Very best movie i ever watch

Such a frustrating disappointment

Boring

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

With the proliferation of faith-based movies currently in theaters now ("Miracles from Heaven", "God's Not Dead 2", "The Young Messiah" among others) I thought it would be interesting to review one among the genre from 2011, "Higher Ground".As a Christian, "Higher Ground" is kind of a tough call for me. While I identified with Corrine (Vera Farmiga in an ambitiously impressive directorial debut, as well) in her lifelong search for faith, both in God and in herself, I came away from this film conflicted.We see Corrine being indoctrinated into a church cult while still an innocent young girl in the 1960's. We then watch as her extraordinary life unfolds before us, both personally and religiously, through the tumult and the joy, spanning the spirit-searching decade of the 1970's and on into the '80's. We bear witness as she transforms from the subservient female role commanded of her by the cult, to an emancipated and independent single mother immersed in a quest for self-discovery. As we do so, I couldn't help but feel that Corrine's road toward her own personal "higher ground", while undoubtedly still rigorous and fraught with challenge, would likely have been one of less disillusionment, discouragement and frustration had it not been born and nurtured of such distorted doctrine.The sexual themes in "Higher Ground", which are quite frank and explicit, come off as blatantly prurient and inserted primarily for commercial appeal. These scenes register as out of place and really unnecessary to the telling of the story.This film is clearly a labor of love and devotion for the ultra-talented Farmiga. Her role as Corrine is an exceptionally difficult one to deliver on with credibility and impact. Farmiga more than meets demand with her multi-layered and affecting performance. Her character's testimonial as the movie ends is at once moving, heart wrenching and hopeful. The words pour out from the depths of her soul. And they make it clear that Corrine's journey to reach "higher ground", while it sustains as a driving and passionate yearning, is just beginning.

Catching up on Vera Farmiga's work is my current goal, and seeing as how she directed this one I felt more obligated to see it at this time. She's captivating and heart-breaking, infusing her subtle charm and many nuances to great effect. I don't think the film is all that great, particularly because I see quite a few holes in some of the character relationships and some of the writing arcs, but it's serviceable and Farmiga's directing reminds me somewhat of Sarah Polley's. I do think Farmiga is quite easily the best thing about it, both her directing and acting and for that it's worth a watch. Her younger sister also shows some acting talent.

A lot of folks are posting to point out that HG is just plain boring. I say it's not.What it is, is mundane. Farmiga set herself a difficult hurdle. She decided that she wanted to set this odyssey in the context of the life of, really, an ordinary woman. And so there's a notable wash of the quotidian over the whole movie; lots of pastels and a paucity of striking drama and color. Who buys a ticket to eat oatmeal? Well, there are a couple of redemptive factors, esthetically speaking.One thing she does is place flashpoint moments of pretty intense drama, such as when the personality conflict with her husband culminates in violence; a real white-knuckler! And, that being merely a notable punctuation point in the action, a careful tracking shows the flick to be a kind of moderated exposition, ranging from the truly mundane to some pretty challenging stuff; and everything in between and every which way.HG is an invitation to lovingly and thoughtfully consider those of our brethren who have addressed their existential crises by buying into this particular "out"; socializing themselves into fundamentalism.Interestingly, the eye of the camera viewing this epic could be the fairly dispassionate eye of a deistic god: For example, I found the scene where our heroine meets with a "prophetic" councilor particularly challenging. It requires that we get off our duffs, roll up our sleeves, and personally address the issue: From whence do persons who promote themselves as social arbiters derive their credentials? Does his firm, unblinking claim to divine calling overrule the intuitions of women who simply feel unfulfilled? HG is, I think, carefully directed to leave you to answer this, and other questions, in the tabernacle of your own heart. This will naturally put off some moviegoers who never really felt that this was the purpose of film.I'm not kidding: I'm fully aware that this style of filmmaking puts off plenty of people. Farmiga didn't make this film to be popular: She made it to be honest with herself.And perhaps that's the foundation point of the best recommendation for this flick: How often do you get to see films like that?

This story brings back memories, some good and some not so, of the 1970s when this story is set. My wife and I were involved in similar faith groups, in our case within the Catholic Church, where couples would go to prayer meetings and would support each other. Like in this story, some of them, usually the women, would ask to "receive the Spirit" and would "pray in tongues." The rest of us never really knew if they were really doing that as a manifestation of The Holy Spirit or were just convincing themselves of that. Sometimes all that brought people closer together, sometimes it pulled them apart.And that also is pretty much the theme of this movie. Vera Farmiga directs and also stars as the adult Corinne Walker . (We see two different, younger actresses playing Corinne at different stages, one is actually Vera's sister, 21 years younger than Vera, who does a great job as the teen Corrine.) As Corrine grows up, falls in love, becomes pregnant as a teen, gets married, gets entrenched in her own family, the religious aspect is there too, almost as another character. Corrine fervently wants it all, there is even a funny scene as she looks in the bathroom mirror, trying as hard as she can to "ignite" the spark of the Spirit within her so that she can pray in tongues, but it just doesn't come.There is another key issue, Bible fundamentalists adhere strictly to the admonition against having women in spiritual leadership positions where they may have occasion to instruct a man, and in a couple of scenes Corrine gets pulled aside by the pastor's wife who reminds her of that restriction after Corrine in impromptu moments gets up and speaks to the assembly. Corrine reacts with puzzlement, as she doesn't see why this should be wrong.In the end Corrine knows she is a good person, a good mother, but can no longer be a good wife as she finds herself not quite fitting into the mold of those around her. This movie does not "take sides", it does not try to say either point of view is wrong, but points out how religion can be a dividing force or a uniting force, depending on other circumstances.This is a somewhat slow movie, a character study without any great resolution, but very interesting and very well made.