Savage Messiah

The subject matter of the film is pretty gritty, compelling stuff. It was very hard to watch at times. The main character, the commune leader is played perfectly by Luc Picard. He's EXTREMELY creepy, and gets creepier as his world starts to fall apart. The courtroom sequence where one of the little girls tells in explicit detail the kind of debauchery that's been passing for recreational activity at the commune is absolutely disgusting. The cult leader's final attempts to regain control of his commune are deeply disturbing.

There's something unique about Canadian films. The early Cronenberg films had it... like Rabid, Scanners and Videodrome. Strange Brew had it. This movie has bags of it. It's kind of a 16mm vibe. There are also scenes that are simple and yet brutally honest that are used to develop character, break the tension and probably fill out a lean script. For instance, there's a scene in a bar where a group of women are hanging out. One of the women begins to tell a story about going out to find a man for the night. She's pretty obnoxious about it, using a lot of colorful language to describe her sexual needs. This story goes on and on, much longer than it would in any Hollywood film, but therein lies the real entertainment here.

This movie is quite disturbing and not exactly pleasant to watch. However, that is not to say this isn't a very good and important film because it is.

There's a reason why Religion produces more pain, conflict and death than anything else in the history of mankind. It is used as an instrument of fear and power, and of course the weaker minded will always have gravitate towards the unknowable, and those who claim exclusive access to it. Not to say Religious concepts have no meaning or good qualities...and if humanity survives well into the future without destroying itself due to conflicting faiths, it will surely look back upon most Religious concepts as nothing more than unnecessary barbarism and tools for a weaker civilization.

Case in point...Savage Messiah. A psychotic and truly evil cult leader who tortures, kills, maims, molests, abuses...all in the name of "Love" and "God". Obviously this man was a complete lunatic, yet quite brilliant in some perverse ways. It's amazing that a few people still are loyal to him despite all the hard evidence against him, and even his ad hoc confession of guilt. Total brainwashing is a very easy process with some people it does seem.

As for the movie itself, it stays quite close to the known public truth about "Roch" and his self-proclaimed entourage. It is well filmed, realistic, and most importantly has some excellent acting performances by Polly Walker and Luc Picard. It's a movie that is important, even though most people won't ever get the chance to view it.

This excellent drama is one of the best films about a cult that I have seen since the early eighties (SPLIT IMAGE and TICKET TO HEAVEN spring to mind from that era). The supporting performance by Quebecois actress Isabelle Blais is Oscar-worthy. Her portrayal of a brainwashed woman who finally sees the light is the film's most memorable aspect, but all of the performances are top notch.

Periodically, we hear of religious cults gone wrong, leading to the deaths of many people. The Peoples Temple, the Branch Davidians, and Heaven's Gate are just a few of the infamous cults that have destroyed the lives of many people. However, there is a psychological factor in both the people who join and the people who lead these cults. "Savage Messiah" bravely explores these areas in an intelligent and thought-provoking way.

Paula Jackson (Polly Walker) is a social worker for Children's Aid, a government program dedicated to protecting children (and wives if applicable) from abuse. One day, she is visited by a group of women who live in a commune with a man named Roch (Luc Picard), whom they believe is the prophet Moses. The women ask for assistance in protecting the kids from the upcoming Canadian winter. She agrees, but after an infant from the commune dies, she begins investigating. What she discovers will lead her in an uphill battle to save the lives of the women and the children in the commune. And perhaps her own.

"Savage Messiah" is being marketed as a thriller, and that's not true. This is a dramatic film with little or no suspense in the way that we normally think of it. To be sure, this is a dark and at times disturbing film, but it is a drama. To be more specific, it's a mix between a detective story and a courtroom drama.

The acting is great. Polly Walker, an actress whom I've been a fan of ever since I saw her unforgettable performance in HBO's "Rome," gives another terrific performance. She's like Erin Brockovich, only less abrasive. She knows there's something going on at the commune, and nothing is going to stop her from finding the truth, even if it puts her life in danger. Although this makes her courageous and valiant, it sometimes has devastating consequences.

Her co-star, Luc Picard, is suitable for the film's purposes, but nothing more. He makes Roch into a credible psychopath, and we believe that he's dangerous, and how he can use his charisma to get insecure women to do what he wants, but he fails to be "go the extra mile." He doesn't really arrest our attention, certainly not in the way that Walker does. Still, he makes the movie work.

The other important character is Lise, one of the women from the commune. The actress playing her, Isabelle Blais, is also very good. She has that almost demented belief in her cult that is typical of someone in her position. But through Polly's persistence, she begins to realize how much Roch is hurting her and the people in the commune.

Mario Azzopardi attempts to give the film a dark and menacing atmosphere, but budget constraints clearly hamper his efforts. Still, the film is well-told, although there's nothing special about the way he presents the material. The film moves at solid pace, and all loose ends are tied up by the end.

"Savage Messiah" is not always an easy film to watch, but it's well worth it.

The film is an attempt to cross a dark psychological thriller with a profound character study - the result: a film that feels like a stew that has been thrown together and the ingredients don't seem to fit together. The main character is believable and also shows moments of real intensity, but everything else seems to have gotten out of hand like an amateur theater group. The supporting actors deliver an affected acting that invites laughter more than thought. The plot is thus somewhere between exaggerated pathos and clumsy drama. There are unintentionally funny dialogues and the film just doesn't really want to captivate. There is no tension for a thriller about a strange cult and these characters are too weakly cast for an autobiographical character study.