The Last Sin Eater

According to ancient Celtic tradition, a "sin eater" is a person chosen by lottery to take the transgressions of others onto his soul so that the newly deceased can pass over to the great-beyond free of the stain of iniquity.

"The Last Sin Eater," the latest offering from FoxFaith Films (the branch of Twentieth Century Fox Studios that specializes in Christian-friendly movie-making) is a well-meaning but leaden and strangely eclectic work, sort of "The Village" meets "The Old Time Gospel Hour" meets "Little House on the Prairie" (no surprise in this last one, since the movie was directed and co-written by Michael Landon Jr.). Cali Forbes is a sweet-natured young girl, growing up in early 19th Century Appalachia, who believes that a mysterious hooded hermit - the local "sin-eater" - will be able to take away the guilt she feels over "causing" the death of her little sister in a river accident. She spends most of the movie seeking him out, much to the consternation of her parents and the myriad "colorful" folk who inhabit their little cove. However, it isn't until Cali encounters a wandering preacher (played by E.T.'s now-grownup buddy, Henry Thomas) that she learns who the "true" sin-eater really is (though one wonders how anyone in this particular time and place can be as woefully ignorant about the gospel as the people here seem to be).

Although the first half of the movie achieves a certain portentous creepiness in its tone and atmosphere, once the evangelist shows up, the movie devolves into an overwrought melodrama, marked by stilted dialogue, holier-than-thou speechifying and heavy-handed sentimentality. The acting, even on the part of Thomas and Louise Fletcher, is generally amateurish and wooden, although young Liana Liberato as Cali has a natural dignity and poise that work well on screen. And, oh yes, the scenery is eye-popping and gorgeous.

Based on the novel by Francine Rivers, "The Last Sin Eater" clearly has its heart in the right place, but good intentions alone can't make it a satisfying movie.

First off the budget is small so be kind. Its a pretty solid story although it probably could have been fleshed out and feels a little disjointed in places. It is still a solid film and an excellent addition for fans of Christian films, unlike many Christian films it does not whitewash its message.

The best part of the film is the performance of Peter Wingfield as the Sin Eater. While he is almost a minor character as far as screen time his performance makes the film. His voice is so sorrowful in his scenes (he is hidden for the majority of the movie) that you could just sob for him. His pathos is spot on. He is not overly dramatic but succeeds in selling the believability of the film.

This movie had very good elements, a grieving family, a community secret, dark undertones, a message of hope.....but it was all destroyed by the editing. While this movie was being filmed, the emotions were palpable on the set; the hair on the back of my neck stood up many times. Unfortunately, the director was so concerned about not showing any violence on screen, that all the passion was edited out.

Mr. Landon edited the most emotional scenes like it was an MTV video. He did not allow many of the camera shots to stay with one character for more than 2 seconds. This created very choppy scenes and disconnected his audience from the story. Mr. Landon did allow the scenic shots to pan, and zoom in (they were beautiful shots due to the DP), but we could have done with shorter scenic shots and longer camera time during the emotional scenes.

The three most disappointing scenes were Brogan Kai choking Caddie, the Sin Eater taking Caddie's sins away, and the Indian Massacre scenes. When these were being filmed, many of the crew had tears in their eyes. You could have heard a pin drop, no one was breathing. These were intense, emotional scenes, and Mr. Landon edited them down to very bad, home movie play-acting.

It is ashame, because Mr. Landon directed this film very nicely, and the original camera shots stayed on the actors for a much longer time. Mr. Landon should not have been allowed in the editing room.

This is a film that requires some willing suspension of disbelief, since its makers seem possibly to be prey to the fallacy that it enough that Christian art be Christian. Which is not to say that they didn't get most of it right, just that their missteps are so avoidable. Fortunately, most (like the young star's unbelievably sumptuous wardrobe) weren't major distractions for me. But the crudeness of the special effects scenes (which, thankfully, are brief) did disrupt my experience, as I wondered, "What were they thinking that this looked right to them?"

Most of the cast does a truly fine job, with all the central characters (the Forbes family and Fagan Kai) getting moving, heartfelt and convincing performances from their players. There's a relationship here between quantity of screen time and quality, so the minor characters remain pretty two-dimensional, though not distractingly so.

The cinematography (except for special effects, as noted) is beautiful and effective, and successfully evokes the feeling of confining, dense Appalachian woods and isolation.

Bottom line: despite its minor shortcomings, this is an effective, affecting, non-preachy and original retelling of one of the central concepts of Christianity.

I had no idea what this movie was about however I did have some preconceived ideas about "sin eaters" coming from a Celtic background. Having said this....I very much enjoyed this movie, bad accents aside and little inaccuracies here and there, I would definitely recommend. A movie that can make me sad, happy, tearful and ultimately hopeful, is all right in my book!

This movie showed how fear can rule no matter what time or place, how old traditions and beliefs are not always the way to go, especially coming from the old world to the new. Man kinds inability at times to adapt to his surroundings is not only sad but can be brutal and horrific in the process. There is a moral in this story for all.

Happy viewing.