HIGHER GROUND

The most satisfying aspect of actor Vera Farmiga’s directorial
debut movie is that although it is about the spiritual conflict of one woman as
she drifts between skepticism and religious faith it never ever takes sides as
she strives for the higher ground.

We first see Corrine as a child when she responds to
her church’s pastor who is urging all the children to embrace Jesus.  She is hardly a devout worshiper and it is
not until later when she is the young wife of a rock singer and they and their
young baby are saved from near drowning, which she beliefs is a sign from God, that she joins a cultish evangelical church and gets enmeshed with their
extreme convictions.

As time passes Corinne feels increasingly stifled by
the patriarchal ways of her church, and as her marriage starts to fall apart and
she ‘loses’ her only female friend when she suffers a stroke, she starts to
question her faith itself.  It’s not as
though all the men are bad, but being expected to simply acquiesce to their dominance
without question and not being allowed to develop her own intellectual curiosity
and grow, simply becomes unacceptable. 
Leaving her marriage and her church becomes unavoidable but it is not a quick fix solution for her,
and in fact the story intriguingly ends on a note of irresolution.

This movie entered my radar not because of my own
religious convictions (!) but because of Ms. Farmiga, who for my money ‘stole’ ‘Up In The Air’ from it’s star George Clooney with her knock-your-socks-off performance.  She not only directs Higher Ground but stars in it too,  and also has persuaded her non-actor sister to play Corrine as a young
woman.  The movie is an inspired choice for her first
time out directing, and she elicits great performances from her star studded cast
that includes John Hawkes, Donna Murphy, Bill Irwin, Norbert Leo Butz, Dagmara
Dominiczky and Broadway’s latest darling Nina Arianda.

As an atheist I really liked the middle ground that Ms.
Farmiga took in this fascinating movie of hers as it seemed to really take a step back
and see faith as a series of choices that should be made freely and without
peer pressure of any sort.