By Mark HadleyMonday 30 May 2011MoviesReading Time: 2 minutes
Get Low
Rating: M
Distributor: Rialto
Release Date: May 26
Felix Bush is the devil incarnate – everyone knows that. Or at least that is the belief of his small town American neighbours.
A backwoods recluse, Bush is said to be in possession of strange powers, to have forged a pact with dark powers, to have killed in cold blood. Then, one day, Felix rides into town with a shotgun and a wad of cash, saying he wants to buy himself a “living funeral”. Everyone is invited, but they must be prepared to tell him every story they have ever heard about him.
Get Low is the tale of a mean man determined to embrace humility, but whether or not the confessions will be his own or his neighbours’ remains a secret. Get Low assembles a fantastic ensemble case including Robert Duvall, Bill Murray, Sissy Spacek and Lucas Black that will attract thoughtful filmgoers. It also provides a welcome opportunity to remind viewers of the confessions and admissions that must precede any real hope of forgiveness.
Duvall provides an excellent performance of a man who realizes that remorse is not sufficient to clear a spiritual debt. During the film he has conversations with two preachers who provide him with painful truths. He tells the first that he has ‘paid’ for what he has done. The rector replies, “Mr Bush, you can’t buy forgiveness. It’s free but you do need to ask for it.” Yet asking will require Bush to put aside the pride that lives even in his self-punishment.
Bush: “Confessed? Asked forgiveness? I built my own jail and I put myself in it and I stayed in it for 40 goddamn years. Now if that’s not enough – ”
Rev. Jackson: “You know it’s not enough.”
And Bush does know. He eventually realizes that penitence means nothing if you’re not prepared to seek the forgiveness of the person you offended. He applies it to a woman he has avoided, we might do well to consider the God we have ignored.