LEAP OF FAITH

U.S., 1992,107 minutes, Colour
Steve Martin, Debra Winger, Liam Neeson, Lolita Davidovitch, Lukas Haas, Meat Loaf, Philip Seymour Hoffman
Directed by Richard Pearce

Jonas Nightengale is a travelling preacher throughout the Midwest, a successful healer with a big entourage. Visiting small towns in Kansas, he attracts large crowds to his rallies. With the aid and collusion of his staff, he is fed information through a microphone link about individuals in the congregation. Jane receives the data from the ushers, especially the rows where people sit and passes it on to Jonas. He is able to 'heal' and give advice on personal problems as well as on local concerns like drought.

Will, the local sheriff is unimpressed and wants Jonas out of the town. He is also attracted to Jane. Boyd, the younger brother of Marva, one of the local waitresses can walk only with the help of crutches. He comes to admire Jonas and places great faith in him by wanting to come to the assembly tent to be healed.

After disagreements with Will about local permits, Jonas puts on a spectacular revival show and impresses the townspeople with his knowledge. He also paints open the eyes on a statue of Christ and claims that it is a miracle. Will denounces him as a fake.

While Jonas is seen as a con-man, he sometimes spends time reflecting on his career and about his powers. His show-biz approach always prevails. However, when Boyd actually is healed and walks, it has such an effect on Jonas that he disappears from his troupe and goes off alone. It rains and the drought is broken.

Director Richard Pearce has made some effective movies about small town America, especially Northern Lights, Country and The Long Walk Home. Here he creates the atmosphere of a small Kansas town and a region which has suffered from drought. He also brings to life a cross-section of the population with their enthusiastic faith, their rallying around tent preachers and their using faith and prayer to cope with their problems.

Steve Martin's Jonas is an exploiter and the movie is effective in showing how he cons people, relying on his staff as they overhear problems, fix 'healings' and uses song and dance to create an atmosphere for faith healing. Jonas also has some quiet and reflective times with the huge crucifix which dominates his show.

The supporting cast is effective with Debra Winger as Jane, his assistant, ultimately ambiguous about what she is doing.
Liam Neeson is the wary and common-sensed sheriff. It is Lukas Haas who has to make audiences believe he has been healed. His cure is a powerful sequence.

While Jonas dances and cavorts in a 'leap of faith', it is the young boy who has real faith. The cure brings on a crisis in Jonas's understanding of what he does and what he believes. Leap of Faith takes its place somewhere between such movies as Elmer Gantry with his phoniness and The Apostle with his conversion and sincerity.


1. The topic of religion in the United States? Evangelical? Revivalist? In the South? Faith healings? The glitz of the tent shows? Song and dance routines? The film in favour, the critique?

2. The variety of audience responses to this kind of Christianity, faith, miracles? Faith and superstition? Gullibility?

3. Jonas as the blend of charlatan, conman, manipulator, faith?

4. The Texas settings, the town, the experience of the drought for so many years, hard times for the people, the farmers, the stores? Foreclosures? Loss of jobs? Yet people with faith? With hope? The donations? The place of God, the image of God? The plea for miracles? A miracle of rain?

5. On the road, the introduction to the group, the trucks and buses? Jonas and Jane? Hoover as the driver? Matt and Tiny and their role in the group? The crew? The workers, the singers, the speed at putting up the tent, the collage of the singers rehearsing while the workers put up the tent? The role of the police, on the road, Jonas and the bets, the tough policeman, Jonas as shrewd, picking up clues, the advice given to the policeman, his making the phone call to his estranged daughter, leaving a donation, not giving them a ticket? The cynical attitudes towards the betting?

6. The blowout, Jonas’s decision to stay in the town, the arguments for and against? Exploiting the poor people? The sheriff, his warning? Jane, Jonas and the reaction, the official request for permits, the visit to the sheriff?

7. The setup, the choir, the rehearsals, the crew, the big show, ready?

8. Jonas and Marva, Boyd? Marva’s attitudes, the owner of the diner suggesting respect? The various stories? Marva taking the orders, her work? Her care for Boyd?

9. The advertisements, the distribution, the talk around the town, urging people to go to the revivalist show?

10. The first show, the tent, the lights, the glitz, the song-and-dance routines, the choir and their dresses, Jonas and his leaving the show, his skills, dance, song, the splits? The place of the crucifix, its dominance? The staff at the entrance, Emma and her coming thirty miles, her being put in a wheelchair – for the later miracle? Getting the information from the people coming in, Jane and the computer, the earpieces? Jane and her feeding Jonas with the information? The urging of people to come up, declarations of faith, using the information about life in the town, the disputes, deaths in the family, the need for rain?

11. Jane and her relationship with Will? Playing against each other, talking, bonding, Jane telling the truth about Jonas, settling down?

12. The second show, the range of the miracles, the questions, Jane and her feeding Jonas with the clues as to how to answer the questions? The phony nature of this interchange? People believing it, faith?

13. Jonas, attracted to Marva, his place in the town, his own estimation of himself, the interactions with Will?

14. The weeping statue, the face of Jesus, the close-ups, Jonas and the ladder? His performance and his claims?

15. Boyd, his being crippled, wanting to walk, asking Jonas, Jonas urging him not to come up, his insistence, coming up, walking, the cure? Jonas’s immediate reaction? Marva and her amazement?

16. The overall effect of this real miracle on Jonas, on Marva? Boyd and his wanting to join the troupe?

17. The issue of faith, Jonas and faith, belief and non-belief?

18. Jonas, the true story of his life, the revelation, Will exposing him, Jonas exploiting the situation, confessing, acknowledging himself as a sinner, the crowds accepting this?

19. His decision to leave, the effect of the miracle on him? Getting the lift – and the irony of the miracle of the rain?

20. The film’s exploration through story and characters of audiences and faith, the lack of faith, the consequences, subjective attitudes towards faith, coincidences and miracles, suggestion? The film as a challenge to reflect on the nature of faith?