A white egret dips its head in a blood-tinted bayou. Something hits the water in front of a researcher, making a sound like a rifle report. Then another frog plunges and another. Before the Tabasco can soak in, flies and maggots ruin a meal.
In the spiritual thriller “The Reaping,” they are harbingers of things yet to swarm.
Things are not right in Haven, La.
Actually, biblically speaking they are so right, the town sends one of its handsomer citizens to enlist the services of Professor Katherine Winter. Doug, the town’s upstanding science teacher (a nicely underplayed David Morrissey,a soulful rationalist and a widower, hopes Katherine can provide answers for what appears to be the onset of plagues identical to those visited upon Egypt in the Bible.
Before “The Reaping” loses its way, the movie – starring Hilary Swank as the former minister turned debunker – promisingly teases and engages in generous ways the tensions between faith and skepticism.
After the traumatic loss of her husband and daughter in the Sudan, Katherine becomes one of the world’s foremost miracle busters. A scientific pilgrimage to a monastery in Concepcion, Chile, at the movie’s start proves her mettle. She’s 48 for 48 cases when she’s called to Haven. Will what she and colleague Ben find save a town and Loren McConnell, a 12-year-old outcast? The citizens believe the girl (played by Denver local AnnaSophia Robb) is the source of the disaster.
As the situation devolves, Katherine begins to have dreams and flashes that mix what is happening in Haven with the events that occurred five years earlier in the Sudan.
As Father Costigan, who knows Katherine from their time in Africa, Stephan Rea seems to be doing some sort of movie penance.
Swank is a subtly grounded performer. In a scene in which Katherine tries to tend to the mysterious Loren, who appears to be having her period for the first time, she infuses the eerie with tenderness.
Swank’s chemistry with colleague Idris Elba (HBO’s “The Wire”) is the true, sweet miracle of the film. Their rapport underscores how seldom movies depict a nonromantic friendship between men and women. Elba brings a muscular, nuanced confidence to Ben that honors the film’s balance of belief and disbelief.
Katherine is our protagonist but her doubts don’t tilt into cynicism. Not yet convinced that the events in Haven are anything more than the result of a toxic bloom, Katherine riffs on the 10 plagues of Egypt. With a “this is the house that Jack built” beauty she dismantles one of the Bible’s go-to tales: These are the microbes that infected the frogs that invited the flies that … It’s keen writing and persuasive.
“The Reaping” upholds the tradition of theologically teasing thrillers like “Rosemary’s Baby,” “The Exorcist” and “The Omen.” Written by Chad and Carey Hayes (“House of Wax”), it’s not nearly as chilling, in part because it pays tribute to those ancestors in clunky ways. John Frizzell’s score is especially indulgent.
Directed by Stephen Hopkins, the film begins gracefully, judiciously. Sadly, in its final 20 minutes, it throws its admirable caution to the wind. Before effects go tacky and emotional truths crumble, the movie pays deference to the frisson of faith and reason.
Early on, Katherine tells her students “the only miracle is that people keep believing.”
To this, believers, atheists, and those gladly wrestling in between, can all say “Exactly.”
Film critic Lisa Kennedy can be reached at 303-954-1567 or lkennedy@denverpost.com.
| “The Reaping”
R for violence, disturbing images and some sexuality|1 hour, 36 minutes|SPIRITUAL THRILLER|Directed by Stephen Hopkins; written by Carey and Chad Hayes; photography by Peter Levy; starring Hilary Swank, David Morrissey, Idris Elba, AnnaSophia Robb |Opens today at area theaters.
