The Revival is a slightly old-fashioned melodrama of the well trodden tale of a young conservative Southern Baptist Pastor facing the struggle of having to choose between his wife and God on one side, and the handsome young drifter that he has fallen for. Adapted from Samuel Brett William’s stage play from 2010, what lifts this somewhat predictable plot is the two central performances from Davd Rysdahl as Eli the minister and the very impressive Zachary Booth as Daniel who is the temptation that leads him off the straight and narrow.
The movie, the directing debut of Jennifer Gerber, starts with Eli spotting Daniel at the free potluck supper that follows each church service. He is not easy to miss as the congregation has dwindled to a mere handful as so many of the locals have de-camped to a nearby mega-church where they scream about fire and brimstone adding a real theatrical touch to their Sundays.
However when Eli should be focusing on hanging on to his church he is much keener on hanging on to Daniel, as before he can get his bible shut, they have jumped into bed together and have embarked on a secret affair. Later on It’s Eli’s rather mousey wife June (Lucy Faust) that surprises them (and indeed us) by revealing that she knows what has been going on behind her back and with a rather powerful wee speech, gives her conflicted husband an ultimatum.
The film is an opportunity to trot out cliched blatant homophobia beloved by devout christians who are naturally the self appointed judge and jury on the whole subject. There is no attempt at any subtlety at all here which makes the whole thing a little hard to like with much enthusiasm, even if Eli and Daniel’s few erotic moments do their best to try and keep us entertained.
We always knew that Southern Baptists and homosexuality were never a good mix, but they are much easier to stomach when they do try singing a different song, rather than just dragging out the same platitudes yet once again.
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