I was leant this by a colleague who enthused about it.
I found it profoundly uncomfortable and had to work hard not to turn it off after 10 minutes. It reminded me so much of a past that I am keen not to revisit.
However, the movie features a barnstorming performance from Robert Duval who also directs it. Texas preacher Sonny (Duval) discovers his beautiful wife (Fawcett) is having an affair with the Youth Pastor. His wife refuses reconciliation and in a rage Sonny swipes at the Youth pator with a baseball bat. He is left comatose.
Sonny flees on what turns out to be a redemptive odyssey. He re-baptises himself in a river and adopts the name Apostle E F. He heads to Louisiana and helps resurrect a closed-down church where he builds a vibrant and flourishing worshipping community. The Youth pastor eventually dies and the Police come looking for him and take him away.
A powerful film. A helpful review on the Rotten Tomatoes site by Steven D. Greydanus says "Viewed critically, Duvall’s film, like the troubling fiction of Evelyn Waugh, Graham Greene, and Flannery O’Connor, is in the end a vindication of belief without being a vindication of every believer"
I find it very difficult to be objective about this film. I'm tempted to give it 6/10 but that would be because of the film has done to me. If a film does something to it's viewers, then it must be worthy of a higher mark - so I'll settle on 8/10.
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