Lessozavodsk Crossing the lifelines of lumberjack Burle, police officer Ned Pearson and survivor Lola May. At the center of the triangle of these lines is the murder of the priest Randall, found dead in the woods.
Director Adam Dufour, who plays Burle, calls his films "unquestionably Christian" and says that "every film ... has a message." “Unconditional” in the picture has a shade of unambiguity – even do not need to argue, you should not think especially, just accept everything as it is.
The unambiguousness of a tramp. The problems of death, the relation of knowledge and faith are accompanied in Timbertown by quotations from Ecclesiastes, to the memory of a vagrant read on the streets of the city. The look of a man with a stick in his hand, who sometimes rolls a small cart in front of him, is directed anywhere, but not in this world of vanity. He will not argue with you or agree with you, he will not even look at you. “Enjoy life with the wife you love all the days of your vain life.” When Lola May interrupts his reading with the question of what she should do, the man does not look for the right verse from Ecclesiastes, but simply continues to read from the place where he finished: “Whatever your hand can do, do according to your strength; for in the grave where you go there is no work, no reflection, no knowledge, no wisdom.” Of course, even such a reading a believer Lola May can take as an answer from God – it is much easier for her as a believer in this sense, but the fact of unambiguity is not canceled.
Unambiguous lumberjack. A sparsely populated provincial Indiana, the Indian toponym New Mansopelia is a town with three lespolies, a saw repair shop and a lumber drying stove. What does it have to do with the Indians? Definitely, the city should be called Timbertown – in our Lesozavodsk – which is what all the locals do, ignoring the official name, fixing the memory of the indigenous tribe that disappeared from the face of the earth.
The unambiguousness of the widow can still be understood. In front of her, a seriously injured person is about to die waiting for an ambulance. As a religious woman, she tries to save his soul, while sharply and radically erasing all his knowledge and experience. No knowledge of you, no work you can get paid for. Just faith in Jesus. Of course, it's true, but it's so unambiguous and straightforward that ... who can take it like this in a minute, even before they die. I don't know.
There is wisdom and bitterness and consolation in Ecclesiastes, but there is nothing that ruins the film. It's ironic. Ned Pearson is very erudite, honest and pleasant in communication – these are rare qualities for a police officer. But why ironize them??? He confused Hamlet with Macbeth and the little girl laughs at him. Ironically, just for the sake of omitting knowledge and thereby raising faith? But this is like a blow below the belt, especially since the opposition of reason and faith is a non-existent problem: on the contrary, Christianity is called the “religion of reason”. There's a good Ned-Burle dialogue scene about the mystery of death - why not add those scenes? No, instead, you have to humiliate Ned at every opportunity. Yes, there is also the self-irony of Christians, but there is also a terrible piece of the film to the music of Vivaldi – together with a serious beginning and end, it looks unnatural, ironic, comedic, and we are talking about the most dramatic period of Lola May’s life.
The story of Lola May in this film can still teach something – this is the story of a woman who eventually went through a life tragedy with dignity and did not lose her faith. But otherwise – in the director’s work and especially in missionary claims – the film is simply a failure.
4 out of 10
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