The Apostle (1997) - Robert Duvall

Well after over six months I finished watching Duvall's directorial effort. The Apostle is a strange type of character film. Duvall's preacher is a sincere man of god but occasionally prone to some very earthbound urges. The film doesn't make him out to be a mockery and maintains a great deal of sincerity in faith and we never really feel like this preacher is a con-man (the way sooooo many of movie preachers are). Being a man of no faith whatsoever I can't say this converted me, but I can recognize the effort and there's something uplifting without being sentimental here. Duvall is great in his performance. His directing is without much embellishment so who knows how the film would have turned out in another person's hands. A well deserved Oscar nomination was given to Duvall for his performance. I found myself genuinely moved by Billy Bob Thornton's conversion and the film displays some sort of moral hope.

*The Apostle was nominated for best actor (Duvall).