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That old time religion
by CarlosC (movies profile)
Dec 23, 2004
3
of
3 people found this review helpful
Like Orson Welles' CITIZEN KANE (1941), Robert Duvall's THE APOSTLE (1997) is about a flawed man looking for redemption. Also like Welles' masterpiece, THE APOSTLE is a one-man tour-de-force. Duvall is the star, director, producer, and writer of the tenderly-crafted story of a southern, Pentecostal preacher named 'Sonny' (Duvall) who must run from his past when he inadvertently kills a man. The man (Todd Allen) steals Sonny's ministry and his wife (Farrah Fawcett). Sonny slugs him with a bat.
Thereafter a fugitive, Sonny sends his car into a lagoon ("Adios, amigo; hello, Jesus!") and retreats into the wilderness of the American South. He turns up in a small Louisiana town, where his first three steps are: To get a day-job (as a mechanic); to get in touch with a retired minister (John Beasley); and, to become THE APOSTLE -- a man on a mission to start a new congregation. In short, Sonny sets out to be a better person. When the retired preacher kids him about his boundless energy, Sonny shoots back, "I quit school because I didn't like recess."
Duvall *is* THE APOSTLE. For ten years, the movie was a labor of love for the star/writer actor/director/producer. Turned down by studio after studio, Duvall finally decided to put up millions of dollars of his own money in order to make the film. Perhaps, the subject matter of religion is what made the studios nervous. But, that may have worked out for the best, if it gave Duvall an insight into the subject of devotion. As it is, THE APOSTLE offers a thoughtful and elegant treatment of religion.
Duvall wastes no time in immersing us in a baptismal dowsing into the world of revivalist, southern Christianity; of hallelujah marathons and stumping sermons under circus-like tents; wherein the Word rolls like lightning out of loudspeakers in school auditoriums and hotel conference centers. Some depictions are comical -- like the one in which a spirited, Spanish-language interpreter mimics also the foot-stomping antics of the preacher she is translating. But, all of them are delicate and authentic. Religion is treated respectfully, but never condescendingly. The movie's other themes -- racial relations; relationships between the sexes -- are accorded a similar treatment. Duvall shows respect not by ersatz reverence, but by raising legitimate questions.
Near the end of the movie, Billy Bob Thornton turns up as a racist troublemaker who wants to tear down the tiny church that THE APOSTLE has established for a mostly-Black congregation. Thornton's character is a harbinger of bad things-to-come and an emissary from Sonny's dark past. In an allegorically charged sequence, Duvall wrestles Thornton in the recesses of darkness, like Jacob with the angel. THE APOSTLE will make a convert out of you.
(Carlos Colorado) |
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