Tortured by the loss of a son he encouraged to enlist in the armed forces, a small-town church minister and ex-military chaplain Ernst Toller (Ethan Hawke) struggles with his faith when a pregnant woman (Amanda Seyfried) and her radical environmentalist husband come to him for counseling.
Paul Schrader is one of the finest American writers and filmmakers of the modern cinema. His achievements include writing the screenplay for TAXI DRIVER and directing AMERICAN GIGOLO. His latest feature is a fiercely intelligent thriller held together by conflicted religious fury blending exaltation and torment to excavate deep personal history and to reveal present-day anger and pain with wondrous intensity. The result is one of his most profound works in five decades. More than a look back at the past, the film is also solidly rooted in the present in ways that will surprise and perhaps even shock.