Apostel!

Superior acting and a plot based on realism make this a classic movie of actual southern life ... a life that I experienced as a child and adolescent. Duvall's evangelist portrayal is not only convincing but eerie in the way it so fully represents many southern ministers of the gospel ... be they true believers or be they charlatans. I can't help but wonder if the cast was comprised of local folks ... or at least folks reared in the south ... rather than professional actors. They all did an excellent job contributing to the realism of this movie. I almost always enjoy a movie that "tells it like it is" ... and sofar, this is one of the most enjoyable I have ever seen.

Robert Duvall did an excellent job bringing this film to life. The other 'actors' in the film also contribute to give "The Apostle" a realistic warmth rarely achieved in mainstream films. I refer to the cast as 'actors' because aside from numerous character actors, Duvall being one of the greatest, the film is inhabited by non-actors. In other words, the people in church, from the Holiness preachers to the warm small-town folk, are real people, not trained in acting. Duvall's story is engaging and beautiful in the way it shows the flaws amid great talent in a man who chooses for himself the calling of Apostle. I love this film, the accurate portrayal of some aspects of southern U.S. life and culture, and especially Duvall's performance.

I didn't grow up down South, or even in the midwest, but I do know a little bit about the Pentacostal Church and Christian fundamentalism. Robert Duvall is an ambitious actor and film maker, and The Apostle hits home with its perceptive and loving portrayal of country people in the United States. It is refreshing to see that culture portrayed as something other than gaggles of yahoos. The Apostle focuses on the community spirit of the church, and thereby shatters some of the mystery of its appeal in a culture as self-centered as our own. There are no saints in this story, just a protagonist and his supporters trying to make sense of a country in which there is little love and way too much usury. The film is harsh on a number of levels, very no-nonsense though drawn out at various moments. But it's real, and that's more than can be said for ninety per cent of what passes for films about U.S. culture these days. It's said by some folks that Robert Duvall has been trying to make this film for a lot of years, and there are parts of The Apostle that contain faint echoes of his 1983 project Tender Mercies. It hardly matters, since both are interesting films for different reasons. Some day we'll see Robert Duvall as the vast repository of Americana he really is, until then, The Apostle is one of the best testimonies to his strengths that I know of. Can I get a witness?

Sonny Dewey (Robert Duvall) is a preacher in Texas. His wife Jessie leaves him for a younger minister. She takes their children and gets his church after a vote. Desperate to see his kids, Sonny beats up Jessie's man with a baseball bat. He goes on the run and ends up in rural Louisiana. He befriends Brother Blackwell and starts dating receptionist Toosie. He starts a new church with new identity Apostle E.F. He preaches on the radio. His mixed congregation enrages a racist (Billy Bob Thornton).

Robert Duvall is a master. His character is complex. He is awe inspiring. His journey does meander at times but it is always fascinating. Despite the long running time, it doesn't lag. I love his preaching. The montage of preaching is wonderful. This is a character study of the highest order.

This movie is another powerful exhibit in the case for why there *should* be an Oscar category for Best Casting.

Apart from Mr. Duvall's identifying acting, so rightly hailed elsewhere on this forum, what truly makes this film stand out as so genuine, so founded, so real, is the casting.

Take the radio guy, right down to his supermarket-style glasses. Take the Rev. Blackwell, fighting to hold back his bursting enthusiasm for Jesus so as not to have another heart attack. Take the talkative lady who almost clashes with the fat woman with twins - haven't we seen them both in our churches? Take the Church Board representatives at the beginning of the film, I feel like I know a few like them! Take the elderly gentleman with the trumpet, struggling to play but doing it from his heart, I've seen it. And in the midst of it, enter mega-star Billy Bob Thornton - blending into the mix just like one of the rest. Bottom line is, there is simply not one character that doesn't come across as believable simply by *being* there, even before you see them act.

Academy, awake, let there be a Casting Category now.