Heretic
I had a good time with this horror thriller, especially for the first two-thirds. The performances from the trio of lead actors are all impressive, and the characters’ respective stances on religion are all well-represented. On the downside, the villain’s plot suffers from being overly convoluted—it’s a long walk just to make a philosophical point.
There’s a point that I want to think through, which will require spoilers, so stop reading if you don’t want to know.
Near the beginning of the movie, Sister Paxton says that she wishes to come back as a butterfly when she dies, so that she can visit her loved ones. I immediately wondered whether reincarnation was part of the Mormon belief system (it isn’t), and I assumed Mr. Reed would call her out on it, as part of his attack on religion—he would say: if her beliefs don’t even line up with the dogma of her church, how can she call herself a representative of her faith? But he doesn’t bring it up, and later, it becomes a poignant emotional moment at the end, when she sees a butterfly after her partner, Sister Barnes, is killed.
For a movie that’s so concerned with a rigorous debate about religion, I don’t think that the writers would have made this oversight. So I choose to conclude that Sister Paxton’s heretical belief in reincarnation is an intentional statement about how people engage with their faiths.
Regrettably, there was a time in my life where I would have picked on any inconsistency in a person’s faith, and used it as “proof” that religion is illogical and therefore invalid. But I’ve learned over the years that religions aren’t monoliths: their followers can accept and reject parts of their teachings, and that’s okay. Whatever people believe in, it’s just a part of their complex whole being, and acceptance should be the default position for everyone, whether or not they’re religious.
