The film is a haunting, harrowing reflection on faith and doubt. Reverend Ernst Toller, the pastor of a small New England church (brilliantly played by Ethan Hawke) has his faith tested through an encounter with an unstable environmental activist and his pregnant wife. Toller is a solitary priest at a small church, in upstate New York, with a dwindling congregation which is being slowly eclipsed by its nearby, ‘successful’ parent church… with all its plush facilities and resources. He himself is tormented by cancer, alcohol and traumatic memories.
I wasn’t sure quite what to expect from the film. I sensed from what I heard that it would be challenging… and it certainly proved to be just that - but not in a bad way. Testing faith issues (not just Christian, but all faiths and even non-faiths) that many of us would identify with; asking difficult questions of our own prayer lives (where applicable); testing our commitment; confronting difficult moral and ethical issues within an increasingly demanding world. I could delve into various aspects of the film’s ‘plot’, but I’m conscious of not wanting to spoil things or give too much away…
What I would say is that it’s a beautifully-made, intelligent, powerful, challenging and stark film… and it’s well worth seeing.
My only regret was the way in which Schrader chose to end the film. It was almost as if he didn’t quite know HOW to end it and so what emerged, in my view, was frankly a little preposterous.
But, hey, what do I know!
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