HPPUB MOVIE REVIEW of The Apostle

Title: The Apostle

Release Date: 1998

Nationality and Language: USA, English

Running time: about 150 Minutes

MPAA Rating:

Distributor and Production Company: October Films

Director; Writer:

Producer: Robert Duvall

Cast: Robert Duvall

Technical:

Relevance to HPPUB site:

Review: Movie Review of The Apostle (1997); October Films;R; 150 Minutes;

Perhaps this film could have been titled “The Fundamentalist.” The opening scenes of rural Texas in the 1930s give a feel for the life of people seen through a simple faith. But the story will bifurcate itself indeed.

This emotional film about the life of a fundamentalist preacher, played by Robert Duvall, was intriguing to me because Duvall spent 13 years and $5 million of his own money on it. In a way, this was movie "self-publishing" (or at least, "cooperative publishing"). But I wonder about Duvall's point. A preacher who murders his rival to keep himself in clerical power has no moral credibility (in my libertarian world) at all. I enjoyed seeming him get his just desserts..

Otherwise, this film has that independent look, with simple scenes like an old car crashing into a stream.

Another reader offers these comments (from 2/2002):

“I read your review on Robert Duvall's The Apostle.  I thought it was a story portraying a preacher struggling between morality and secularism (morality prevailing).  Don't forget, preachers are human beings too. 

People often tell Christians, "You aren't supposed to do that" regarding a swear word, lusting, something sinful, with a smile on their face thinking they themselves are free from judgment.  Christians struggle between the 2 because they rely on themselves at times instead of God whereas non-Christians rely on themselves all the time.

It's how you respond to something that shows your character.  He responded in a wrong way to things because his self control was weak.  Even though he killed someone, he continued to "share the Gospel" even in prison as we see during the credits.  And, he's Heaven bound regardless.”

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