The Apostle (1997)
Director: Robert Duvall Written by: Robert Duvall Producers: Rob Carliner, Steven Brown (co-producer), Robert Duvall (executive), Ed Johnston (associate) Cast: Robert duvall, Farrah Fawcett, Miranda Richardson, Todd Allen, John Beasley, June Carter Cash, Walter Goggins, Billy Joe Shaver, Billy Bob Thornton Runtime: 148 min. Production Company: October Films Rated PG-13: Violence, thematic elements
By Nathaniel R. Atcheson (nate@pyramid.net)
If I ever again sit through a film about religion, I will compare it to Robert Duvall's The Apostle. The chances are, however, that it will not even come close to the pure emotional power and honesty of this film. Duvall, who has spent years making this wonderful film, deserves every bit of recognition he is now getting for it. Whatever wait we had to endure as the film slowly made its way into theaters, it is now clear that it was worth it.
I knew from the first scene that The Apostle is a special film. It is at this moment that we are introduced to Euliss "Sonny" Dewey (Duvall), a Texas preacher. In this opening moment, he stops at a roadside car wreck and sneaks out to a crashed car in which a mortally wounded man and his supposedly-dead wife lay. Within seconds, he has the young man opening his heart to Jesus, and it becomes clear that the fear of death has been wiped away in his acceptance. Scene after scene feels just like this one--this is a film of rare honesty.
Sonny, as everyone calls him, is well-liked in his community and church. At the time of the film, he has just lost the love of his wife, Jessie (Farrah Fawcett), to a young preacher named Horace (Todd Allen). Not long after this, he loses the right to preach in his own church. One day, while under the influence of alcohol, he goes to his son's baseball game and nails Horace with a baseball bat, putting the man in a coma. So, he flees Texas and heads to Louisiana, where he goes as "the Apostle E.F." With the help of local radio station owner Elmo (Rick Dial) and retired preacher Brother Blackwell (John Beasley), Sonny slowly establishes himself in the community by creating his own church.
There are so many things that I love about this film, but perhaps the most important is its spiritual focus. This is not a film about accepting religion and doing good things to go to Heaven. In fact, the word "religion" is said only once in the film, and it's not in religious context. Sonny wants to tell people that Jesus loves them, and that loving Jesus will make them happy. He wants people to know that we are to treat the Lord with respect, but still have a real relationship with him.
My favorite scene in the film is at the height of Sonny's troubles in Texas: he is up in the attic of his mother's house, shouting at God: "I love you God, but I'm pissed at you!" Then, when the phone rings, his mother answers it to find an angry neighbor complaining about all the noise. Silently, she hangs up the phone and allows her son to carry on. This scene, like so many in the film, are both moving and subtle at the same time, and they all point to one thing--these characters are real.
Sonny is one of my all-time favorite characters. I like the guy so much because he knows what he is, and he is not perfect. He drinks and commits violence and accepts that of himself; ultimately, he willingly pays the price for his actions. There's something so true about this man--he is a man of God, and yet he still asks a beautiful woman, Toosie (Miranda Richardson, doing one of the best Southern accents I've ever heard--especially from a British actress) on a date. During the date, he acts just like anyone else would, and at the end of the date, he has the same desires that the rest of us do. And he's such a charismatic man--the audience with whom I saw this film was swept away with Sonny's sermons.
Robert Duvall is this film; he is this character. I am so pleased that he has been nominated for Best Actor, for I can not think of a more deserving man in 1997 for the honor. Everything that I described above is conveyed so clearly by Duvall, and I, for one, have never seen a performance so energetic from a 67 year-old man before. Each time he opens his mouth, I forget that this is an actor trying to convince me.
Not only is Duvall's on-screen talent fully recognized here, but his work as writer/director couldn't be more effective. I continually felt absorbed in the film, never once having the urge to look at my watch or anywhere else away from the screen. Even though there isn't a cut-and-dry story, the events that unfold and ultimately lead to an astonishingly moving and memorable sermon held my interest at full-force for the entire running time. And there are subtly poignant moments scattered about the film--Sonny befriends a young mechanic named Sam (Walter Goggins), and the conclusion to this friendship is very powerful. And Billy Bob Thornton plays a trouble-making racist who wants to bulldoze the church, though Sonny talks him down in a moment that is extremely moving.
The Apostle is about an eccentric, maybe even crazed, individual who thrives on doing things that many moviegoers might find "abnormal" and "strange." I think the catch is that Duvall wants us to think that Sonny is over-the-top: this adds not only to the sheer entertainment that the film provides, but to the realism of his character. Sonny, while understanding his own sins, tries to atone for them by helping others. Everything in this film--from the colorful supporting characters to the emotionally-extreme scenes throughout--has all the spontaneity of real life. Duvall has crafted one of the very best films of 1997 here, a movie that I will think about and love for as long as I love movies.
>From 0-10: 9 Grade: A
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Nathaniel R. Atcheson
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