In the Name of Heaven, review: religious fanaticism in the heart of America
In the Name of Heaven, review
Faith is an essential component of the American mentality, a presence becomes stronger and stronger as we move away from large centers and enter the rural dimension of the States, made up of remote places where this trait assumes important social values, such as to override even federal laws and rise to the rank of a true source of life for entire communities. It may seem like an antithesis for a society that often appears far from the most well-known precepts of religion, but overseas 'believing' has a different way of showing itself, as we will discover in Under the Banner of Haven miniseries coming to Disney Plus which has faith and been at the center of its history.Subscribe now to Disney + for € 8.99 per month or € 89.90 per year In the name of heaven fits into a contemporary crime tradition stories inspired by real facts, a narrative vein which, by fictionalizing events that have often risen to popularity for the taste of the viewer, allows for a more honest portrait of the American way. It seems that the investigation of heinous crimes is the best way to look beyond the patina of hypocritical perfection with which the States have often been presented, as if the emergence of the dark side of the human soul becomes the lens through which to discover the flaws. of a society that is often idealized, but capable of proving to be profoundly contradictory and cracked by separations and hatred of the intestines ready to explode in an amazing way.
In the name of heaven, when faith becomes fanaticism
It is no coincidence that the inspiring source of In the name of Heaven is a book by Jon Krakauer, Under the Banner of Haven: A Story of Violent Faith (2003). Krakauer is known as a valid investigative journalist, author of reports that investigate heinous crimes looking for a root that is not limited to the single event, but goes back to deeper implications. With Under the Banner of Haven, starting from an execrable murder, Krakauer decided to reconstruct the Mormon cult of the Church of Jesus Christ of the last days, revealing its history and trying to identify a breaking point with 'traditional' American society. An intent that is the basis of In the name of the sky, which found in Dustin Lance Black (Oscar winner for Milk) a perfect medium for seriality.To complicate matters. investigation is the name of the victims, Lafferty. In Utah, this family led by Patriarch Ammon (Christopher Heyerdahl) is a kind of institution, a clan of religious origin that has become the very symbol of the Mormon Church. Thanks to this influence, Ammon Lafferty's sons have managed to carve out a prestigious place in the state's society, such as the eldest, Ron (Sam Worthington), who became an accomplished construction contractor, and Dan (Wyat Russell) who follows in the footsteps paternal. This power and the strong pressure that the Mormon Church exerted at the time in Utah, the capital of this cult, make Pyre's investigation of colleague Bill Taba (Gil Birmingham) complex and linked to the protection of interests dangerously at stake by the background. of this crime.
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Black does not fail to give the right primacy to the work of Krakauer, relying on his reconstruction of the crime, with precise references to the Mormon cult, to outline an oppressive social situation. Intertwining flashbacks that tell the story of the cult, born in the 1700s with Joseph Smith, with the fanatical drift embodied by the Lafferty family, especially the Dan of a perfect Wyat Russell, Black presents the viewer with an acid and biting portrait of the dangers of fanatic drift, not failing to highlight that latent sense of distrust in Washington's power that often lingers in remote communities in America. The rebellion against laws considered unjust is cloaked in a light of sacred revolution, becoming one of the engines of the impending tragedy in the middle of the series.
A fanatical America far from our imagination
Garfield's Pyre is delicate, human, it shows a soul that finds itself having to divide itself between its own faith and its own task, having to submit to impositions that arise from an attempt to preserve a status quo that has the bitter taste of a moral dictatorship. Garfield moves in this devastating investigation with his usual acting made of emotionality and expressive sincerity, presenting himself as our emotional alter ego to live this bloody story. An upright policeman, affectionate father and son worried about his mother's poor health, Pyre is portrayed by Black and Garfield with unsettling honesty, we live through all the difficulties thanks to Garfield's authentic expressiveness. A vein of authenticity, played on an acting by subtraction and always very contained, emphasized by the initial contrast with the older colleague Bill Taba, which Birmingham makes almost acrimonious at first, but quickly resolving what seems to be a contract with Pyre in a sincere one. friendship, in which the experience of the more mature colleague and his being an outsider of the community allow him to be freer in his judgments than Pyre, blocked in some moments by his faith.
UNDER THE BANNER OF HEAVEN ... ... Rightful Place ... Episode 2 (Airs Thursday, April 28th) ... Pictured: (l-r) Seth Numrich as Robin Lafferty, Andrew Garfield as Jeb Pyre. CR: Michelle Faye / FX In Heaven's Name is part of the modern crime story series, such as True Detective, in which inspirations from real events take on the connotation of a cold and disenchanted gaze into the dark and less noble soul of an unknown America , marked by a streak of fanaticism that are hardly associated with the tradition of the American way, ignoring how much these traits are at the very basis of the true American spirit.
