The Williams Lake Film Club tries to bring you the greatest variety of films available, films from all around the globe, bringing different cultures and different ways of life a bit closer to you.
Our next film, Higher Ground, is no exception. The film will be shown at the Gibraltar Room, Tuesday, Nov. 20, at 7 p.m.
Back doors open at 6:30 p.m. The language of this film is - YES - English.
Higher Ground is the directorial debut of well-known actress Vera Farmiga, but not only that, she also plays the main role. She is excellent in both parts, which is never easy but even more so in this case as the main subject of the film is religion and spiritual belief.
Corinne, played by Vera Farmiga and at one time by her younger sister Taissa, comes to Christianity almost by accident: she raises her hand in affirmation at a 1960s church service.
But it is not until much later, after Corinne is married to her rock-playing musician and high-school flame Ethan and caring for a baby daughter, that she truly feels God’s presence after a near-death experience. They both join an evangelical spiritual group.
They seem to be happy, the family grows, and Corinne feels part of a community. They live in a close-knit circle, befriend each other and sing beautifully together. It all seems so perfect, but then doubts start to come up when she becomes close friends with Annika, a woman full of laughter and passion.
Annika is dissatisfied with the male-dominated church, where women are left unfulfilled even in their marital beds.
As Corinne ponders the coldness of her own situation with Ethan and the disdain by church elders for her book-reading ways, tragedy delivers another blow to her faith. She laments: “I’m still waiting for Him to make Himself at home. I’ve got the porch lights on, but He doesn’t come.”
Higher Ground is based on the book This Dark World: A Memoir of Salvation Found and Lost by Carolyn S. Briggs and Tim Metcalfe, who also wrote the screenplay. Farmiga approaches this difficult subject with a keen mind and a generosity of spirit that is so not Hollywood. She approaches religion from the stance of a respectful skeptic, providing food for thought for both, believers and non-believers. And she really makes you care for her characters, you laugh with them – and you cry with them. When this film is over you might want to ask yourself – where do you stand?
Our beautiful old-fashioned German Advents Calendars will be for sale once more at the door. They are $2 each.
And as the giving season is starting, please let us share and bring something for the Food Bank. A little bit or a lot, everything is welcome!
Admission is $9 regular, $8 for members, and $6 for seniors (65+) and students, High School and TRU.