THE LAST SINEATER
US, 2007, 117 minutes, Colour.
Liana Liberato, Louise Fletcher, Henry Thomas, Soren Fulton, A.J. Buckley, Stewart Finlay- Mc Lennan, Peter Wingfield, Elizabeth Lackey, Thea Rose.
Directed by Michael Landon Jr.
One of the Fox Faith department films that were promised at the end of 2006. This one is based on a popular novel for children and so the film is geared to the family audience. It has been directed by Michael Landon Jr who also directed the Love Comes Softly series about the pioneers of the west, some of which are part of the Fox Faith program.
The Sineater is a creation of Welsh and Scottish Christians, a creation that has all the hallmarks of dark superstition but which also sounds akin to tenets of the doctrine of Purgatory.
In the Appalachian mountains in the 19th century, the Welsh migrants nominated a sineater from their community who would attend the funeral and by symbolically eating and drinking at the graveside would offer to take on himself all the sins of the deceased.
In this story a young girl feels that she has been responsible for the accidental death of her younger sister. She breaks the custom of looking at the sineater at a funeral and then seeks him out for him to absolve her.
The community is a God-fearing one but dominated by a brutal patriarch, harsh on his own son, and the secret of the past brutal dealings with the Indians. Into the village comes a Christian ‘Man of God’ (Henry Thomas) who challenges the beliefs and explains that Jesus is the original sineater. He pays for his convictions with suffering but is able to bring peace to the young girl and the son of the patriarch.
This is a particularly American story with a strong focus on children. There is a surface house on the prairie atmosphere but the hidden dark side needs exposing and healing. It is a film about different kinds of faith.
1.A popular story, novel for children? The adaptation for the screen? For younger audiences? For parents? As part of the Fox Faith Values program?
2.The title, the legends about the Sin Eater, the Welsh migrants, the folklore at home? Death, sins, the funeral, the community selecting someone to be the Sin Eater, the ritual at the funeral, eating and drinking from the coffin, taking away the sins of the deceased, living apart?
3.The Appalachian Mountains, the beauty, the village, the river, the isolation? Miz Elda and her telling the story of the migration, coming from Wales, with the traditions? Settling in the valley, cohabiting with the Indians? The later revelation of the Kai family, the witnessing of the attack on the Indians, the massacre? The further isolation of the community, wanting the Sin Eater?
4.The opening with Cadi, her grandmother’s death? The Sin Eater, the funeral, the children not supposed to look at the Sin Eater’s face, Cadi looking? Her own sense of sin, feeling responsible for the death of her sister, wanting the Sin Eater to take her sins? The individual who was the Sin Eater, his isolated life? The story of his selection? The later revelation that the election was fixed, the jealousy of Brogan Kai, his wanting to marry? His victimising the Sin Eater? The Sin Eater and his rehabilitation with the community?
5.The focus of the film on Cadi, her parents, her dead sister, her life in the house, at the farm, her friendship with the Kai children, especially Fagan? Their playing together, the boys’ fights, Cadi being shunned? Her life in the town, with her parents, her mother’s grief about her sister’s death, Cadi feeling rejected by her mother, her mother saying she wished Cadi had died instead of the grandmother? Cadi and her venturing out, looking for the Sin Eater, getting Fagan to help her? Going to visit Miz Elda, listening to her stories, looking after her? Lilybet, the imaginary friend, the discussions with Cadi, the other children not seeing her, thinking she was mad, her parents and their concern? The effect of Lilybet?
6.The Kai family, the father and his bullying his children, his hurting Fagan? His ultimately confronting him? The truth about the Kai family, the ancestry and the witness to the killings of the Indians? The selection of the Sin Eater and Kai’s jealousy? The final confrontation – and the meeting with the Man of God, Kai killing him?
7.Miz Elda, her place in the community, her wisdom, her liking the children? Their visits, listening to her stories? Her eventually telling the truth about everything?
8.The Man of God, his being in the woods, surviving in the woods, the encounter with Cadi? A born-again Christian, his message of Jesus? Cadi and her ignorance? Discussions about the Sin Eater, the Man of God saying that this was superstition? That Jesus was the man Sin Eater for all people? Cadi and Fagan, caring for the Man of God, Kai and his brutal attack, killing the Man of God?
9.The parents, their care for Cadi, their place in the town? Concern about the Man of God? The other people in the town?
10.The Sin Eater himself, the isolation, the woman who cared for him? Not wanting his face to be seen? His unhappy life? Cadi going to him, his performing the ritual for her? Not wanting her to see him again? The Man of God, the rehabilitation of the Sin Eater?
11.The detail of the way of life, the sense of sin, religious sense, community? The importance of Cadi having her sins eaten – and the flashbacks to her memory of her fights with her sister, the toy, her sister trying to cross the stream, her fall and death? Cadi blaming herself?
12.An interesting exploration of religious themes in the American heritage? In the isolation of the Appalachian Mountains?
