A pastor's faith is tested when the young man he blames for his daughter's death seeks his forgiveness.
Review by Eric Hillis
Directed by: Jeffrey Lam Sen, Antonio Tam
Starring: Anthony Wong, George Au, Louisa So, Sheena Chan, Isabel Chan, Summer Chan
Movies about men of the cloth suffering crises of faith tend to focus on Catholic priests. Co-directors Jeffrey Lam Sen and Antonio Tam's Valley of the Shadow of the Death is instead centred on a married Protestant pastor, which allows them to expand the crisis beyond their protagonist's soul and out onto those around him. The crisis at the centre of Valley isn't simply between a priest and his god; it threatens to tear his marriage apart.
The relationship between Pastor Leung (Anthony Wong) and his wife (Louisa So, billed merely as "Pastor's wife") is already strained at the start of the film. Three years ago their teenage daughter Ching (Sheena Chan) took her life in the aftermath of being raped by a classmate. While the Pastor immersed himself in his church, his wife lost her faith and turned away from religion. Instead she has turned to her own rituals, buying a cake and presents for Ching on what would have been her birthday. She keeps Ching's old phone plugged in and occasionally sends her text messages.
When one of Pastor Leung's flock asks if a homeless teenage boy can stay in the church rather than sleeping on the streets, he agrees. He's shocked to discover that the boy in question is Lok (George Au), his daughter's rapist, just released from prison with nowhere to go. Lok doesn't recognise Pastor Leung, who initially keeps his identity a secret from the boy and stays out of his way. The subterfuge is shattered when Leung's wife sees Lok in church and explodes in public. Leung argues that as a minister he must forgive Lok, but his wife can't accept this and walks out.
Sen and Tam use this setup to highlight how religion and the words of its core texts can be manipulated to serve individual purposes. When Lok discovers Leung is his victim's daughter, he begs for forgiveness and appears genuinely repentant. Believing in a philosophy of healing through suffering, Leung forces the boy to partake in a series of gruelling rituals, including dragging a giant cross up a hill while barefoot. Lok does so unquestioningly. Despite Leung repeatedly telling him that only God can forgive him, Lok is desperate for absolution directly from the Pastor.
There's a dark cloud over Leung, played with concealed rage by Wong. It seems that he's trying to punish Lok while remaining within the rules of his scripture. Forcing the boy to repeat the line about plucking out your eye if it offends you suggests that he's trying to coerce Lok into castrating himself, but the words go over the boy's head. Pop star Au has an ethereal, innocent quality, playing the role like a young man who has been so hollowed out by guilt that he's desperate for the void to be filled, and becomes brainwashed by the Pastor's teachings.
Questions of forgiveness are muddied when the film uses flashbacks to reveal the truth of Ching's relationship with both Lok and her father. None of it makes us want to forgive Lok for his awful action, but it certainly helps us understand his rage as we see how he was a Carrie White-esque victim of a coordinated bullying campaign. Pastor Leung's treatment of Ching in the aftermath of her ordeal, when he treated her as a pastor rather than father, may have inspired her suicide as much as Lok's assault.
Valley of the Shadow of Death is a heart-breaking and often suffocating exploration of forgiveness and the clash between religion and human anger. It doesn't attempt to provide any answers, instead maintaining a cold gaze on characters wordlessly asking questions. It's a quiet movie filled with uncomfortable silences. Unable to find his own words, Leung borrows those of the scriptures, and in doing so reminds us of how religious texts have so often been used to justify the grievances of men.
Valley of the Shadow of Death is in UK cinemas from November 14th.
