The Apostle
Robert Duvall (1997)

This film is a powerful testimony to the courage of a man of conviction. Watching it feels like a spiritual experience. It’s about a Southern pastor who preaches with the best of them, but can’t control his personal life.

Having accidentally killed a man, he leaves town to escape his past, and does the only thing he knows how: he builds a church in an attempt to atone for his sin.

The writer-director respects the audience, and takes it for granted that they believe in God. Duvall is so involved with the main character (called “Sonny”) that you almost expect him to fly out of the screen when his preaching takes over. The film is surprisingly compassionate toward a deeply flawed man.

But it is about more than one man’s struggle. It manages to deal, at some level, with many of the strengths and weaknesses of the institutional Church as we experience it today.

Sonny is shown to have been preaching since he was about eight years old. There are disturbing elements to the way he mimics the old preacher of his childhood; and he has become unable to speak any language other than Gospel-speak. This is inadequate to his sense of personal crisis.

Duvall manages to collect a comprehensive set of the worst elements of the Christian Church:

• Religious language used to distort the truth — for example, shouting “Jesus!” repeatedly, as if it were a mantra to keep demons at bay.

• People who know what they believe, but have never been invited to think about why they believe it.

• Using the phrase “it was God’s will” as a means of avoiding personal responsibility.

• People who are unable to describe or explain anything in terms that those outside the Christian set can understand.

• The commercialisation of faith.

• Schism seen as a positive thing — if you disagree with someone, just start another church.

• The unprofessionalism of some clergy (“I can set up churches like this in my sleep”), and the unrealistic expectations held by some churchgoers.

• Salvation as a formula — just say the right words, or agree with the right doctrines, and it happens.

• The destructive fear of the Devil. (If Satan attacks only people who are supposedly important in the Kingdom of God, then the people who experience famine, or indeed the citizens of Iraq, must have a high calling.)

Fortunately, the good news about Christian faith is here, too:

• The direct relationship between Sonny and God. He has a genuinely conversational (and childlike) relationship with the Divine — what Brother Lawrence called “practising the presence of God”. He does not blame God for his own mistakes.

• There is a clear belief in the power of God to forgive instantly. The multiracial church that Sonny builds is a true example of how Christian mission can transform the world. Everyone is welcome in this community, even those who have not yet “made a decision for Christ”. It is a community of the broken, for the broken.

• One character says: “Always be ready to make God welcome.” The film encourages us to create space for God in our lives.

• Being part of a faith-based community helps Sonny to accept his fate, and the church accepts his failure; grace is everywhere. This is also shown in the scene in which Sonny baptises himself.

• Finally, the vibrancy and risibility of the Church’s humanity is found throughout the film. There is nothing as alive as a church when it’s working. An old man blowing his trumpet badly in church is a sign of the humour. The ability to laugh at itself is, perhaps, one of the most valuable things about the Christian community.

• Finally, the vibrancy and risibility of the Church’s humanity is found throughout the film. There is nothing as alive as a church when it’s working. An old man blowing his trumpet badly in church is a sign of the humour. The ability to laugh at itself is, perhaps, one of the most valuable things about the Christian community.

The final scene, in which Sonny declares his faith to a revival service, is a tour de force. It may remind us of our own experience of making a faith commitment. But it also underlines the need to take things further than an altar call. Sonny’s life can find meaning only in community. Only then can he take responsibility for his actions and face the past.

His original mistake was allowing his principles to be eroded and anger to get the better of him. But he found a way to admit his brokenness when he gave something good to others. In the mean time, he has also given back dignity to lonely people; and, in developing the church, he has built a community where there was none.

Scenes to watch:

The car crash
(03:47 – 09:21)
Sonny comes across a car crash while out driving with his mother.

Starting a church
(41:43 – 42:28 and 48:28 – 51:50)
Sonny baptises himself, then goes in search of a local pastor’s blessing.

The end
(1:46:12 – end)
The police have caught up with Sonny, but there’s time for one more service.

Discussion questions:  

1. Is Sonny’s relationship with God overly sentimental, or can we learn something from it? What do you think about the concept of a relationship with God?

2. Sonny’s church includes people from a wide range of backgrounds — but churches are not always so open. How could your church be more inclusive?

3. What does Christian conversion mean to you? How can we create communities where people are restored after making terrible mistakes?