[yasr_overall_rating]
When Angela (Sarah Smyth) refuses to leave her planned-parenthood clinic after it is shut down by the state, a family of fanatical evangelists vow to make her pay.
If you want to start an argument and possibly lose friends in the process, all you need to do is talk about the upcoming Presidential election and state which candidate you will be voting for (if indeed you do decide to vote) and why you will be voting for them. If anything, an assured heated conversation is more or less guaranteed. The same goes for the topic of abortion, you have those who are for it and those who are against it and typically, when both sides meet, the results can be disastrous, sometimes even deadly. Canadian filmmaker Larry Kent is no stranger to controversy, having made such titles as “The Bitter Ash,” “Sweet Substitute,” and “When Tomorrow Dies,” otherwise known as his “Vancouver Trilogy.” Movies that, at the time, constituted profanity and nudity, nothing new these days but back in the ’60s and ’70s, they were very questionable. He is not afraid to make any type of movie and actually prefers that they be controvertible and contentious and while his latest effort, “She Who Must Burn,” seems to follow suit, unfortunately, it is not controversial, rather, it is simply boring and the epitome of lazy filmmaking.
In a small Canadian town in the middle of nowhere, the leader of a group of religious fanatics, who believe they are God’s chosen ones, kills the doctor who runs a local planned-parenthood clinic and as a result, he is sent to prison and the clinic is shut down by the state. Angela (Sarah Smyth) is a counselor who works at the clinic and even though it is not being funded anymore, she decides to stay on anyway, offering guidance and assistance to any of the local women who need it. Her husband Mac (Andrew Moxham) is the town’s deputy and because of Angela’s position within the religious community, they have to deal with neighborhood protestors outside their home and the clinic each and every day. The local pastor, Jeremiah Baarker (Shane Twerdun), is a religious fanatic who beats up and rapes his wife Margaret (Jewel Staite) whenever he feels like it but after one such episode, she garners the strength to leave him for good and along with Angela’s help, she is taken out of town where she can begin a new life by herself. When Jeremiah discovers what has happened, he clashes with Angela, demanding to know where Margaret is but when she does not give him the information he seeks, he vows revenge against her and her husband.
Jeremiah stirs up the locals, who already despise Angela and what she stands for, and things quickly spiral out of control, resulting in murder and human sacrifice. It is quite clear which side of the abortion issue Mr. Kent stands on and therefore, he has told a story which is very one-sided; Angela is portrayed as a caring and big-hearted individual, while the locals and the religious establishment, are painted as maniacs who resort to murder if their teachings are not practiced. While the film is expertly shot and beautifully photographed, sadly, that is the only positive aspect this feature has to offer. The acting for the most part, is fine, but the role of Jeremiah, played by Shane Twerdun, probably the most important character of the entire story, rather than being portrayed as a good pastor, who has a dark side, a character the audience can relate to on a human level, he is instead played as a crazy degenerate with violent and destructive tendencies, which is noticeable from the moment we are introduced to him. I am not familiar with Shane Twerdun, this is the first time I have seen him in a movie but the fault here lies with the director, who chooses to have Jeremiah exude sleaziness and arrogance by smirking whenever he is meant to be intimidating, a facet that quickly metamorphoses the character into caricature.
Jeremiah never once does or says anything that is believable, even within the confines of this story so we never really feel a sense of danger or foreboding towards any of the characters that go against him. The one standout performance herein belongs to Missy Cross, who plays the role of Rebecca, one of Jeremiah’s disciples. She believes in Jeremiah with everything she has, he is her god and if he asks her to do something, no matter what it entails, she does it, with ferocity. While Missy is demented and maniacal, and there are real people in the world like her, she has the uncanny ability to shift, instantly, from quiet indifference to savage abhorrence. Something tells me that her character traits should have been swapped out with those of Jeremiah, then we might have had a somewhat more interesting film. Towards the end, when Jeremiah and his flock are burning a character at the stake, the sheriff stands idly by, watching unseen from nearby trees and just when you expect him to rush out and save the victim, he chooses instead to stay hidden and observe the sacrifice. Had the story concluded with him being a secret member of Jeremiah’s assembly, the finale would have indeed made more sense but since it did not, the movie dug its own implausible grave as the sheriff had weapons that if needed, he could have used against Jeremiah and his people. Then, out of nowhere, a storm lashes down on everyone, killing them all, as if God was punishing them.
I can suspend disbelief for a film when I know early on what type of movie it is but when you start out with aggressive realism, and then end your story with a far-fetched, supposed act of God, the suspension of disbelief becomes too much and you lose your audience. If Larry Kent had tried to direct a balanced film with both opposing sides of the argument, a drama that showed each side and what they believed in and stood for, that could have made for a great cinematic experience. As it stands however, “She Who Must Burn” is a movie that yearns to be controversial but instead, winds up as conventional and boring.
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