There
is nothing like eternity to teach atheist materialists a thing or two. A malevolent supernatural entity is out to
demonstrate the soul’s existence to those who unfortunately lack faith in Måns
Mårlind & Björn Stein’s 6 Souls (trailer here), which opens this
Friday in New York.
Dr.
Cara Jessup has no patience with bogus multiple-personality diagnoses. She is perfectly willing to testify against
such claptrap as an expert witness for criminal prosecutors. It takes a lot out of her though, because she
is a practicing Christian. Her faith was
recently tested by the random murder of her husband, yet it remains
strong. The same is not necessarily true
for her father, Dr. Harding, and her young daughter.
Also
a psychiatrist, the old man is more apt to buy into trendy theories. As a challenge to his orthodox daughter, he
presents her a particularly volatile but convincing split personality
case. Excepting the challenge, Jessup
discovers the man’s presumably adopted personas correspond to tragic deaths not
far from his hill country roots. In each
case, the deceased’s faith had been undermined by misfortune before their
actual deaths. It all might involve a
snake-handling Hillbilly sect and its spiritual leader, the “Granny.” Of course, while Dr. Jessup follows her clues
all the soul-sick people in her life start dying like flies.
If
Julianne Moore had created such a sympathetic portrait of a woman of faith when
playing Sarah Palin, Game Change would
have been the toast of CPAC. Frankly, 6 Souls is more than a bit muddled in
its presentation of religious belief, but Moore clearly conveys her
Christianity as a source of strength for Jessup. It is smart, earnest work. And then there’s everyone else.
To
be fair, veteran character actor Jeffrey DeMunn (the Stephen King prison movie
specialist, appearing in Green Mile and
Shawshank) is quite engaging as Dr.
Harding. Alas, Jonathan Rhys Meyers is
far from a suitably sinister presence as Harding’s patient[s]. Indeed, there is no getting around it—he is
just plain dull.
