Movie Review: Them That Follow

Them That Follow *** ½ / *****

Directed by: Britt Poulton & Dan Madison Savage.

Written by: Britt Poulton & Dan Madison Savage.

Starring: Alice Englert (Mara), Kaitlyn Dever (Dilly), Walton Goggins (Lemuel), Olivia Colman (Hope), Thomas Mann (Augie), Lewis Pullman (Garret), Jim Gaffigan (Zeke).

 

When you say that Them That Follow is a drama set in Appalachia, in a sect of fundamentalist Christian snake handlers, who probably have a certain movie in mind – perhaps a film that looks down and mocks its characters for their religion and beliefs. A film about rednecks that mocks them. And yet, that really isn’t what Them That Follow is. There is an air of inevitability to the film to be sure – you cannot have a movie with this many snakes in it, where in the first half there are lots of conversations about the police coming to take their snakes – and by extension their way of life – away from them, and not get to a scene where a snake is going to bite one of the characters. There is some suspense over who it is going to be – but not much. You kind of know where the film is going.

 

And yet, Them That Follow still works, mostly because it treats its characters with so much respect. No one in the film is a one note stereotype – someone to mock, etc. These are people whose beliefs are different – backwards and dangerous sure, but they come by them honestly, and there is certainly a long history of this. The film is about this isolated community – and how hard it can be to escape a community when it’s the only thing you know – and even if you want to.

 

The main character here is Mara (Alice Englert) – the daughter of the Pastor, Lemuel (Walton Goggins). Her mother died years ago, and she’s now in her late teens, so it’s time to get married. She is engaged to the solid, rather boring Garret (Lewis Pullman) – while carrying a secret, that she is in love with Augie (Thomas Mann) – and is carrying his baby. While Augie’s parents – Hope (Olivia Colman) and Zeke (Jim Gaffigan) – are true believers and followers of Lemuel, Augie has strayed from the path, and as such is no longer a suitable match for Mara. Her best friend is Dilly (Kaitlyn Dever) – roughly the same age, whose mother recently has run off on her, so she comes to live with Mara and Lemuel. She is the type of best friends that Mara believes she can trust – but probably shouldn’t.

 

You get no prizes for guessing what happened in Them That Follows. From that setup, you can probably guess what it will be. But the film is more about the way it portrays its characters – all with great sympathy and complexity. Mara really does believe in her father’s belief system – right to the end of the movie she seems to be a true believer. But like many young people, her hormones got the best of her – and that basically makes her question everything in her life. It would be easy to make Lemuel into a monster – but the film never does. Goggins specializes in this type of character – the type that you would think would be a one note monster, but isn’t. Even when the truth comes out – he handles it in the way he thinks is best (it isn’t, but it’s also not in the judgmental monster you expect). The film is generous in the way it depicts everyone – from Colman’s Hope, who truly does care but cannot quite see beyond her faith, Dilly, torn between wanting a family, and her friendship, Garret, who thinks he is getting one thing, and reacts horribly when that turns out not to be true, and Augie, who is willing to do anything for Mara. The one character who never goes beyond caricature is Jim Gaffigan’s Zeke – who never really comes into focus.

 

The film is debut film from writer/directors Britt Poulton and Dan Madison Savage. The film doesn’t do anything all that new or unique. It doesn’t hit the heights of something like Winter’s Bone – but it’s a generous film, that takes its characters and questions seriously.