In Walden, Henry David Thoreau writes “If I knew for a certainty that a man was coming to my house with the conscious design of doing me good, I should run for my life.” While this could be taken as a precaution against solicitors of all kinds, it implies a deeper meaning, that one’s own inner truth requires guarding from those who would displace it. This is a meaning that is especially relevant to the film, “Heretic.”
Assuredly, this is not a film that will convert anyone. What this film does is reveal the potential extremism that is present when a doctrine is promoted. As much as we’d like to believe otherwise, it is very possible for people to become so much a slave of their own structures of belief that they are compelled to verify the validity of those beliefs.
Two young cautiously resolute missionaries (played unassumingly by Thatcher and East) from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints pay a visit to one of their potential converts. When Mr. Reed (an ambiguously charming Grant) answers the door, the foreboding tension that’s created is less derived from more typical expectations dictated by the horror genre and more by how we search for evidence to support faith. In some instances, that just could be more terrifying; writers/directors Beck and Woods carefully and deliberately see to it that it is.
The film comes off as an imposing play at times, much of it taking place in two-dimensional settings within the oppressive walls of Mr. Reed’s house. Seemingly separated into acts, as we’re led deeper and deeper inside, the narrative takes on a slightly ritualistic tone, if not merely to praise a divine being but to arrive at absolute truth. The more the two devoted visitors attempt to engage with Reed in his dubious sanctuary, the more they’re uncomfortably aware of the mistake they made in not keeping their distance.
What unfolds is a deconstruction of accepted dogma and a questioning of how deeply rooted tenets can challenge the mind to do all it can to sustain its own order and logic. If all of the conspiracy theory, fanaticism, misinformation, etc. present here aren’t enough to hold your attention, just try letting yourself out of Mr. Reed’s securely locked house.
In a world of turmoil based on the antagonism between accepted truths, science and religion often refuse to mix. Outside of debates pertaining to what is factual and what is based on faith, an individual is left with assessing the integrity of what they believe.
“Heretic” doesn’t necessarily attempt to answer such questions for anybody, but it certainly sends out a warning to be wary of what can happen when we try.
