The Sacrament (2013)

Day 126 of Sobriety.

 

The Sacrament was directed by Ti West, who has recently been making pretty big waves with the Mia Goth-starring X and its sequels.

 

It’s embarrassing to admit, but this is another film that. like The Dark and The Wicked (2020), which I (re-)watched last week, I had actually seen it before, but didn’t I fully realize that until about halfway through. Well, that’s on me and my boozing. No doubt I was inebriated when I last watched it.

 

The plot of The Sacrament follows a small news team that is accompanying a man who travels to the commune of a religious cult in a remote (unspecified) jungle location to find his sister. When the crew arrives, they find that all is not well in the commune. It is made in a “found-footage” format, as a fake documentary program being filmed by the VICE media company. (Interesting aside: the cult in the movie is initially described as a “sobriety cult”!)

 

The film is heavily based on the actual events of the Jonestown massacre—a mass suicide that took place at the compound of a religious cult in Guyana in 1978. And when I say “heavily based,” I mean really heavily. Names and other details have been changed but most of the key elements are lifted directly from the actual event, including the character of the cult leader, and even the way that specific characters in the film die.

 

The film is well enough made. It develops pretty slowly, which is fine, but if you are familiar with the real events that it is based on, then you are in for no surprises. It unfolds exactly as you would expect it to.

 

But here’s the thing: I’m no expert on the Jonestown massacre, but it seems clear that the events shown in the film are not nearly as shocking or horrific as the actual events on which they are based. Not nearly. At the end of the faux documentary, we are informed that “167 people died during the massacre of Eden Parish” (the fictional commune). As I understand it, over 900 people died at Jonestown. That’s just one very concrete example.

 

On top of that, the film really has very little to say about the events that it is tracing so closely—about the people involved, about the nature of cults, about the tragedy, or the human circumstances that can lead to such a tragedy. There is not much at all in the way of commentary, insight, or reflection. So, in the end, we are left with a film that really seems to downplay, and even diminish, the impact and significance of the truly horrific events upon which it is based.

 

There is no doubt a place for a film—even a horror film—that deals with the events of Jonestown or a similar scenario, giving it the weight and consideration that such subject matter deserves, but unfortunately, The Sacrament isn’t that film.