Sunset Song Sure Is Something to See

Last updated on: May 20, 2016 at 11:59 am by Christian Hamaker

Sunset Song Sure Is Something to See 2016-05-20T11:59:05-06:00 Christian Hamaker

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Review of Sunset Song, Directed by Terrence Davies

Christian audiences have long asked for moral stories undergirded by strong, Biblical values. The impulse for such stories has given rise to an industry of Christian films aimed at evangelical audiences and built around explicit gospel pitches. As art, the films have largely failed, in part because the message is presented at the expense of artful storytelling.

That’s why audiences interested in tales with moral themes are so often drawn to older stories based on books from earlier eras. These books might not be thought of first and foremost as “Christian novels.” They aren’t Bible stories, but they are rooted in an eloquence and an appreciation of God’s natural revelation—think of The Black Stallion—and, in some stories, His special revelation—think of Little Women. At their best, they deal with timeless themes—trust, dignity and personal worth—that get lost in Christian subculture movies that are too busy finding a way to work explicit references to Jesus into their scripts.

English filmmaker Terence Davies, known for slower but highly acclaimed films like Distant Voices, Still Lives and The Long Day Closes, made just such a film in 2000 with his adaptation of Edith Wharton’s House of Mirth. Starring Gillian Anderson, Davies’ Mirth has been acclaimed as one of the best period dramas of the new century.

The filmmaker has now taken up the Lewis Grassic Gibbon novel Sunset Song, set in Scotland before and during World War I, and first published in 1932. The film is a triumph—a visually sumptuous story of a girl’s transformation into an independent woman.

If that sounds slightly feminist, it is, although that doesn’t mean such sentiments are uttered exclusively by Sunset Song’s female protagonist, Chris Guthrie, a teen who aspires to be a teacher. She lives on her parents’ farm with her brother, Will (Jack Greenless), who has grown embittered toward their father, John (Peter Mullan). “Equality should begin at home,” Will boldly states, having been on the receiving end himself of John’s unconstrained rage. He’s also spent years hearing John abuse his wife verbally and, within earshot, force himself on her despite her desire to have no more children. When yet another pregnancy breaks her spirit, leading to tragedy, the tension between John and Will boils over. Chris is left alone to care for her father, who eventually finds himself completely dependent on her—and still demanding of physical gratification, although Chris resists his demands.

Image Source: Press Page

Image Source: Magnolia Pictures

That’s heavy stuff, but the movie takes a turn toward the joyful as Chris falls in love with Ewan (Kevin Guthrie) and the two develop a passionate romance, even as Chris declares her intention (which she carries out) to save herself for their wedding night.

The first two-thirds of Sunset Song have moments of bliss among the daily struggle to work the family farm. The film’s final third is dominated by World War I and its effect on Ewan and, by extension, on Chris. Her hope may dim at times, but it’s never extinguished.

That hope is rooted more in Chris’ self-determination than it is in faith, yet religion is far from absent in Sunset Song. There are crosses hanging in homes, church services attended by the community and a local pastor who appears to be kind and gracious (although his one sermon is a politically charged message about the war). More prominently, religion is sometimes explicitly abused, especially by the family’s father. We’ve seen Bible-quoting tyrants in other stories, of course, but while such a character can be presented as a one-dimensional foil for a virtuous main character, Peter Mullan (so memorable in the remarkable Tyrannosaur) gives the elder Guthrie a fierce quality that, while not complex, is always interesting—sometimes because it’s so misguided and, frankly, distasteful. And yet, there’s an impulse toward forgiveness in the film that allows even him a trace of dignity.

In addition to Mullan’s abusiveness, there are other elements that, unlike the aforementioned Little Women and The Black Stallion, make Sunset Song unsuitable for family viewing. Davies’ film carries and R rating for sexuality (a scene of wedding night lovemaking between a newly married man and woman), nudity (in addition to the wedding-night scene, Chris looks at herself, nude, in mirror, from head to toe) and some violence (between husbands and wives and parents and children, as well as in wartime). The film can be harrowing, but it also extols perseverance and faithfulness. And while Chris’ marriage will have challenges, her entrance into married life is described as “not like waking from a dream, but going into one.”

More central to the story is Chris’ love for the land, often bathed in sunlight and captured in 65mm film by cinematographer Michael McDonough (Winter’s Bone). Diffuse light and painterly compositions in the interior scenes mean there’s never a wasted frame.

Paul writes, “Since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made.” Sunset Song is worth seeing for its wondrous perspective on God’s creation, not to mention its fine performances and moving story. Full of beauty and truth, Sunset Song is a work of art.

Drama

Films

Terrence Davies

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