Displaying items by tag: Killing Faith movie

KILLING FAITH

US, 2025, 108 minutes, Colour.

Guy Pearce, De Wanda Wise, Bill Pullman, Raoul Trujillo, Jamie Neumann, Jack Alcott, Joanna Cassidy, Emily Katherine Ford.

Directed by Ned Crowley.

An intriguing and sometimes puzzling Western Germany. It is 1849, frontier territory, beginning with the macabre episode of a prisoner, a deck of cards, shot by his captor, touches of God language. And all of these elements will continue.

The main focus is on the former slave, Sarah, De Wanda Wise, bringing up her young daughter, Emily Katherine Ford, daughter of a white sheriffwho raped her. The daughter has powers of destruction, is feared everywhere, and has to keep her hands bound. Sarah decides that she should travel to a distant town to seek the help of an alleged healer. With this she enlists the help of a local doctor, distraught at the death of his daughter, taking ether to sleep, reliable but prone to moods.

The journey is certainly a weird journey through a West, hopes in faith and healing (with the ironic title of the experience killing faith).

American reviewer, Clint Worthington, in Roger Ebert.com provides an excellent overview of the experiences:

Crowley also passes our heroes through some of the most fascinating nightmare imagery a Western has presented in some time. Bender’s ether dreams include his dead daughter lying in a bed in the middle of the desert; characters vomit thick, black, gooey substances; dismembered bodies are arranged in sick tableaus where extremities aren’t where they’re supposed to be. Teepees on fire, murdered characters with their severed hearts placed in their hands. There’s a feeling of the dangers of taming a frontier that ought not be interfered with, as if Western expansion (the film does take place the same year as the Gold Rush, after all) awakens something ungodly and beyond the white man’s ken.

And, there are some strange characters along the way, the small group of the doctor, Sarah and her daughter and the assistant from the small town, an ingenuous young man, Edward. We encounter a family led by the matriarch, Joanna Cassidy, and a guitar player with bandages around his head. By contrast, there is the erudite Native American with a British accent, explained, calling himself William Shakespeare, Raoul Trujillo.

And, the final destination is the hope for faith remedy, the smooth talking minister, played by Bill Pullman, Delving into the supernatural but also very worldly power playing with his associates.

Which means then that this is an intriguing Western but also with strange ingredients for a Western nightmare.

1. The title and expectations? The finale and faith doomed?
2. 1849, echoes of the coming goldrush, the American West, the frontiers, the small towns, slaves, victims of rape, survival, journeys, strange characters, doctors, families, Native American settlements, a Western town?
3. The focus on Sarah, her situation, slavery, rape, her daughter, caring for her, the daughter and her age, personality, her powers, destructive, her hands bound, the locals in fear?
4. The decision to go to the healer, the dangers of the journey, the warnings, the threats? Going to the doctor, his character, his work, the death of his daughter, ether, reliable and unreliable, hesitant, his agreement, leadership in the journey? Edward, his age and character, simple, earnest, that behind, turning up, his participation in the journey?
5. The hazards of the journey, the nightmare aspects, the doctor and his personal nightmares? His skills? Guns? Leadership and guide? Sarah and her trust? Concerned about her daughter?
6. The encounter with the family, bizarre, the matriarch, her threats, the boy with the guitar, head bound? The violent turn?
7. The contrast with William Shakespeare, Native American, his accent, well educated, quotes? Companion on the journey?
8. The dangers, Whitey and her associates, the introduction to them, the initial crimes and brutality? Her personality? The confrontations, pursuits, threats, Edward’s death? The motivations, tracking the journey?
9. The final arrival in the town, Ross, his religious status, leadership, people in the town, his influence? Religious performance? The reality behind the facade, his motivations, wanting the little girl, her powers? Whitey and her gang at his behest?
10. The final confrontation, brutal, the supernatural elements, the little girl, Sarah and her being the victim of brutality, the doctor and his participation? Pessimism and the fulfilling of the title and the death of faith?