He is not at peace.
Not with himself. Not with the world. And definitely not with God.
Racked with guilt over his son’s death, an alcoholic who openly questions his faith, the preacher played by Ethan Hawke is a man unmoored.
No one seems to be listening to him, and he struggles to find the hope necessary to rekindle his belief.
So, not a lot of laughs, this one.
Unflinching, in tone and when the preacher wraps himself in barbed wire, this is writer/director Paul Schrader, he of Taxi Driver fame, delivering another beautifully-harsh assessment on the burden of sin.