Dir. Brian Helgeland
The main character is a rogue priest, Father Alex (Heath Ledger.) He belongs to a small order of the Catholic church called the Carolingians. The order has a two-fold mission. They are ravenous knowledge gatherers, surpassing even the Jesuits in their learnings. They are also the only order that still deals with the darker side of spirituality. They can perform exorcisms, deal with demons, the undead, ghosts, all manner of things that go bump in the night (including two really creepy kids.) Apparently Father Alex got shot during an exorcism, by the possessed woman. One of the first things that happens is Mara (Shannyn Sossamon) showing up after leaving the mental hospital she was committed to. She is the woman who shot Father Alex. They had bonded over the whole possessed/exorcism/shooting thing apparently. After making her promise not to try to kill him again, they go off to Rome, because the head of Alexs order had died. Alex calls in Father Thomas, the only other surviving Carolingian. Father Thomas (Mark Addy) steals the show, because hes the only one with the funny lines. The show is so dark that Thomass one liners shine like back-lit gems. The priests find out a sin-eater was present when Dominic died. Dominic was the head of the order, and the three (the two priests and the woman) are determined to find out how and why he died.
One of the things The Order is about physical manifestations of spirituality. When the sin-eater takes on someone elses sin, the sin comes out of the body in a visual state (It looks kind of like a big jellyfish. A central mass, with lots of tentacles.) The first time you see the sin-eater (Benno Furmann) he blowing on a dandelion fluff, and the fluff stays in the air while hes talking. Sowing the seeds of weeds. Theres a heart-breaking scene that takes place in a room flooded with sunlight. You can see billions of dust-particles in the air. Thats all we are, really, when all is said and done. Plus, one of the characters dreams is dying at the time, so his life is crumbling. Is that what the dust is supposed to be, his life falling around him, swirling in the air?
Something I found very interesting in a movie that is all about sin, and religion, and salvation, is that God is never really brought into the equation. The movie talks about the church taking away peoples sins, and last rites being performed (or not performed) and the souls getting to heaven. How a sin-eater can free a soul to heaven when a priest wont. God judging souls isnt mentioned, ever. I dont know if its because the movie is Catholic Church based, and within the movie, anyway what the church says is the truth. I dont think thats the reason, though. I kind of get the feeling that God is too big to be mentioned by these people. That God is going to do what He likes, regardless of whats going on here, and that all this is just doing what people can in the meantime. But in the show sin is real, and removal of sin is real, so maybe I just dont know enough about religion to figure it out.
The story is about fighting against the darkness, and getting overwhelmed, losing your path, doing the best you can with what you know. All those things make for a host of characters in shades of grey. I love that in a story. I think it makes it lovely and dark. Oh, and cool.
I rate it: Full Price
Heath Ledger as Father Alex (rogue priest)
Shannyn Sossamon as Mara (rogue priest groupie)
Benno Furmann as Eden (sin-eater)
Mark Addy as Father Thomas (rogue priest with sense of humor)
Peter Weller as Cardinal Driscoll
Tivia: Heath Ledger, Shannyn Sossamon and Mark Addy all worked together in A Knights Tale. That movie was written and directed by Brian Helgeland, who wrote and directed this one.