jesse o
You may ask yourself why me, an atheist, would watch a movie so clearly meant for the more conservative, ultra-religious segment of the crowd. Well, let's just say it wasn't up to me. It was up to the good lord above. All jokes aside, I didn't pick this movie and if I could have put a stop to it I would have. It's not the fact that it's a religious movie, though that's a small part of it, it's just that this looked like an absolutely terrible movie. And, in short, it was. I don't have a problem with films centered around religion. What I do have a problem with is using religion to pander to those who believe. You don't actually tell any real interesting stories using the subject, you just use it to pander to that crowd who want to see a very specific thing from their faith films. This is why I loved Cavalry, with the phenomenal Brendan Gleeson, so much. It was a movie about a priest and it centered on his crisis of faith, but it went to some really interesting places. It used religion as a set-up to more interesting themes. It didn't pander to the audience, it made them asks questions. And perhaps that's why Cavalry, at least to that religious crowd, didn't resonate. They don't want to be challenged. They want their faith to be reaffirmed by the films they choose to watch. But, onto this movie. The story is practically nothing. Rachel, a dentist, has her life turned upside down when she finds out that she has this disease that leaves her, temporarily at least, paralyzed. She is forced to live with her grandmother, whom she has not seen for a long-ass time. The grandmother, Rose, is not a particularly healthy woman herself, barely able to get around with her walking stick, has to take care of Rachel. She has to help her out of bed, help her bathe, feed her and, pretty much, do everything for her while Rachel recuperates. The movie, in these parts, isn't too preachy, while mentioning god several times, as it focuses more on Rachel's road to recovery. There's absolutely nothing good about these parts, but at least the movie doesn't force its message down your throat. Rose doesn't have a ramp for Rachel to use her wheelchair on, so she contacts this widower who works at the church to help her out. This guy, Ben I think, comes and builds the ramp and does other stuff around the house. He meets Rachel and, naturally, a romance starts to blossom. The reason that Rachel's mother didn't talk to Rose up until her death is also revealed and it's the most ass-backwards and insulting thing possible. Let's boil it down to this, Rachel's mother met her father and got pregnant with, obviously, Rachel. Rose and her husband, Rachel's grandfather, begged her to get married to the father to 'make it right by the lord'. Rachel's mother refused and she never spoke to Rose ever again. The insulting part comes in the fact that Rose feels she is justified in never speaking to her daughter, who died in a car crash, because she didn't make Rachel's birth "legit" in the eyes of the lord. Rachel, upon hearing this story, first asks Rose if she had to do it over again, would she pick her daughter or the church? Rose answers with the fact that she didn't like it. That she didn't wanna lose her daughter, but it has to be right with the lord. I went back and saw the scene in question so I could use the same exact quote. So, yes, to recap, to Rose, the lord is more important than her own flesh and blood. She was willing to let her go because of some antiquated idea. And even worse than that is the fact that Rose tells Rachel all of this like she's the fucking victim in all of this. Um, no, that's not how it works. Rose abandoned her daughter when she probably needed her most because she wouldn't do exactly what her parents wanted. She's the victim here. She lost her parents because they wouldn't dare go against the lord and love their daughter regardless of the decisions she may have made. She's the victim here, not Rose and the grandfather (whom Rose sees visions of in the shed). Rachel, after hearing all of this, actually fucking APOLOGIZES to Rose, as if somehow she had any role to play in this bullshit. My ire was such that I almost blew up at this point. So I'm assuming that if the lord had told Rose to cut Rachel's head off, she would have done it. The lord DID tell her to do it after all. And for those of you who say the lord wouldn't do that. The lord already has. He told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac to prove his fear, or something. It was all a test, of course, but what kind of madman asks you to sacrifice your own son to prove that you really do worship him. It's all messed up. Anyway, the point is that this bullshit with Rose acting like a victim is insulting to people who have actually been shunned by their families because they refuse to adhere to their chosen religion. But I digress. So, yea, this movie is terrible at this point. And we're not even at the preachy part of the film yet. Essentially, Rose's husband, the vision, tells her that her time is almost up. She refuses to go until she makes sure that Ben and Rachel are together. She says that Rachel's biological clock is ticking, so there's some sexism in there for you as well. As if a woman's worth is determined by whether she has a man in her life or how many children she gives birth to. This happens during a time when Rachel, after initially having shown some progress, cannot move. Rose goes to the shed to talk to her dead husband. The husband tells her that it's time to go and she refuses until Ben and Rachel are together. Charlie, the dead husband, says that it's only gonna get worse, because they haven't accepted god into their lives. Yep. The light bulb goes off in Rose's head and she goes back to the room to ask Rachel to give herself over to the lord. Something, she says, that her mother could never do and she suffered for it, she doesn't want Rachel to go through that same suffering. She asks Rachel to promise her. Rachel, not having a mind of her own, promises this to her dying grandmother. Same thing happens with Ben, except he's in a church with a pastor. The pastor says that Jesus has all the problems and that all you have to do is take his hand. Or some such bullshit like that. At this point, I was just done. I hated every single second of this third act and its sentimental proselytizing. That's all it is. This is the type of movie that your super religious friends show you in order to show you of god's greatness, even though it's a fake movie and not representative of christianity in America in the slightest, particularly for those that voted for Trump. And this isn't a rant against religion in the slightest. I hate it myself, but if you find that religion gives you something that you cannot find anywhere else and it legitimately makes you happy, then go for it. I cannot, and do not want to, deny you that. What I hate is people who use it to discriminate against others. Like people using religion to discriminate against gays and other minorities. That I fucking hate. But if it makes a positive influence in your life and you use that to spread positivity to those around you, in a way that doesn't preach or talk down to others, then that's fantastic. With that said, you still need to make better movies. Because this movie was fucking terrible. Awful acting, directing, writing, music, etc. There's absolutely nothing to like about this movie if you're not super religious. It's a truly awful movie and one of the worst movies I've seen since the Point Break remake. Don't watch this, please. You can do so much better than this. The lord would want you to watch The Wailing instead. I've got very few regrets when it comes to movies. This is one of those regrets.
Rated 0.5/5 Stars •
Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
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