Not being a fan of gratuitous violence I avoided this film because of something I read about it. But the subject matter, or what I thought the subject matter to be, had me curious. So I spent a whopping $4.99 at iTunes and rented it, ready to pull the plug at any moment if necessary. It wasn't at all what I've heard described here or elsewhere. And if it were I would be writing a very different one star review.
To begin with, the writing is excellent. This film delivers an authentic, and uncomfortable, small town "church voice" through the characters and their interactions with one another. The pastor, Eli (played by David Rysdahl) has inherited a small church from his deceased father. He hears his father's sermons through cassette tapes he plays in his car while driving around; and in his head, perpetually, everywhere he goes. We hear them in voice-over as a viewer. They're hateful, cruel, and for him, inescapable. At a potluck lunch after service one Sunday, a homeless man, Daniel (Zachary Booth), shows up for the free food. Eli, desperate for any new attendees to his failing church, tries to welcome him but Daniel never looks up from his food. Not even when he tells the preacher that he has "pretty hands". Let the creepiness, and it's unexpected origins, begin.
Like any stray, if you feed them they'll come back. And Daniel does. This time Eli gives him the brown bag lunch his wife made for him; and a place to stay. It's a small cabin in an isolated area that was used previously to hide Eli's mother from the public when her drinking became an embarrassment to his father. Apparently his mother is also deceased so there's room now to hide someone else because what Eli subconsciously has in mind needs to be hidden from everyone he knows. Especially his wife and congregation.
Daniel has a slightly predatory air about him. By contrast the waifish, terminally unsure of himself man of God, Eli, comes off as the weak, and easily overpowered, one in the heard. It soon becomes clear that he may not be as devoted to his church wife as he should be and that he is getting in way over his head. His interest in Daniel is carnal; not "Christian"; even as his father's angry words blast through his mind on a continuous loop.
This is a small budget film but this is not small budget acting, directing, cinematography, or writing. The leads, Zachary Booth, David Rysdahl, Lucy Faust, and Raymond McAnally, give impressive performances that will leave an impression on you. These are the church people with their church faces and their real faces. And those two faces are at odds with one another. Without getting too specific I'll just say that the Snow Owl story, as told by one fo these characters, is chilling.
The crux of this story is that of a an inexperienced preacher trying to hang on to what's left of his father's congregation even as his personal life is unravelled by a homeless stranger, a pregnant wife, and the emergence of feelings he's kept buried his entire life. Despite all of this, his desire to lead people in a new and better way is genuine. In a moment of frustration he rails at one of his flock saying, "People have personalized their God to the point of becoming their own God". No truer, or more cautionary, words were ever spoken. But he doesn't even realize how cautionary his own words are.
The conclusion of this story advances incrementally in a way that I did not see coming. By the last frame I was a little bit in disbelief of what I had just seen. It's not a film I would watch numerous times but it is a film I would recommend that everyone watch at least once. And I will say that, on this subject (see for yourself what "this" is), it may be the best made film, and most powerful in terms of message, I've ever seen. Which is even more amazing given the small size of the production. I am gay and I understand the revulsion some may have towards this story. To that I would say, you're not picking up what they're putting down. And what they're "putting down" is a powerful message. And an indictment of homophobic religiosity.
