a retelling of an actual story. But by blending some true-to-life themes of cult manipulation and the desire for vengeance, to name a couple, it evokes the viewers to question its authenticity. Apart from that, you might find the themes familiar because they have been explored in various movies and TV shows over the years.
One of the aptest examples has to be that of another Nikolaj Coster-Waldau starrer ‘The Silencing.’ The 2020 Robin Pront directorial is a crime thriller movie that revolves around a reformed hunter named Rayburn who lives in a secluded location. Soon, he finds himself in the middle of a deadly game of cat and mouse when he takes the help of the local female sheriff, Alice Gustafson, to hunt for a vicious killer who might have kidnapped his daughter a few years ago.
This is a similar storyline to that of ‘God Is a Bullet’ as just like Rayburn and Alice in ‘The Silencing,’ Bob and Hardin also search for the former’s kidnapped daughter while putting their lives in danger. So, considering all the aspects mentioned above, we can conclude that while the Nick Cassavetes directorial consists of true-to-life elements and a few sprinkles of authenticity, the storyline and characters are a work of fiction.
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