Story by Chris Graham

Cadi can’t bear the feelings of guilt that she feels over her sister’s death - so she decides to seek redemption.

Yes, I know. It’s not at all the kind of thing that you would expect to see coming out of Hollywood - an attempt at a serious exploration of faith on film, that is.

But Michael Landon Jr., the director of “The Last Sin Eater,” a Fox Faith/Bigger Picture production that opened in theaters nationwide in February, thinks the faith-and-family-values genre now has the undivided attention of movie-industry gatekeepers.

“It took ‘The Passion of the Christ’ to open up their eyes to the Christian genre in general,” Landon says.

“There was a time long, long ago when Hollywood actually did pour a huge amount of dollars into Christian world-view movies - ‘Ben Hur,’ ‘The Ten Commandments’ - and these movies became Academy Award-winning films, blockbuster films. Then they abandoned this type of genre many decades ago - and it was just recently that filmmakers like myself have been able to get a voice in the marketplace of ideas,” Landon says.

“The Last Sin Eater” was adapted from the book of the same name by Christian author Francine Rivers - who set her tale of spiritual exploration in 1850s Appalachia.

The storyline revolves around the personal crisis being experienced by 10-year-old Cadi, whose Welsh-American community has revived a tradition that has leaders choose a sin eater from among their ranks to ceremonially consume the sins of those who have died.

Cadi seeks out the sin eater to absolve her from her role in her younger sister’s accidental death - and in her wandering, both figurative and literal, comes across a Christian missionary who informs her that God has offered another avenue.

“I saw a movie years ago - Lindsay Wagner was in it, and it was about a country doctor in the mountains, and there was a small part in it about a sin eater. And I thought, Well, what is a sin eater, and why would somebody agree to do that?” Rivers says.

“It was an idea that I filed away - and when I wrote The Atonement Child, which had to do with guilt over an abortion that I had many years ago, I wanted to write a story that explored the issue of the difference between guilt and conviction. That’s when that whole idea came up about the sin eater, and how people are trapped by guilt - and yet if you go to the Lord and confess your sins, that frees you,” Rivers says.

“Mankind since the beginning has always tried to do things on their own - and tried to narrow God and have control of their own lives,” Rivers says. “I think God created us to have a relationship with Him - it’s built into us, we’re wired for that, to have a relationship with God, that very often we’re trying all kinds of other ways to fulfill that part of us, rather than surrender our life to Christ.

“That was the story - how man is trying to solve the guilt problem, and they created this sin eater to do it. And it doesn’t work. And God has a way - when there is a hunger and thirst, I believe God provides a way to hear the truth. And that’s why the Man of God ends up in the Valley - God sends him there,” Rivers says.

“If we find Him, when we go to Him, then He shows us the plan that He’s made for us - that there’s a unique plan for each of us. It’s like when we step into that plan, that’s when we experience the fulfillment that we’re looking for,” Rivers says.

The cast for “The Last Sin Eater” is top-notch - so much so that Academy Award-winner Louise Fletcher (”One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” TV’s “Picket Fences”) and two-time Golden Globe nominee Henry Thomas (”E.T.,” “Gangs of New York”) are on board in supporting roles.

Thomas says he was drawn to the film by the chance to play the mysterious Man of God character who helps set Cadi (portrayed by preteen actress Liana Liberato) on the right spiritual path.

“I thought that the character was really interesting - and it’s not often that you get approached to play a role that’s as choice as this. It’s kind of an interesting idea to play a guy who’s kind of wandering around basically just living by his convictions - and I thought that was interesting,” Thomas says.

Thomas’ Man of God is only around for a portion of the film - “but he plays such a pivotal role in what happens,” Thomas says.

“I hadn’t done anything like that before,” Thomas says. “As far as preparing for it, at the time, in the period, there were a lot of religious reformers wandering about. If you were a radical of any sort at that time, you were a religious radical. I kind of drew on that a bit - and just the spirituality of the time. As opposed to now, I think in the 19th century, the idea of America and people immigrating here, the number-one reason back then was more of a religious reason - to come here to escape religious persecution. That was still very fresh in people’s minds.”

Even with more in the way of support from Hollywood toward those who want to make movies with faith themes, Landon had to “scratch and claw” on a tight budget to get “The Last Sin Eater” made - and it shows in the special effects, which are more reminiscent of 1980s made-for-TV movie fare than you would think that Landon would have liked.

To Landon, the focus was on “making sure that we didn’t compromise the material.”

“On a personal level, I hope that the power of redemption and forgiveness touches people’s hearts - and that the idea, the concept, that there is someone who truly can forgive us of our sins, and we can be free from those sins - I hope that for Christians, it solidifies that idea, and for those who aren’t Christians, that it makes them search for the truth,” Landon says.

Rivers thinks the message that she was trying to get across on paper comes across in the celluloid version of her story.

“I think they capsulized the story very well - they got the heart of the story. I was very pleased with what they did with it,” Rivers says.

“A movie is a completely different animal than a book - I knew that going in. Everything has to be visual - and it has to stay on Cadi throughout the whole movie, whereas in the book it turns more to the sin eater toward the end to tell his story from his point of view. But I think they did a terrific job of writing the script and following through and presenting the story,” Rivers says.

And now for the big questions - will people go to the theater to see it, or buy it to watch at home?

Time will tell on both counts - but the answers to the above will go a long way toward setting the parameters for the future of the faith-film industry.

“Even those who believe in the content and its message know that it costs quite a bit of money to make a film - even a little film like this. So there’s the reality of the business side of filmmaking. And obviously, you want those people to get their money back - because that obviously also drives the marketplace, and what other product comes into the marketplace of ideas,” Landon says.
“As long as there’s an audience, these films will continue to be made,” Thomas says. “I think it’s a good indicator that Fox is interested in distributing films like this. But at the end of the day, the film business is a business - so as long as these films are drawing audiences, then they’ll continue to be made and distributed.”
“I think the movies are going to get better and better - and it’s up to us as Christians to go see them,” Rivers says. “If the audience isn’t big enough, then the movies won’t be made - because in Hollywood, it’s all about making money. They’ll make anything if it makes money.

“That’s going to be the deciding factor, I think, in the success of any of these movies. Is there going to be an audience that’s going to show up to the theater to watch it?”

Filed under: 7-April 2007 Issue