Z/Web

Author: Brian Helgeland

Director: Brian Helgeland

I remember when this came out I had thought about seeing it until I heard the horrible reviews and it disappeared from theaters quickly. Now that star Heath Ledger is dead and getting acting accolades it seemed a good time to check it out. It’s a strange film. It feels incomplete, as though this was a rough draft. It’s got a shockingly talented cast and crew (it was written and directed by Brian Helgeland, the Oscar-winning writer of LA Confidental), but it’s haphazardly put together with inconsistent performances and structure. It’s actually not that bad of a concept: a “sin eater” absorbs the sins of another, giving them redemption, but lives an immortal life of purgatory filled with the guilt of others’ crimes. Such a person is very much opposed by the Church, who regard his actions as sacrilegious. Heath’s character is a priest following up the death of his mentor and is offered the chance to become the next sin eater. He’d have power and immortality. He chooses love instead, and then is cruelly tricked into accepting the role. The moral questions surrounding this issue are interesting, but they aren’t explored. The film is filled with so much mumbo-jumbo and cheesy special effects, and the simple plot is presented in such a confusing backwards manner — apparently meant to be more of a mystery — that it is utterly disinteresting. Worse, we never really meet or understand the main characters, so we care nothing about what happens to them. The misleading title doesn’t help either (I was expecting more of a religious conspiracy theory along the lines of The Davinci Code). Ultimately, this is an idea that had potential, but it was ineptly handled in every manner, from script to directing to performing, and it’s a disappointment throughout.

This was not what I expected. I’d heard it was brutal and outrageous, and the corrupt cop who gambles, sniffs cocaine and shoots heroin, steals from crooks, and abuses his authority didn’t surprise me. But I hadn’t expected this to be about such an awful man having a pang of conscience over his crimes. When a nun is brutally raped, she claims to have forgiven the rapists. He even overhears that she knew who they were (kids from the Catholic school) but she refuses to tell on them. Our “bad lieutenant” can’t fathom this as it goes against his every corrupt instinct and it torments him. Harvey Keitel is flawless in the awful role, utterly believable and disgusting, and to see him moaning and screaming in a spiritual quandary is amazing. The ending is surprising and makes you think. It’s a surprisingly cerebral film, though it depends too heavily on the shock value of a ultra-corrupt cop. It’s not a pleasant film at all, and the story, such as it is, is convoluted and rambling and confusing (the baseball betting left me baffled, as I don’t follow the sport and I never did figure out which team he was betting on and if they ultimately won or lost), but it’s worth seeing just for Keitel’s performance.