Thursday, April 9, 2015

The Overnighters (2014)

Director: Jesse Moss. 102 min. Rated PG-13. Documentary.

It has accrued 98% on the Tomatometer, so you probably can't go wrong here. It's about a very palpable moral/religious dilemma: can you "love thy neighbor" ... when your neighbor is (suppose) a registered sex offender? It carries a strong message: no matter how much good you do, one evil deed will haunt you for the rest of your life. And although its shocking final act seems discordant with the rest of it, in actuality, it's very concordant. Just one problem: some moments of this documentary are so intimate, I'm suspicious some of it is staged. That undermines its power.

Mo says:

4 comments:

  1. I agree that some of it seems staged or perhaps reenacted.

    Love thy neighbor is good as an idea but would I let a sex offender share my family home? NO!!

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    1. Now that you mention, I have a lot of issues with "turn the other cheek" also ...

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  2. I have many friends who are Christians and very few would turn the other cheek but as Christians know they are all sinners and as long as they ask forgiveness they can pretty much do whatever they want!

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