Apostasy: "BEYOND BELIEF" ★★★★ - THE SUNDAY TIMES

[Jack Ryan]

 

An article in The Sunday Times, a British national Sunday newspaper and 'sister' paper to The Times (that only prints from Mon to Sat). The Sunday Times has a circulation of around 720,000-copies each Sunday making it Britain's largest-selling 'quality press / broadsheet' Sunday newspaper.

The Sunday Times (UK), Sunday, July 29, 2018 - Culture Section, page 12

Apostasy is a moving depiction of a family constrained by the rules of life as JehovahÂ’s Witnesses

Daniel KokotajloÂ’s impressive film Apostasy is a gloomy British drama that draws its misery from a fairly novel source: the rules of being a JehovahÂ’s Witness. Kokotajlo grew up in that religion, and his movie shows great compassion for people in its thrall, but he sure doesnÂ’t think they are on a path to happiness.

Set in present-day Oldham, the film is a portrait of a single mother, Ivanna, and her two daughters, both of whom might be lost to her if she won’t relax her adherence to the Witnesses’ doctrines. The older girl, Luisa, is a student who becomes pregnant and questions her faith, causing her to be “disfellowshipped” — cast out from the flock. Ivanna’s maternal love remains strong, but she knows she is allowed only minimum contact with her ostracised child. Meanwhile, her younger daughter, 18-year-old Alex, is as devout as they come, but is also dangerously anaemic, and her refusal (in keeping with her creed’s teachings) to consider blood transfusions could put her life at risk.

AlexÂ’s health is obviously going to have consequences at some point in the story. And when they arrive, Kokotajlo proves he can resist melodramatic huffing and puffing. A terrible event does occur, but itÂ’s presented quietly and plays a valid part in the filmÂ’s poignant testing of IvannaÂ’s loyalties. Indeed, thereÂ’s one area in which the film is perhaps a bit too restrained. What made Ivanna the way she is? What became of her husband? KokotajloÂ’s silence here is clearly not accidental, but itÂ’s more frustrating than intriguing.

Ivanna remains a believable character, though, and she’s well played by Siobhan Finneran (previously seen in the television series Happy Valley), who gives her the solidity and sternness of a northern soap-opera matriarch before revealing the pain she endures as her zeal is shaken. There are good performances, too, from Sacha Parkinson — hollow-eyed as the isolated, anguished Luisa — and Molly Wright, who plays Alex with the right kind of ordinary sweetness.

As for Kokotajlo’s directorial skills, they are well honed in what is his first feature. When Alex prays, we see her speaking aloud in shots that float ever so slightly between realism and abstraction, giving us a heightened sense of how close to Jehovah she feels. The film moves smoothly and even gets away with a rather mannered fondness for sombre lighting — though you might still wonder if the Witnesses’ rules somehow limit their use of lightbulbs.

That’s one doctrinal question the film never gets round to, but in other respects Kokotajlo does provide bits of information about the Witnesses’ belief system. He can include the necessary dialogue quite realistically, given that he’s dealing with characters who tend to preach. The film is certainly meant as an exposé, highlighting a sect’s dubious practices. Crucially, though, it’s not bluntly journalistic. It’s a potent story of individuals and it understands the fear any of us might feel if our place in a family or a community was threatened.

Read online version:
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/film-review-apostasy-lz00nnk5n

The Sunday Times (UK), Sunday, July 29, 2018 - Culture Section, page 20

This credible drama about life in a British community of Jehovah's Witnesses centres on a family damaged by rules from which they can barely imagine escaping.

[Jack Ryan]

????? Five Star APOSTASY Review - THE SUNDAY EXPRESS

An article in The Sunday Express, a British national Sunday newspaper and 'sister' paper to The Daily Express (that only prints from Mon to Sat). The Sunday Express has a circulation of around 295,000-copies each Sunday.

The Sunday Express (UK), Sunday, July 29, 2018 - page 50

Apostasy isn’t anyoneÂ’s idea of a feel-good movie. Writer-director Daniel KokotajloÂ’s debut film is a gritty tragedy about three women whose lives are ruined by a religious cult. Yet somehow I left the film feeling elated. IÂ’ve suffered some long nights of the soul over the past few years, but my faith in British film had just been restored.

The cult in question, and I donÂ’t use this c-word lightly, is one that will be familiar to anyone with a doorbell. Kokotajlo is a former JehovahÂ’s Witness and his astonishingly authentic debut takes us inside OldhamÂ’s Kingdom Hall. He shows us a closed community with a radical, apocalyptic agenda that sets out to divide families and places dogma far ahead of human life. But he clearly cares for the churchÂ’s members. ItÂ’s a hard-hitting film but also a sympathetic one.

Siobhan Finneran plays Ivanna, a devout Witness from Oldham with two teenage daughters – Luisa (Sacha Parkinson) and Alex (Molly Wright). Both will test her faith. Alex, 18, has a blood condition but in compliance with the rulings of the “elders” is risking her life by refusing transfusions. Luisa falls pregnant, is “disfellowshipped” and must fend for herself.

The performances are all excellent, the plot is full of surprises and the characters are complicated and believable.

Read online version:
https://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/films/995759/tom-cruise-mission-impossible-fallout-apostasy-hotel-transylvania-summer-vacation-review

[Jack Ryan]

Apostasy: "Between art class and Armageddon" ???? - THE OBSERVER

An article in The Observer, a British national 'quality' Sunday newspaper and the 'sister' paper to The Guardian (that only prints Mon to Sat). The Observer has a circulation of around 165,000-copies each Sunday

The Observer (UK), Sunday, July 29, 2018 - The New Review Section, pages 34 & 35

First-hand experience underpins Daniel Kokotajlo’s devastating film about a crisis of faith among three British JehovahÂ’s Witnesses

In the third act of Daniel KokotajloÂ’s Apostasy, a psalm appears on-screen: "Throw your burden on Jehovah and he will sustain you." It functions more as a provocation than a prayer. Based on writer-director KokotajloÂ’s own upbringing as a JehovahÂ’s Witness in Manchester, his edifying slow burn of a debut looks at a trio of women each wrestling with the rules and restrictions of their religion.

PICTURE: 'Exceptionally controlled': Sacha Parkinson as Luisa and Molly Wright as Alex in Daniel Kokotajlo's debut film Apostasy.

Eighteen-year-old Alex (Molly Wright) and her older sister Luisa (Sacha Parkinson) are devout Witnesses. Under the watchful eye of their single mother Ivanna (Siobhan Finneran), the girls attend meetings at their Kingdom Hall and spend their spare time learning Urdu in order to spread the word to the local Muslim community as part of their door-to-door duties. Kokotajlo treats their shared belief in the coming Armageddon (and the paradise that is supposed to follow) with utter seriousness.

Alex is shocked to discover that her sister, who studies at a nearby college and mixes with the secular kids, has neglected to tell her friends about her faith. "You've let college get to your head," scolds Ivanna, reprimanding her daughter for missing meetings in order to attend art classes. When Luisa reveals that she is pregnant – and keeping the baby – she is promptly "disfellowshipped", the church elders insisting the family cut contact until she is officially reinstated.

Teenage pregnancies aren't the only thing the church wonÂ’t tolerate. Alex thumbs a pamphlet of "kids who died for Jehovah", knowing that she might have to do the same. Though she suffers from a kind of anaemia (severe enough to warrant a transfusion as a baby, despite vehement protest from the elders), she tells her doctor that, as an adult with custody over her own body, she will refuse the transfer of blood.

Already ashamed of her supposed impurity ("to mess with the body is the worst sin"), Alex feels at a disadvantage with new boyfriend Steven (Robert Emms), a youngish elder transplanted from London. Pursuing her with Ivanna's approval, the sensible, straight-backed Steven tells Alex that he'd like to get to know her. "I donÂ’t know if youÂ’d like me if you really got to know me," she replies, mostly to herself. Kokotajlo emphasises the awkwardness of their courtship, continually positioning them a little too far away from one another. Like the wrong ends of two magnets, an invisible forcefield seems to stop them connecting; when they kiss, itÂ’s a hard, tight-lipped affair. "We could do all right, you know," exhales Steven with a chilling, happy sigh.

Cinematographer Adam Scarth favours tight close-ups and two-shots that tend to focus on one character at a time. Much like his dramatic sensibility, KokotajloÂ’s aesthetic is subtle and even-handed. A drab, brownish colour palette mimics the austerity encouraged by the elders, the day-to-day drained of worldly pleasures.

With an expectation established that the narrative will concentrate on the girls, a dramatic event in the filmÂ’s third act instead shifts the emphasis to Ivanna. Another director might build to this moment as a climax, but Kokotajlo chooses to spend time amid the wreckage. The absence of catharsis makes the filmÂ’s cold conclusion all the more devastating.

"Kokotajlo presents this world from the perspective of somebody who understands"

The three lead performances are exceptionally controlled. Wright creates the sense of AlexÂ’s deep spiritual connection with Jehovah but plays her as shy and self-conscious, a wide-eyed little girl lost. Finneran, on the other hand, dares to portray Ivanna as an unsympathetic character. There is a blankness to her, a stony gaze that betrays only the faintest flicker of doubt as her daughter pleads with her through angry tears. Yet her character motivation remains crystal clear. As Luisa, Parkinson, who caught the eye as Stacey Stringfellow in E4Â’s wonderful but short-lived series My Mad Fat Diary in 2013, is furious, exhausted, eager to please but unable to compromise. Despite her efforts to reintegrate herself into the church, the patriarchal powers that be declare: "She likes to voice her opinion too much."

Kokotajlo presents this world from the perspective of somebody who has experienced and understands it. Frequently, the film is enraging. Not because it shows the way in which dogma has the power to rewire the moral instincts of its devotees, but for the sombreness with which it acknowledges that the devotees allow this to happen.

Read online version:
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/jul/29/apostasy-review-daniel-kokotajlo-british-jehovahs-witnesses

[Jack Ryan]

Apostasy is "as interesting as it is disturbing" ??? - THE MAIL ON SUNDAY - ONE MILLION copies being distributed today

An article in The Mail on Sunday, a British national Sunday newspaper and 'sister' paper to The Daily Mail (that only prints from Mon to Sat). The Mail on Sunday has a circulation of just over ONE MILLION copies each Sunday.

The Mail on Sunday (UK), Sunday, July 29, 2018 - Event Insert, page 15

The sick young patient in need of the blood transfusion that will save their life – only for it to be revealed that they have been brought up as a JehovahÂ’s Witness and cannot be given blood – has become something of a staple of television medical dramas such as Casualty. In Daniel KokotajloÂ’s debut feature, Apostasy, however, this dreadful scenario gets a more thorough examination, resulting in a British drama that, while undeniably slow and bleakly awkward, is also as interesting as it is disturbing.

It also features three knockout performances from the actresses at the centre of events – the superb Siobhan Finneran, who plays the God-fearing and unbending matriarch Ivanna; Molly Wright (so good in TV’s The A Word) as Alex, who received blood as a baby and is therefore considered somehow tainted; and Sacha Parkinson, playing the elder sister whose illegitimate pregnancy will shake the family faith to its core.

What results is no fun at all but certainly leaves its mark.

Read online version:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/event/article-5991763/Mission-Impossible-Fallout-like-Mission-Unmissable.html

[Jack Ryan]

It's going to take a LOT of preaching to equal the distribution of these newspapers above. Get ready to make some BIG Literature carts, stand by them for about a century and hope (maybe I should say pray for Jehovah's protection) so that no crazy ISIS guys coming wielding swords or bullets.

[TrueTomHarley]

21 hours ago, Jack Ryan said:

When Luisa reveals that she is pregnant – and keeping the baby – she is promptly "disfellowshipped", the church elders insisting the family cut contact until she is officially reinstated.

 

This suggests, whether it is intentional or just clumsy, (the reviewer seems to accept it as intentional) that had she terminated the pregnancy, all would have been well. In actuality, an abortion would greatly multiply the 'wrong.'

[TrueTomHarley]

21 hours ago, Jack Ryan said:

The sick young patient in need of the blood transfusion that will save their life – only for it to be revealed that they have been brought up as a Jehovah’s Witness and cannot be given blood – has become something of a staple of television medical dramas such as Casualty. In Daniel Kokotajlo’s debut feature, Apostasy, however, this dreadful scenario gets a more thorough examination, resulting in a British drama that, while undeniably slow and bleakly awkward, is also as interesting as it is disturbing.

 

Just once I would like to see media, when relating this problem that modern 'bloodless medicine' can usually accommodate, also stating that the 'oppressive' Witness teachings also eliminate drug and alcohol abuse, smoking, not to mention war participation, making Jehovah's Witnesses far and away the 'safest' religion out there.

Only once have I seen the Witnesses' stand not get butchered on TV, and even that was not spot-on in all respects: in an episode of 'The Practice:'

http://www.tomsheepandgoats.com/2006/09/the_practice_ge.html

[TrueTomHarley]

22 hours ago, Jack Ryan said:

Despite her efforts to reintegrate herself into the church, the patriarchal powers that be declare: "She likes to voice her opinion too much."

 

It is typical of the nonsense that afflicts much of journalism these days. What is an off-the-cuff remark by someone who may be opinionated and is simply representative of the tangled interaction of humanity, is presented as though it is official controlling dogma from on high.

[TrueTomHarley]

22 hours ago, Jack Ryan said:

It's going to take a LOT of preaching to equal the distribution of these newspapers above. Get ready to make some BIG Literature carts, stand by them for about a century and hope (maybe I should say pray for Jehovah's protection) so that no crazy ISIS guys coming wielding swords or bullets.

If you think ‘theybes’ are the coolest thing since GPS technology, you just may not be comfortable as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. If you think the idea is stupidity on steroids, Jehovah’s Witnesses may be a home for you. (Theybe parents encourage their child not to read anything into their anatomy, and they seek to keep it hidden from others to the extent possible, so the children can choose their own gender when they reach 4 or 5 years of age, not having been ‘prejudiced’ by genitalia)

If you think ‘moral decadence’ is a pejorative phrase, you will not feel at home with JWs. If you feel it is spot-on ‘tell-it-like-it-is,’ you will.

If you think the world today is ‘onward and upwards; Yes, there are some problems, but nothing that human ingenuity can’t fix,’ the Kingdom Hall is not where you’ll want to be. If you think this world is in its death throes, you may.

It is all perspective. It’s all spin. When people of the first perspective write a book or make a movie about JWs, you know they are going to slaughter them. The very same circumstances that Witnesses view one way will be viewed, and usually skewed, the opposite way by those holding opposite views. There is no mystery to it. They may or may not be apostate, per the definition that good @sami supplies, but that is not the main point. They have decided the lifestyle they left behind is not so bad after all, and have returned to it. Peter speaks of it in canine terms. So does @Vic Vomidog

Once again, today’s Trump/Hillary uproar proves to be a godsend—a template seen in other areas of life. Both parties see the very same exact set of facts. Then they spin, represent and exaggerate them 180 degree poles apart, and do nothing but rage at each other on the media. It all serves to expose the nonsense of ‘critical thinking.’ We think from the gut, not the head. The heart chooses what it wants and then entrusts the head to create a rationale for it.

The overall ‘crime’ of Jehovah’s Witnesses, it becomes more and more clear, is to dare to be separate. It is no more than 1 Peter 4:4 at work: “Because you do not consider running with them in this course to the same low sink of debauchery, they are puzzled and go on speaking abusively of you.” It confuses them, but they figure out the appropriate response in a hurry—to speak abusively of those holding the Christian course.

“Water’s just fine here in the low sink!” more and more people shout. “Whatever is wrong with you, wanting to stay out? We even have Jack the lifeguard here, and he has cleaned up his language today. Oh, and did I tell you that he's making a movie?”

 

 

[TrueTomHarley]

22 hours ago, Jack Ryan said:

Teenage pregnancies aren't the only thing the church won’t tolerate. Alex thumbs a pamphlet of "kids who died for Jehovah", knowing that she might have to do the same. Though she suffers from a kind of anaemia (severe enough to warrant a transfusion as a baby, despite vehement protest from the elders), she tells her doctor that, as an adult with custody over her own body, she will refuse the transfer of blood.

 

This is probably a reference to an Awake article of the 90s. I wrote of it here:

http://www.tomsheepandgoats.com/2010/10/jehovahs-witnesses-and-blood-transfusions.html

and here is the specific passage (the post is lengthy):

I also thought it well to take a look at that May 1994 Awake quote which Matt uses to advance the notion JW youths are dropping like flies for their transfusion refusals:

“In former times thousands of youths died for putting God first. They are still doing it, only today the drama is played out in hospitals and courtrooms, with blood transfusions the issue.”

Not that I accuse Matt of anything devious. I've no doubt he used the quotation in good faith. It's likely from a web source purporting to be informative, but in reality existing only to denigrate a faith its  author detests, trying to make JWs look as fanatical as possible, and doing so for philosophical reasons, rather than anything having to do with medicine or lives. So is the statement taken out of context or not?

It's a little difficult to tell, for there is no context. The quote is a one-line blurb on the magazine's table of contents designed to pique interest in the articles to follow. The articles to follow describe the cases of five Witness youngsters in North America. Each was admitted into a hospital for aggressive cancer or leukemia. Each fought battles with hospitals, courts, and child welfare agencies determined to administer blood against the patient's will. Each eventually prevailed in court, being recognized as “mature minors” with the right to decide upon their own treatment (though in two cases, a forced transfusion was given prior to that decision). Three of the children did die. Two lived. It's rather wrenching stuff, with court transcripts and statements of the children involved, and those of the participating doctors, lawyers, and judges. In no case do you get the sense that blood transfusions offered a permanent cure, only a possible prolonging of life, ideally long enough for some cure to be discovered (which has not yet happened). One of the children, who did die, was told that blood would enable her to live only three to six months longer, during which time she might “do many things,” such as “visit Disney World.” There's little here to suggest that “thousands of youths are dying for putting God first” who would otherwise live. Frankly, I think the quote is sloppily written. “They are still doing it,” says the quote. Doing what? Dying? Dying in the thousands? Or putting God first without regard for the immediate consequences?

[Evacuated]

On 7/29/2018 at 6:27 PM, Jack Ryan said:

Kokotajlo presents this world from the perspective of somebody who has experienced and understands it.

This is an attractive premise for any film about Jehovah's Witnesses. But does the reality live up to the hype?

On 7/29/2018 at 6:12 PM, Jack Ryan said:

"becomes pregnant...."

This is an observation on what happens to one of the daughters in the film. A little disconcerting as a statement. Are we suggesting a virgin birth here?... or what?

On 7/29/2018 at 6:24 PM, Jack Ryan said:

"He shows us a closed community..."

Presumably an observation on the director's achievement. I don't know how this can be a valid portrayal, as Jehovah's Witnesses are actually so open as a community that they spend hours knocking at people's doors to invite all and sundry to join their community. Probably needs a bit of context.

On 7/29/2018 at 6:27 PM, Jack Ryan said:

"to mess with the body is the worst sin"

Where did this ridiculous observation come from? Surely not from one who "has experienced and understands it." referring to the Jehovah's Witnesses perspective???

On 7/29/2018 at 6:27 PM, Jack Ryan said:

"Kokotajlo presents this world from the perspective of somebody who understands"

Oh dear. They are saying it again. How could they possibly know? Unless they were actually Jehovah's Witnesses themselves?

Now these "critical reviews" seem to be a sad substitute for the movie, and actually appear to be sounding a death knell for the director in the mind of anyone with a shred of intellect. I really hope the have not scuppered the opportunity for a "directorial debutante" to gain a measure of credibility for any future outing. Perhaps some will be persuaded to think for themselves on this matter, and share a viewpoint of some critical worth, at least marginally above the crass and prejudiced shoal of intellect displayed in these reviews.