(Richard Gere,Kevin Pollak, Peter Dinklage and Jon Avnet... Dream team)
"How can you soar when you have no arms? And to think I was chosen to save you."
Jon Avnet's 'Three Christs' is so powerful, comedic and touching that it's easy to forget how outlandish the situation is on the surface: based on a real life experiment, a psychiatrist in the '50s is tasked with finding a new way to treat three separate paranoid schizophrenics, all of whom are convinced that they're the real Jesus Christ and the other two are imposters. As the trial goes on, the four begin to form a close, connective bond while higher ups at the mental institution threaten to shutter the program for good, eradicating all progress and signs of humanity being displayed.
I thought the film flowed so beautifully, incredibly poignant in its storytelling and it really makes you grieve and smile as the characters build chemistry and relationships. The cast up and down is simply fantastic, with special highlights from the Three Christs (Walton Goggins, Peter Dinklage and Bradley Whitford), Richard Gere as the lead psychiatrist running the experiment, Stephen Root and Kevin Pollak as his superiors, and Charlotte Hope, who plays Gere's budding college intern and has a particularly emotional bond with one of the three eponymous men. Their performances are incredibly strong and really know how to tug at the heartstrings, especially in the final 20 minutes of the film.
Unfortunately, the film is a victim of some crucial scene cutting, particularly when it comes to Julianna Marguiles' scarcely seen wife, who apparently has a bit of a drinking problem out of the blue over halfway into the film. A bit more development might've gone a long way, even if Gere's family takes a backseat in most sections. The film's weightier themes also could've been a lot more interesting to see explored further, considering the tug of war that exists between psychotherapy/new forms of getting to know such a curious mind and restoring to electric shock therapy and killing someone's real self with drugs. Instead, they're much more civilian topics here, never reaching the heights and debates they could, even though it's hinted at.
Still, this film really touched me, I found it as pleasant and smile-inducing as I did thought-provoking and devastatingly sad. It's certainly a niche film, based off a psychiatric study that's even more niche, but the performances and raw humanity of the film really help bring it to life and make it worth your time and emotional dedication.
