The Sacrament (2013) Ti West’s true-story Exploitation goes South (Review)

No one does genre pastiche quite like Ti West who, after working his way up from no-budget shorts to no-budget features, finally took off in 2009 with the one-two hits of a ready-made cult classic (House of the Devil), and a straight-to-video sequel (Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever). There’s an indefinable and defiantly uncommercial quality to his films that have marketed themselves as familiar, while turning up challenging, unexpected results. His early works are so slow-burn that it’s a genuine question if he even brought matches to start a fire, with House of the Devil and The Innkeepers being the most potent examples of his peculiar brand. In recent years, his X trilogy has seen him become an A24 darling, leading sleaze and exploitation towards the realms of populism and respectability as he navigates the shocking prices of stardom in different eras. In between these two chapters, he offered maybe his most controversial picture in The Sacrament – a found-footage almost-satire on the role of journalism in the most unreal of circumstances. Now presented in a bumper new edition from Second Sight, the film delves deeper into the craft and ideas behind an abrasive yet forgotten chapter in West’s unpredictable filmography.

The opening of The Sacrament suggests a bold and confrontational reckoning for Vice Media – a brand that has since taken its own controversial path since the film’s release. During production, Vice was a growing yet still distinctively punk voice in the journalism world, and their presence front and centre of this ethically dubious work forms a complex part of West’s pointed commentary on the age of accessible atrocities on the internet. AJ Bowen is Vice journalist Sam – a reporter claiming not to have an agenda while sporting the most judgmental combo of plaid, beard and Williamsburg chic you’ll ever see. He’s hot on the case of fashion photographer friend Patrick (Kentucker Audley), who’s looking for his missing sister Caroline (Amy Seimetz).

Caroline is currently holed up in an unnamed South American locale with born-again Christian commune Eden Parish, and an invitation to their compound leads Patrick, Sam and cameraman Jake (Joe Swanberg) to this quiet corner of the world where everything seems perfect. The residences of the commune resemble clean and comfortable glamping retreats, the land is green and fertile, and even the emotional and economic troubles faced by the populace have evaporated in the baking heat. The idyll is almost enough to convert the journalists themselves, but there are two small problems – a mute child (Talia Dobbins), who gives subtle signs that something’s off, and the presence of armed guards at the perimeter that rubs up badly against the camp’s pacifist principles. Determined to get an interview with the elusive leader of the pack known only as ‘Father’ (Gene Jones), Sam and Jake dig deeper into the contradictory world of this “heaven on earth” and uncover a dark side to paradise, one reserved only for the all-seeing gaze of its patriarch.

Anyone familiar with true crime history will have alarm bells ringing at that synopsis, as the promised land of Eden Parish and its sunglasses-sporting leader bear very direct similarities to the horrifying case of the People’s Temple Agricultural Project in Guyana, and the actions perpetrated by its founder – Jim Jones. Without going into too much detail about what occurred in ‘Jonestown’, it’s safe to say the denouement of The Sacrament draws inseparable parallels to those particular events, and as soon one picks up on those elements it’s difficult to escape the inevitable feeling of doom for each and every character. Where West fumbles the handling of this sensitive situation is by hiding behind an uncredited inspiration from the case, and also choosing to clearly dramatise its most heart-wrenching, stomach-churning real-life events.

The new cast interviews on the disc are littered with the performers talking about the tragedy and its conscious influence on West’s development of the project. Gene Jones in particular, strove to distance his character from Jim Jones (despite their names being coincidentally almost identical), and create something new and frightening out of the situation, and he deserves tremendous credit for his role as a kindly grandpa who can be soothingly pleasant or imperiously strict on the turn of a dime. His presence in films in general are rare, and in fact his first major film role came late into his career when he played the unfortunate gas station owner at the end of Anton Chigurh’s coin toss in No Country for Old Men.

It’s clear that Jones relished the opportunity to thoroughly illustrate a figure of unspeakable evil, one that played very interestingly in the wake of the Trump presidency. Suddenly, it didn’t seem so outlandish that hordes of people would follow a chubby, bizarrely-dressed huckster with a vague worldview to self-destructive ends. Amy Seimetz also gives a thin outline of a character a three-dimensional edge as recovering addict Caroline, and she does a lot with her winning smile to convince everyone that what’s actually going on is right and proper. The mercenary protagonists of Sam and Jake are less involving as both Bowen and Swanberg fall short of being as smarmy or charismatic as necessary, especially for reporters grappling with the moral grey area they’ve strayed into.

In many respects, The Sacrament forms an interesting companion piece with Alex Garland’s more recent Civil War. Both feature journalists with a loose, removed worldview that allows them to filter out the horror of the stories they tell others, and the situations are also deliberately laden with politically-charged imagery with little on-screen explanation. One could say that both Garland and West fail to make an incisive “point” about tragedies that are fresh in the minds of their audiences, but one thing Garland brings to the table is a cast of strong characters to root his barely-fictional story in reality. The Sacrament loses credibility on that front with its performances, thin character writing, and its insistence on uber-naturalism that constantly draws attention to itself.

A common complaint with found-footage cinema is actually a simple question – “Why/how are they still filming?”. The Sacrament initially does well to make two of its central characters photographers, and there are small moments where they agree to collaborate and shoot a situation from different angles which ultimately gives West a lot to work with in the editing room. It’s a wise choice at first, and the coverage garnered from the characters’ gonzo journalist-styles gives plenty of attention to the wonderful supporting artists and their fervent relationship with their ring leader, Jones. Yet when the proverbial Kool-Aid hits the fan, the logistics of who’s shooting what and why become very, very stretched – capturing atrocities with too much clarity and not enough panic.

West is no stranger to working in found-footage, and in fact he previously worked with many of his collaborators here on the first installment of the V/H/S/ franchise. It’s bizarre then, that his lensing lacks the frenzied urgency needed to encapsulate the bad feelings and anxiety of his ready-made story, and when it’s easier to focus on who’s operating the camera than what’s going on in front of it, there’s a disconnect that lessens the impact of the overall picture.

There are plenty of fascinating elements to chew on with The Sacrament, both in front of and behind the camera. Its ethical concerns appear to be flirting with satire at points, but its grave, bleak subject matter hobbles any witty insight to be found from using a real company like Vice as its blank-faced arbiters of truth. That Vice even gave permission for their brand to be used in this way is a credit to West’s charisma and salesmanship (no doubt supported by Eli Roth’s involvement as executive producer), but the proof is in the punch with this botched attempt at viewing a counter-cultural tragedy through a very modern lens. West has since gone on to tackle westerns, musicals and sleazeball cinema, adding strings to his bow in his own impressive way, but The Sacrament stands as a tricky middle chapter for his career – one that sees him take a big swing at one of recent history’s most shocking events, and somewhat miss the mark in the process.

Simon’s Archive – The Sacrament (2013)