Chattanooga Film Festival Coverage
In the Name of God review.
A religious horror movie that asks different questions…and finds more interesting answers…than most.
Festival reviews will not contain spoilers.
In the Name of God
Directed by Ludvig Gür
Written by Ludvig Gür
Starring Linus Wahlgren, Vilhelm Blomgren, Lisa Henni, Thomas Hanzon, Charlie Gustafsson, Isabelle Grill and Ines Milans
In the Name of God Review
In the Name of God carries its interesting ideas for two full acts before it flies too close to the sun. The trip is worth taking even if the result gets a little too sloppy for its own good. When the story stick to the personal cost of the story’s central concept…In the Name of God delivers. When it attempts to expand into something bigger…it proves it should stick to its humbler aspirations.
Theodor (Linus Wahlgren) is a Priest with no flock. He has his own congregation…of less than a handful. His wife Felicia (Lisa Henni) is the organist at his parish. Together they comprise about a third of the attendance. When his old mentor Jonas (Thomas Hanson) arrives…Theodor’s life changes forever.
Jonas used to be a man of faith himself. When he tragically lost his family…that faith waned. The Jonas who walks back into Theodor’s life has had his faith completely restored. He wants to share that with his former pupil. To his credit, Theodor has no interest in whatever strange thing Jonas is selling. That is until Felicia falls gravely ill. The doctors inform Theodor that his wife is unlikely to survive. Jonas informs him that he knows how to cure her.
In the Name of God is not your average religious horror movie. This isn’t the story of a man finds his faith so that e can overcome evil. This is a story that questions what evil is…and a God who rewards you for knowing the difference. Jonas brings Theodor to a man who has been chained up. He is a recently released felon who sexually assaulted multiple women. Jonas explains that God will grant him a miracle if he kills a person as wicked as this. The blood of sinners will cure her. After some consternation…Theodor kills the man. He returns to his wife’s side to pray for her. That’s when the miracle happens. Felicia is completely healed.
News of this miracle reaches every corner of the small town. The pews are full for Theodor’s next service. A parishioner with a dying wife begs him to pray for her…to save her the way Felicia was saved. Why wouldn’t Theodor consider it? He’s seen God’s miracle with his own eyes. Is the life of a rapist of murderer not worth the life of an innocent woman? Jonas confirms that he passed a gift on to Theodor. Do what God commands and he will listen to your prayers. What Jonas fails to mention, however, is the cost of failing to cleanse the world of the sinners.
Theodor tracks down an unrepentant child predator and sacrifices him to save the woman. What’s so interesting about this idea is that it isn’t hard to understand why Theodor does it. He’s a man of faith who has seen proof that God listens to him when he removes evil from the world. If God wants this…how can it be wrong?
The second miracle draws the attention of Erik (Vilhelm Blomgren). He’s asking too many of the right questions to believe that In the Name of God isn’t about to go down a very predictable path. Then…it doesn’t. The story has plenty of surprises in store in the second half. The story turns are well thought out. They’re executed just as well. It isn’t until the focus of the story is pulled from Theodor’s hands and into something larger that the movie begins to buckle. Tragedy strikes when Theodor fails. The true breadth of his power is balanced by the true horror of failing to use it.
In the Name of God is a very good movie. Had it stuck the landing it would have been a great one. There is plenty to enjoy before those wheels fall off…and mileage varies on these things anyway. Perhaps you’ll find the ending stronger than I did. I was left wishing for a continuing character study on a Priest torn between an ability to do good at the fear of unleashing evil. In the Name of God inevitably shifts the message towards the power and not the character. A brief misstep.
Scare Value
In the Name of God starts off strong and remains at a high level for an impressively long time. A wonderfully acted and endlessly interesting story develops. It briefly loses focus in the end…but that’s not enough to undo the quality of what came before. One of the better “crisis of faith” movies we’ve seen in some time. It asks different questions that religious based horror normally does…and it finds more interesting answers.
