The Reliant

One of the most controversial faith films ever made, The Reliant explores forgiveness and violence; but in a rather heavy-handed sort of way. When riots breakout across the county plunging communities into chaos a suburban family retreats to the woods and starts to question their faith in God and commitment to nonviolence. While the plot is pretty solid, presenting a frighteningly realistic scenario where there would be a wide-spread breakdown of society, the dialog is painfully on the noise (constantly quoting scripture verbatim). And the performances aren’t that good either (though a lot of that is script related). Yet while The Reliant isn’t a very compelling film, it’s an interesting conversation starter about some important issues and that are becoming increasing prevalent in today’s society.