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Erroneous 'Catholicism' in the River of Darkness

 


Screenwriter: Bruce Koehler

Director: Bruce Koehler

Rating: 👎

If you are Catholic, do not waste yourself watching this film.

The Review

The 2011 independent film tells of a ‘rural’ (not ‘urban’) legend involving an avenging ghost who was murdered several years ago for a crime they did not commit but the townspeople levied against them. The plot is built on the foundation of scapegoating. The plot is complicated by the local townspeople's conspiracy, local law enforcement politics, and the presence of city-based paranormal researchers who are oblivious to the real danger they have inserted themselves out of curiosity.

It is not known how Catholic the townspeople are. However, they have a church and do believe in evil spirits, including the storyline’s superstition of evil spirits reappearing for revenge and capable of killing flesh-and-blood human beings. Unmistakably, the plot is the stuff of rural legend. The Catholic understanding of demonology does not agree with the concept of avenging evil spirits. Demons or evil spirits are pure spirits, unembodied. Thus, they have no physical power against human beings unless possessed with the possessed person doing the physical killing. In brief, evil spirits cannot kill.

The Catholic element in this film consists of a Catholic priest and a Catholic laywoman, the latter playing an important supporting role in the story. Bruce Koehler, a less documented director and producer of the film who also wrote the story, had not researched the Catholic elements in his story. If he did, he had researched poorly. This resulted in two conceptual errors: a priest (Father William) who have no influence on his female parishioner and a female parishioner (Mary Rutledge) who knows the spiritual value of the Holy Rosary but does not have a clear understanding of the grievous nature of killing another human being for whatever reason. However, because of limited information about him on the Web, it cannot be known if Koehler is or has been a Catholic. Most likely, he was not when he wrote and directed the movie. The representation of Catholicism in the movie is simply dismal.

In the story, Father William (Brendan McCormack) appeared in a single scene wherein he sought the help of Sheriff Will Morgan because Mary Rutledge, obviously his parishioner was praying a Rosary in the Church, whispering about the descent of evil in town, which frightened the other parishioners inside. In real life, either the priest simply let Mary continue the prayer without bothering her or talk to her about the matter and suggest an alternative to avoid frightening other parishioners instead of seeking the help of a non-believing sheriff. This brought the story a contrived feeling as the story unfolded. The plot has ceased to be convincing.

In another scene, Mary told Sheriff Will that it is alright and not sinful for the people to kill and only God can judge if it is mortal sin. That is ignorance at its worst. This opinion did not reflect the teachings of the Catholic Church, which is unequivocal on her teaching that killing is a mortal sin unless an element of insanity or self-defense is involved.

Meanwhile, the production details of the film are an interesting story to tell itself. The cast consists of retired professional wrestlers (Kurt Angle as Sheriff Will Logan, Kevin Nash as Jayden Jacobs, Sid Eudy as Jonah Jacobs, and Raymond Lloyd as Clark Higgins) and independent director-producers (Alan Kelly as Mary Rutledge and Samuel Hinzman and Harvey Hix). Thus, there is a strong feeling that the film project was financed by the actors themselves. However, no such indication appeared in the credits for producers. 

Overall, though, there is nothing Catholic in this movie. There is no fruitful reflection to be made, too.

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