true faith and its expression through organized religion is a difficult subject for a motion picture to tackle head-on , which is probably why so few of them do it .
even the most religious directors – like martin scorsese or ingmar bergman – usually address issues of faith in implicit rather than explicit religious terms .
so it’s not hard to see why it took robert duvall fifteen years to get ” the apostle ” onto the big-screen .
as a matter of fact , even after fifteen years he still never managed to get financial backing , and he ended up paying for it with $5 million of his own money .
he also wrote the script , directed the film , and starred as the central character , a fiery texas preacher named euliss ” sonny ” dewey .
few filmmakers have the courage and sheer audacity to take on that kind of financial , technical , and creative responsibility single-handedly , and it’s testament to what an intensely personal project this was for duvall .
and , thankfully , every bit of that personal investment translates on-screen into power and honest emotion .
sonny is an energetic , pentecostal preacher who has been speaking ( actually shouting ) from behind the pulpit since he was twelve .
he spends much of his time traveling about the country , evangelizing with other preachers at tent revivals .
unlike most hollywood characterizations of intense preachers , sonny is not a phony or a swindler , and the film’s purpose is not to unearth hypocrisy and sin in either sonny or the church .
duvall makes it abundantly clear that sonny truly believes in what he says , although like all humans , he has weaknesses .
one of his weaknesses become apparent when he finds out that , not only does his long-suffering wife , jessie ( farrah fawcett ) , want to leave him for another man in the congregation , but the two of them have secretly plotted to remove him as preacher .
faced with the loss of two things he loves passionately- his church and his family – that same raw power that allows sonny to get entire congregations rocking and swaying transforms into a violent temper .
at his son’s baseball game , sonny snaps and smashes his wife’s lover in the face with a baseball bat , inflicting a wound that may be fatal .
not knowing what else to do , sonny disappears .
he throws away his identification , drives his car into a lake , and takes a bus to louisiana , hoping to start over again .
in the tiny , mostly poor coastal town of bayou boutte , sonny once again finds his calling .
after befriending a simple auto mechanic ( walt goggins ) and tracking down the town’s ex-minister ( john beasley ) , sonny sets up his own church , the one way to heaven temple .
re-christening himself as ” the apostle e . f . , ” he quickly draws together an eager congregation , and together they realize real change in each other’s lives .
but , always , sonny’s past is lurking a step behind him , waiting to swallow his progress .
duvall has made his intentions in making ” the apostle ” clear .
in a recent article in ” newsweek , ” he wrote : ” filmmakers hardly ever depict spirituality with such a strong emphasis on the holy spirit , and when they do , it tends to be patronizing – full of charlatans and snake handlers . . .
but what i really wanted to do was try to understand what these preachers go through and what they believe , and to portray it in an accurate way . ”
the strength of duvall’s convictions turn out to be the strength of his film – ” the apostle ” always rings true , even in the most painful moments , because we know he’s being sincere with the subject matter .
after fifteen years of traveling the country , listening to all shapes and sizes of ministers and taking studious notes on what they said , duvall has captured the energy and vitality of what it means to be truly spiritual .
his sonny is a man who speaks directly to god and expects to be spoken right back to .
” i’ve always called you jesus and you’ve always called me sonny , ” he says .
when neighbors call and complain that he is being too loud one night in one his rants with the man upstairs , sonny’s mother ( june carter cash ) just hangs up on them because she knows there’s no sense trying to interrupt him .
the main theme to emerge from ” the apostle ” is the fact that good can come from any situation .
sonny’s act of violence toward another human being is inarguably a horrific thing , and duvall never shrinks from that fact .
however , that very same act of violence is what brings sonny to bayou boutte , where he finds people whom he desperately needs and who desperately need him .
in his short time in louisiana , he does a world of good , and when the police finally show up to take him away , he goes quietly , knowing that he deserves the punishment that is awaiting him .
and , as a scene during the final credits shows , he even turns his punishment into a positive opportunity for change and betterment .
it is that strength in sonny’s character that makes him so appealing and magnetic to others – he is flawed , but he is powerful enough to overcome those flaws .
weak men are the ones who simply accept their weaknesses and lack the desire to better themselves .
watching duvall on-screen , it’s not hard to imagine that he would have been a magnificent preacher if he had chosen that vocation over acting .
as sonny , he completely inhabits the character , and his performance is certainly the best of the year .
because he spent so much time absorbing the traits , methods , quirks , and personalities of real preachers , duvall was able to create a complete character who always feels indelibly human .
as a director , duvall feels that less is more .
his camera simply takes in what goes on in front of it , with very little intrusion .
there are no fancy crane shots or extended dollies or excessive close-ups .
duvall knew that the power of the film’s characters ( enhanced by the fact that he cast mostly non-professional churchgoers and actual ministers ) didn’t need to be artificially enhanced .
in this way , ” the apostle ” almost plays out like a documentary , not only in its technical simplicity , but more importantly , in its sense of reality .