The key to understanding the picture is given by the formidable quotes from the Bible and sermons passing through the entire film, designed to inspire fear of God’s wrath, awareness of sinfulness permeating the world. Lost in the woods of West Virginia, where Jesko was born, the Bible was the only authority for the poorly educated and hard-worked inhabitants of the outback.
White’s Enlightenment is primarily a story of sin. Jesko, who has been addicted to substance abuse since childhood, understands the difference between “good” and “bad” even in the worst periods of his life. The positive image of the father and the authority of God are unshakable for him. And at the same time, the realization of your weakness, the feeling that you are always "a second before you do something bad" does not leave Jesco for a moment. In this film, it is not so much all these scenes of violence that are frightening as their excruciating attraction for the main character. Why is sin so attractive? What is a sin such as the conscious destruction of oneself and another?
The final scene in an abandoned hunting lodge becomes the culmination of tension in Jesko's soul, a red line behind which either everything or nothing. Is repentance possible and as possible, or has that red line been passed long ago and imperceptibly?
The artwork of White's story is beyond praise. The colorful images of heroes, black humor and fierce rockabilly from Hasil Adkins create such a crazy world as Jesko sees our reality. Maybe his eyes aren’t too far from the truth.
Finally, it is surprising that such a vivid film about the religious consciousness of an American was shot by a British director with an Englishman in the title role in Croatia.
8 out of 10
Original