MERCY

US, 2016, 90 minutes, Colour.
James Wolk, Tom Lipinski, Caitlin Fitz Gerald, Mike Donovan, Dan Ziskie, Michael Godere, Dion Graham.
Directed by Chris Sparling.

Mercy is a dramatic melodrama.

The initial focus is on a woman upstairs in her house, ill and in pain, dying. A doctor arrives with a bag with medication but her husband is unwilling to give it. It is experimental. Will she die or get better?
The complication is her will, her having two children from her first husband who was brutal and died mysteriously, having two children from her present husband. The sons are interested in their mother’s death and their inheritance which is considerable. The present husband wants to inherit and make decisions about the inheritance. This leads to scenes of conflict between the various contenders.

Then the film veers towards home invasion of masked intruders. It emerges that they come from the local church where the mother had been a considerable presence, one of the sons looking at a video of her campaigning. They set fire outside the house creating huge letters with the word Mercy.

Where the film becomes complicated and audiences have to pay attention is that the episodes are repeated, from two different points of view, of the different brothers. The main focus is on the older brothers (who look actually younger), one coming out of prison and concerned about his mother, the other bringing his girlfriend and concerned about inheritance.

In many ways, this is an experimental horror film with complex underlying themes, requiring close attention from the audience to combine the two perspectives on the events.

1. A complex melodrama, family and inheritance, home invasion, consequences of religious cults, different perspectives on the events?

2. The home setting, the grounds, the buildings, the home interiors? The church? The countryside? The musical score?

3. The situation, Grace and her dying, her pain? Cared for by her husband, George? The memories of her first husband, brutal? His death? The place in the church, the video, the appeal for the church, the collapse, the violence? Her being confined to her bed? The doctor, the visit, the experimental drugs, the possibility of ending her pain, or recovery? George and his unwillingness to use the drugs, taking the bag and its staying in the room?

4. The inheritance, George and his expectations? The four sons? The two from the previous father (although looking younger than the other two)? George’s sons?

5. The machinations about Grace and her illness, her death, the personalities of the sons, conflict with their father, wanting their inheritance?

6. Travis, his coming from jail, violent reactions? Brad, coming with his girlfriend? Their intentions about their mother, the inheritance? Travis and bike?

7. The shift of the focus to the masked intruders, the doctor sitting in the church, the connection with the congregation? The increasing number of masked invaders?

8. Audience alert to be watching the two versions of the events? Deaths, survivors? The intruders, some reluctant to kill, mask coming off, the increasing pressures from the group? Their identities, from the Church? The word Mercy in flames outside the house? The meaning of Mercy – for Grace?

9. The younger brothers, their story, the attacks, violence?

10. Travis and Brad, Brad in the room, his girlfriend, waking, the suspicions in the house? The girlfriend, the glass, her injuries, being pursued in the woods? Brad, his watching the video, understanding the mission of his mother?

11. The two perspectives on what happened to all the brothers and the girlfriend?

12. The intruders, the attack on George, his defence, falling down the stairs, his death?

13. The medicine given to Grace, her being carried out, recovery?

14. The repercussions on the characters, dead in survivors, the inheritance?