It's not uncommon to see Jehovah's Witnesses at public locations with leaflets and copies of their magazine The Watchtower. Despite these public street placements, they never seem to actively sell their religion. They just stand smartly and wait for you to come to them, giving them an air of quiet mystery to those as ignorant of the faith as I am. Considering writer and director Daniel Kokotajlo was raised in a Jehovah's Witness family, it is horrifying what an objectively bleak picture he paints of life as a Jehovah's Witness in his first feature length film Apostasy.
Set amongst a Jehovah's Witness community in working class Oldham, the film starts with young teenager Alex (Molly Wright) praying to Jehovah and apologising to him for the fact that someone else’s blood runs through her body (she had a transplant when falling ill as a child, against the will of her Jehovah's Witness “Elders” who tried to stop the procedure). We then meet her mother Ivanna (Siobhan Finneran, star of Happy Valley and Downton Abbey) and her older sister Luisa (Sacha Parkinson) who reveals to her family she has fallen pregnant through a relationship with a boy from outside of the church. Because of this, Luisa is expelled (or “disfellowshipped) from the Jehovah's Witness community and church (or “Kingdom Hall”) and slowly the family unravels.
The performances are truthful and gripping across the board but the show is stolen by Siobhan Finneran. 2018 has been a year of fire-and-brimstone style matriarchal performances (Frances McDormand in Three Billboards and Allison Janney in I, Tonya), but Finneran is the absolute antithesis of this, playing Ivanna with a chillingly cold rule over her children. In one of the film's few semi-comical moments, Luisa tells her that a JW meeting clashes with her art class and she responds with “When Jesus comes back to destroy the world and start the new system, how’s he going to feel when you’re at art class?”. Credit also to Robert Emms who is on earnest form as Steven, a potential very chaste love interest for Alex.
Daniel Kokotajlo orchestrates Apostasy incredibly well. The tension and discomfort is ratcheted up throughout with a gut punch of a plot point half way through which gives the story a new focus and develops in way I was not expecting. Kokotajlo somehow manages to do this whilst still writing about his former religion with nuance, composure and (surprisingly) compassion. Even when the Elders do terrible things in the film (like separate a family or put their house under surveillance) this is not sensationalised but shown in a very straightforward and matter of fact way. Cinematographer Adam Scarth also generates the despairing atmosphere with a grey monochrome colour palate (the exterior shot of the Kingdom Hall with the duel carriageway right behind it was perfectly composed).
Aside from being a little too laboured in its pace at times and a mite over reliant on close ups, Apostasy is an incredible film that is going to live long in the memory. The timing of its general release is also perfect due to a) it being an ideal antidote for those who like their cinema a little less sugary than Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again and b) its release a month before another film about Jehovah’s Witnesses (The Children Act starring Emma Thompson and Stanley Tucci). With that in mind, Apostasy might well become the surprise hit of the summer. Be warned though, it’s a gruelling watch.