The story takes place in two different towns and times, but where God seems to have left its inhabitants in the hands of evil.
Antonio Campos, the film's director, and Lol Crawley, who is in charge of directing the photography, are right to recreate the deep America of the decades in which the story takes place. Those towns with related inhabitants, with a lot of poverty and where it seems they were forgotten by that God of which they are very devoted.
There is a feeling that evil is present all the time in the two towns that appear in the film, which is manifested with all the manifestations of evil that some of the characters do.
There is no room for good, all seemingly condemned to suffer, and the most innocent, those who believe in the divine salvation, will be the main victims of some beings predestined to commit atrocious acts.
The lives of all the characters will be marked by tragedy, beginning with the return of the young people who fought in the war against Japan. A couple of decades later, the atmosphere of the war, this time in Vietnam, will be present again as a context for the story.
In the villages where the film takes place, Puritanism, conservative minds and religious devotion are deeply rooted among the inhabitants.
Faith in a religion, an all-powerful god, is a weakness that is exploited by bad people. The film shows this, at different times, first with the preacher who, blinded by his religious fanaticism, murdered his wife. Twenty years later, another preacher will take advantage of his faithful, using religion to satisfy his hunger for pleasure and lust.
The two victims of the preachers, related by blood, will have a tragic destiny. The two most innocent people will suffer the most on that land, which instead of being blessed, because its inhabitants are people of great faith in God, seems to be full of demons.
The film is an adaptation of the novel of the same title, written by Donald Ray Pollock, a writer from Ohio, who grew up in a town like the one reflected on the screen. The writer was very familiar with these conservative and religious environments. The film has made me interested in this writer, I will look for the novel to read it, I want to see how faithful the adaptation has been, perhaps in the book the criticism towards religious fanaticism is more profound.
Men who take advantage of people's faith, pretending to be correct and faithful to the scriptures of a religion, seem to proliferate in the most difficult times. When cities, countries, communities, etc., go through difficult times, such as a period of war and poverty, it is the time when these demons, dressed as saints, take advantage to manipulate minds hungry for hope.
To articulate a story with many different characters and times and make it understandable to the average viewer is not an easy task, so the director has included a voiceover, which tells us some situations. For me it was not very pleasant to use this resource, I found it reiterative in some scenes, where before showing it, the voiceover had already told us. But I understand the need to do it because there is a large audience used to not thinking even a little bit. The voice of the narrator is Donald Ray Pollock, the writer of the novel.
The subplot of the serial killer couple, lacked a deepening of their true motivations, after seeing their first meeting in the cafeteria, they appear minutes later committing their misdeeds. It is important to know how this man managed to convince the girl to be his accomplice. Especially his motivation, which is never clear to us.
Similarly, it is not clear what motivates, beyond sexual desire, the character of the Reverend Teagardin. A character whose uncle is a reverend, that is, he has a great religious formation, is not poor and did not participate in the war. It was important to know the past of this character. That's why I want to read the book, maybe explain the reasons why this person acts this way. Nobody is bad just because they are bad, there must be something in their formation that leads them to commit bad acts.
One of the most striking aspects of the film was the selection of a great cast of excellent actors.
Tom Holland makes a good interpretation of Arvin Russell, the only character who does not believe in religious charlatans, because since he was a child he knew that something was wrong in that fanaticism, so he will not forgive his father for the sacrifice of his pet.
Bill Skarsgård , playing Willard Russell, Arvin's father, stands out with his character during the first part of the film and of course, the great actor Robert Pattinson, will be the representation of evil playing the lustful Reverend Preston Teagardin. Mia Wasikowska, Jason Clarke, Riley Keough, Haley Bennett, Mia Goth, Emma Coulter, Harry Melling and Kristin Griffith are other names in the cast of the film, I am missing other actors, but you can see them all in the IMDB file of the film. I must mention the actress Eliza Scanlen, who plays Lenora Laferty, a character that conveys a lot of innocence, but who will be a fatal victim of the devil disguised as a reverend. This young actress appeared in the last movie version of Little Women and has also been seen in the series Open Wounds.
The director of the film, has among his previous films, good productions. I can recommend Piercing, with Mia Wasikowska. The disturbing Christine, based on a real event or the film Martha Marcy May Marlene with Elizabeth Olsen, where she captured the madness of a young girl who escaped from a religious cult. She has also been in charge of the episodes of the series The Sinner and The Punisher. Human demons have always been present in his filmography.
Although the theme, the actors, the setting and the story hooked me and I liked the film, in the end I had the feeling that something was missing from the film, to give it more value. Could it be a little more violence? More sordidness? It could be. Or perhaps, returning to a point I've already touched on, there was a lack of a deepening of the motivations of some characters.
It is available on Netflix.
My Ranking: 3.4/5
Trailer
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