The Last Sin Eater

Last night I watched "The Last Sin Eater"...and my thumbs-up follows: The Last Sin Eater Taiz rating for plot: 4.5 out of 5 Taiz rating for cleanliness: 5 out of 5 Taiz rating for creativity: 4.8 out of 5 Taiz rating for a deeper message: 5 out of 5 Publicly Rated: PG-13 (for violence and thematic elements) This movie is one of those rare jewels of a Christian movie that is very well done. I began it last night not knowing what to expect. You can form your own ideas about what a movie is going to be like from the cover of the DVD, but generally (more often than not) mine are quite off. I thought that this might be a really "cheezy" movie with one of those thin plots that got done by a Christian film-maker just because it was Christian in theme...if you know what I mean. (Though, I must admit, I laughed a few times just at the term "Sin Eater" throughout the movie...I'm not really sure why.) The movie starts out with a rather confusing and mysterious scene...and actually, you don't really start to "get" the movie until half-way through. (ADVICE: Watch it ALL the way though before forming opinions about it, and it would probably be best to watch it more than once. I wouldn't reccommend reading too many reviews about it. I think this movie works best not knowing exactly what will happen next.) They worked it so that pieces of the puzzle are given to you early on, but they are pieces that don't make sense without the rest of the puzzle. I rather like movies like that, because they aren't as predictable. Here is the general outline of the movie: A little girl named Caddie is one of the Celtic immigrants to the Appalachians. The Celts have an old practice that requires a "sin eater" to come to the funeral of a person who has died and eat bread and drink wine laid on that person. In this way the sin eater (chosen by another ritual) would take all of their sins on himself, and assure that person forgiveness of their sins in the "after-life". It is against tradition to look at or touch the sin-eater. It is said that, if you DO look at him, evil will follow you always. However, at her grandmother's funeral, Caddie looks the sin-eater in the eye...and she is never the same. From that time on her past sins come back to haunt her, and especially a terrible sin that she has told herself was all her fault. She feels like she can't live with the guilt of this sin, and that she MUST find the sin-eater, so he can "eat" away her sins, and she can be forgiven - if he can't help her (since she's not dead yet, and traditionally, your sins can only be "eaten" once you are dead), she has been contemplating death. Her faithful friend, "Fagin" accompanies her on many of her searches, and at one point in the movie, the discourse is as follows: Caddie: "You don't have to go with me." Fagin: "Yes I do! I have to protect you." I thought that was great. :) Well, without spoiling the movie, I will say that, Caddie DOES find help from the mysterious sin eater...but not in the same way as she could have hoped. The scenes that might not be good for little children include: Caddie's dead grandmother. They show her after she has died. (They also show someone else after he has died, for a few seconds.) The Sin-Eater is pretty creepy looking...he looks a bit like a ring-wraith from LOTR...so if they've seen that and didn't have nightmares, then they should be fine. Fagin and a stranger get beat up by Fagin's father...several times. Very severely beat up (includes blood and big bruises). Fagin's father also almost strangles Caddie. Caddie contemplates throwing herself off of a tree-bridge into a rushing river below several times. Indians get shot. So, to sum it up - I cried more in this movie and Facing the Giants than any other two movies that I have seen. It was a very interesting perspective on forgiveness and sin...and ended in a touching way. It is a movie that I HIGHLY recommend for EVERYONE to see. P.S. You may want the English subtitles on the first time you watch it. ~Lady Tai