Directed by: Jesse Moss.
Like a modern day
version of The Grapes of Wrath, desperate men from across America (and even
some from around the world) have flocked to North Dakota – where the fracking
business is booming, and there are well paying jobs to be had. The problem, of
course, is that there is not enough jobs to go around to everyone who shows up
– and more dire, there is nowhere for the men who show up looking for work to
stay. Lutheran Pastor Jay Reinke, who presided over a congregation in Willston,
North Dakota, admits that he has trouble saying no – so would rather just say
yes and deal with the consequences. This is how his Overnighters program
started. He would let the men who showed up and asked for help to stay at his
church – he has plenty of floor space after all, and once that was full, opened
up his parking lot so that people could sleep in their cars. To him, this is
the Christian thing to do – helping out your fellow man. But not everyone in
town feels the same way. They don’t like all the newcomers, and want them to
leave. They don’t want their RVs and campers parked in town, they don’t want
them staying in the church, and they don’t want them around period. The local
newspaper is also against the plan – and uses fear to try stir up passions
against the overnighters. Some of this fear is warranted – there was a murder
of a local teacher by a pair of men looking for jobs, crime has seen an uptick
since all these men showed up in town, and some of the men have criminal
records – including a number of sex offenders. Reinke doesn’t see it that way –
he knows that if he closes the program, the problem won’t go away. Men are
still going to show up looking for work, and if they cannot stay in the church,
where will they go? The city and the newspaper don’t see it that way.
The Overnighters is an
extraordinary documentary that tells this complex story, with some real life
twists and turns that no one in the audience will see coming. The film spends
the first part simply looking at the issue itself – interviewing many of the
men who have shown up from across the country, explaining why they are here,
and getting to know them and Reinke. Everything seems to be going fine. After
this setup, the movie mainly focuses on Reinke himself – who is kind, affable,
ever forgiving and optimistic. I’ve seen a few reviews refer to him as a real
life Ned Flanders – and at first, that seems to be just what he is. He admits
how hard everything has been on him and his family personally from him having
to spend so much time at the church. He deals with complaints from his
congregation – who do not like seeing their church turned into a shelter of
sorts. He tries to combat what he considers to be unfair press attention by
going door-to-door to the neighbors and making his case. He also goes in front
of city council to argue for his program – and the rights of these men. He
believes that a true, loving community should welcome these men – and if they
do not, what kind of community are they living in, anyway?
The film gets darker as
it goes along though. Some of the men, who are very complimentary of Reinke –
even admiring in their words about him – turn on him, when Reinke turns their
back on them because they have let him down. This leads to one of them going to
the press about the number of sex offenders around – which threatens to derail
the whole program. Reinke becomes increasingly exasperated in trying to keep
all the balls in the air. Then, in a scene late in the third act, there is a
stunning, personal revelation about Reinke.
Director Jesse Moss went
down to Willston with his camera, and followed Reinke around for months to
document this story. He could not have imagined the documentary he ended up
with – as real life once again proves to be a little stranger, and more
unpredictable, than anything a screenwriter could come up with. Reinke, at
first, seems like a model Christian –the type who takes the duty of caring for
his fellow man seriously, and wants to help out anyone he can. As the movie
moves along, it never loses sympathy for Reinke, and is still a rather glowing
portrait of him, but he does become more human, and all that entails, as it
progresses as well. Something similar happens to The Overnighters program as
well – what starts out looking like a hopeful place, becomes something much
more complex as the film moves along. I don’t necessarily agree with the
community – who is scared and wants things to go back to the way they were
(they don’t seem to realize that is impossible) – but I have sympathy for their
position as well. Would you want sex offenders living in your neighborhood? The
stories of the men themselves – even those who find jobs – also turn darker as
the movie progresses, as desperation gives way to optimism when they find work,
and turns dark when there are consequences for them being away from home and
family.
The Overnighters never answers the question of what is to
be done to make this situation more tenable for everyone involved – probably
because there is no answer. But what makes the film so great is that while it
starts out as a social issue documentary, it becomes something much more human
and complex because of the people – especially Reinke – who it portrays. It is
a quietly moving – and devastating – documentary.
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