Redemption: For Robbing the Dead
October. 16,2011 PGFor Robbing the Dead is a story of compassion - compassion toward those who may seem the least deserving of Christian love. It follows the story of Henry Heath, a law officer in 1862 Salt Lake City. Heath finds himself responsible for the well-being of a prisoner whom he despises - an impoverished French immigrant named Jean Baptiste who is convicted of robbing the graves of the recently deceased. Baptiste is exiled to Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake. With no one willing to look after this man, Henry Heath becomes Baptiste's sole defense against the hostile isolation of Antelope Island and the contempt of an entire community. Through his somewhat reluctant service, Heath's heart softens and his own sorrows find relief.
Similar titles
You May Also Like
Reviews
This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place
Really Surprised!
Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay
It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.
***PLOT SPOILERS***This is a slow moving western that is perhaps more about forgiveness than redemption. The film is based on a true story, one that was more interesting than the film portrays. This film focuses on the life of Henry Heath (John Freeman) a sheriff in Utah. After they find and convict Jean Baptise (David Stevens) of grave robbing, he is exiled to an island where Henry takes him food and water to the dismay of the people he wronged.The film holds your interest in a minimal sort of way as any docudrama might. I liked the scenery and costumes of the period, but the story was bland.They missed the good historical parts. For instance, Brigham Young had to assure the residents that their loved ones would still rise during the resurrection, even without wearing their clothes. The clothes were not found as the film depicts, but rather stacked neatly and folded in boxes. The clothes were all buried together so they can resurrect with their respective owners.Jean Baptise is seen as dying in the film in an attempt to escape. He apparently did escape and his fate was unknown. I thought history would have made a better ending, but the film maker chose for closure for Henry Heath.The film is light on religion, far less religion than I expected from the title and location.Parental Guide: No swearing, sex, or nudity.
Well written dialog. Acting high caliber. Nicely scored. Camera work was good. Direction was good. Editing was not too polished. An interesting piece of work. Thanks to you all.Interestingly vague about religion. It was there, but not to finitely. Kind of like peoples faiths. Hard to pin down what some people believe and don't believe even as they change beliefs. My brother ministers to death row inmates twice a week. He tells me they are not the same men who committed the crimes that put them there. He also tells me that the relationships he forms with them is a most rewarding thing. Anyways here is to a tiny bit of introspection. I need it as much as anyone else. Thanks again.
Just finished watching this movie at about 2:00 this morning. Despite the late hour and the approach of sleep, I had to check in here to see what the word was: three reviews. To be honest, I was surprised at how few people took the time to do more than punch in rating numbers. I was deeply moved by this story, and characters who seemed less like actors than real people from the period. Barry Corbin, long a favorite, was wonderful, as was Margot Kidder. Yes, it was generally slow moving, but oftentimes so is real life. Struggle, sadness and redemption don't come with explosions and car chases. And "westerns" needn't always come with blazing guns and fistfights. Moreover, most of us don't fall into categories of good or evil. Everyone in Redemption did what they thought was right, or at least necessary. I think these considerations will remain as images in my mind's eye for a long time. I liked, cared for and understood these people. They are us.
On the bright side, mostly grand vistas with generally pleasant and relaxing scenery. You can guess from the title and that it is a Western that takes place in Utah the basics of the plot line. The spoiler is, joke on me, that there is next to nothing to spoil."Watch out now, Skeeter don't take kindly to you digging up and taking his ma's clothes.", if only, but no, the dialog is as memorable as that passable flapjack. The theological question the film revolves around is: Does stealing the clothes from buried corpses force them to attend the Judgement as a nudist? It is a true story, an extremely underwhelming true story that the writer threw some spice on but the direction and acting left me feeling like I had been studying tumbleweeds. Wait for it and wait for it some more, this can't be all there is can it? Yes, that's all there is, it's over, that was it. Wait I must have missed something profound, I refuse to believe someone made a movie about... nothing.If you come up with something, please share.All in all, that heavens I was not born then and there in that mind numbing wasteland.