HIGHER GROUND Review

No, that's not a fervent Paul Williams giving charged testimony in the wilderness during the first moments of the intrepid "Higher Ground". It's actually Joshua Leonard, who obviously survived his Blair Witch encounter after all, and has become a born again crusader. Based on the clothes, hairstyles, and earthy folk gospel music, the scene may appear retro, but in the film's timeline, it's a glimpse at things to come. All are enraptured with the adult baptisms in the lake and the magnetism of the Spirit permeating throughout. It's the 1970s by way of the Jesus movement; the "Put Your Hand in the Hand of the Man from Galilee" era - although even that song may be too secular for this crowd.

Before flashing back to her childhood, we are made aware of Corinne as a young adult wife and mother, living in a close-knit Christian community. It's a lemon and olive scented look at a life that most have never had, and never will - although on a broader level, a great, great many people will relate to "Higher Ground" in personal and unique ways unfound in most movies. Director and star Vera Farmiga, working from the autobiographical source novel "This Dark World" by Carolyn S. Briggs (who also co-wrote the film's screenplay with Tim Metcalfe, oddly of "Revenge of the Nerds" fame) seems to not just understand this, but appreciates it on a rare and authentic level. "Higher Ground" perfects a great balance, as it is not afraid to occasionally call out the pious jackasses that western Christianity is lousy with, while still reminding us that the said jackasses are also well-meaning individuals, capable of sometimes saying truth. (For example, see the self-proclaimed "prophet of God" counselor late in the film.) It is the rare work that powerfully speaks about faith specifics to both believers and unbelievers alike, something I will address shortly, following a little bit about the characters and content of the film itself.

The life of Corinne is, at a glance, not particularly remarkable. Farmiga, however, embraces her actor's intuition and sensitivity to guide us through the character's decades-spanning dramatic arc with impressive fortitude. Called to the flock (and embarrassed to admit it to her dismissive mother), Corinne as a child (played by the director/star's real life sister, Taissa Farmiga - an obvious but solid call) eventually grows and meets the freewheeling rock guitarist Ethan (played first by Boyd Holbrook, and definitively by Joshua Leonard) in college, whom she marries, despite being unevenly yoked in the faith.

Things change for Ethan after he finds himself at the wheel of a late night tour bus crash, which threatens the life of his infant child. Ethan seizes upon the faith of his wife, trading in his rock star aspirations to play praise and worship music. He's living the kind of 180 degree "on fire" spiritual rebirth that is not uncommon among new believers with a checkered past. It's the kind of runaway freight train zeal that Corinne somehow escaped, but can nonetheless appreciate. But even as Ethan increasingly becomes a scripture-spouting automaton, Corinne begins to long for an intellectual satisfaction that cannot be met by her family or community. Abrupt harsh realities of the outside world must be dealt with as well, as Corrine's troubled drug-holding sister comes around from time to time. Ultimately, "Higher Ground" intuitively asks where someone can turn when she's been let down, even betrayed, by the individuals and institutions she's been so close to for so long.

Corinne's journey, including but not necessarily ending with a "dark night of the soul" crisis of faith, is one that most any Christian will no doubt deeply sympathize with if not recognize. With that in mind, I want to encourage Christians who might otherwise be skeptical of a Hollywood offering that deals openly with issues of faith to perhaps broaden their own horizons by giving "Higher Ground" a chance. In the world of the film, God loves Corinne, and she, in her heart of hearts, wants to be His faithful follower. Her important friendship to free spirited charismatic believer Annika, played exceptionally by Dagmara Dominczyk, is seen as both a necessary respite from the rest of the community and a subtly precarious codependency.

Even as Corinne drifts late in the story, the community and the culture from which she's drifting is never portrayed in a condescending or altogether distasteful light. Yes, certain characters tread in areas that could be considered biblically inappropriate. But "Higher Ground" articulates the line-crossing dread/sensation, that moment when life of fervor (something commendable) gives way to outright weirdness. Indeed, one of the greatest glories of the film is that it demonstrates how very thin that line can be while never telling us precisely where it is. For each viewer, in the context of "Higher Ground", it will likely be somewhere altogether different. This may be an uncomfortable sensation, but that's just the art of the story doing its job, which is to ask bold questions. At the risk of sounding secularly sanctimonious, this is a place where the church should not be afraid to go.

For the non-Christian viewer, "Higher Ground" offers great value in portraying a sympathetic look into a world so strange and foreign that mockery, scorn and dismissal has so often the knee-jerk first reaction by Hollywood. Understandable, even if the reaction is merely yet another round in the epic dance of blame, scorn and spite that's been brewing in the "culture war" between mainstream Christianity and Hollywood for more than a century. It's an unfortunate game of finger pointing and distain that's been around so long, it's hard to say who started it. Maybe it's finally time for both parties to look beyond that, and simply end it. Although certain institutions and practitioners of Christianity have a long and torrid checkered past rife with hurt and terror, "Higher Ground" gives a look into the larger silent majority of American believers, simple people (albeit it is this culture circa thirty or forty years ago). The film is just such a work that can usher along needed reconciliation. It does not preach this, or even preach at all - and that is to its tremendous credit. Pious judgment has no place here - one gets the relieving sense that Farmiga and Briggs are virtually incapable of that.

To be sure, Farmiga has chosen a thematically ambitious work to make her debut as director. In that sense, no, it is not perfect - but that is forgiven. She does so many other things right, and strikes a vitally necessary and rare tone, that "Higher Ground" transcends its shortcomings. (Certain characters age while others don't; certain characters change radically while others hang in unchanging space for the duration. And that bus crash could've been better visually realized.)

Some may consider "Higher Ground" a bit meandering or self indulgently long, but then again, what should be cut from the film? As a professional film and video editor, very little "fat" is apparent. As an individual who struggles daily to simply walk in the Light, the film struck me in an emotional way that few compare to. As a film lover, it is a treat to witness such a terrifically approachable yet appropriately engaging film about faith and humanity. "Higher Ground" has no pretension of being any sort of covert "Christian film". (Yes, there is such a thing. "Christian film" is it's own artistically stunted cottage industry that has generally been unable to evolve for forty-plus years now. Perhaps the sole focus on creating soul-saving propaganda in lieu of anything resembling art is part of their problem. Watching much of its output is like having live ants blown in your eyes.) Whatever your stance is on the Man from Galilee, should you put your hand in the hand of Vera Farmiga (who is not a professing believer), then you too may just be led to give charged testimony of Higher Ground.

- Jim Tudor