Apostasy movie review: witness to the oppression of religion

by MaryAnn Johanson

What happens when religious faith bumps up against family love and loyalty? Nothing pretty, in British filmmaker Dan Kokotajlo’s quietly chilling feature debut. A former Jehovah Witness, Kokotajlo knows the world he is exploring in Apostasy, all apocalyptic visions of salvation for only a chosen few, and stubborn adherence to dogma in an attempt to ensure one is among God’s favorites. And he depicts this with an underlit colorlessness and a mute suffocation that is as oppressive as the lives of his obliviously brainwashed characters.

Eighteen-year-old Alex (Molly Wright) doesn’t seem to realize how bland and drab her life is, with seemingly little to occupy her beyond learning Urdu(!) so that she can proselytize to the “underserved” Muslim community in her hometown of Manchester. But she does appear to find real joy in her relationship with her slightly older sister, Luisa (Sacha Parkinson)… at least until Luisa does something to warrant “disfellowship,” or kicking out of the Jehovah Witnesses. Now Alex and their mom, Ivanna (Siobhan Finneran: Boy A), are left on their own — they must shun Luisa — to dig further into their social and familial isolation even when, surely, their hearts are telling them that kindness and understanding are more what Luisa needs from them.

Marvelously understated performances from the cast combine with Kokotajlo’s unwillingness to let dictatorial belief systems off the hook, even as he finds sympathy for those caught in this one’s hooks, to make for a scathing critique of inhumanity in the name of some imaginary and blatantly invented greater cause. How positive a fantasy is religion if it cuts you off from life and love on Earth?

first viewed during the 61st BFI London Film Festival

Click here for my ranking of this and 2018’s other releases.