The Slow-burning Suit-up

It's a slow-burner, "The Order"; a well-told tale of religious intrigue, sadist sects, and sin-eating. It's one of those old-fashioned, 60/70’s-style horror pieces where you really have to pay attention; where the pacing is precise and the action and gore and bare skin are absolutely minimal. Going into this one, knowing a little something about the subject matter helps you to become involved enough with the story to care where it goes and to grasp the material it encroaches... and that’s is where our dilemma with “The Order” begins.

Right off the bat, know that the average view will hate this movie. Guaranteed.

it's not for everyone.

Personally, I find the film brilliant (and that means nothing I assure you). Not only because of the performances by the late-n-great Heath Ledger, low-key beauty Shannyn Sossamon, Mark Addy, and Peter “Robocop” Weller; but because I absolutely fucking LOVE the subject matter. The occult is my forte; my lifelong obsession. I eat it. On the other hand, most people don’t. It’s not their thing. That’s cool, you know. Takes all kinds. However, that directly translates into my point about “The Order”; I’ve known people who have viewed this film didn't like it. I've known people who HATED it. I've rarely met anyone who liked it, and never anyone who loved it the way I do. And why? I honestly believe that the subject matter is to blame.

Of those who HATE "The Order", all I've spoken to said it’s because they just couldn't get into it. They said that the movie was too slow. It wasn't scary.

Most people, they never even finished it.

Let it be noted though, that these same people, in my experience, they LOVED "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle". They devour "The Hills" and "American Idol". They have no attention span. They don't read. So naturally... this film isn't everyone's cup of tea, or Mountain Dew, or Red Bull, or whatever it is beautiful young swine with bad taste in cinema and exciting social lives drink. Oh how I envy those people.

Now; who else does "The Order" alienate, you ask? Anyone touchy about religion being stabbed with a stick and stirred around. People easily bothered by the “dark side” of Catholicism, the perversions of the divine, or generally obscene strangeness that would make Alister Crowley seem like Pee-Wee Herman in comparison.

Most likely a viewing by a Sunday School class of strict Southern Baptists would be out of the question.

Probably my grandma would hate it.

So you get it, right? Right. Then let’s move on to what we're here for then shall we?

The beauty of this suit up is that it takes place in two planes of time at once, a sort of pink pong of fades showing Ledger's character Father Alex Bernier suiting up into his vestments and at the same time reciting the Mass of the Roman Rite in Latin over the Eucharist. Director Brian Helgeland intertwines the shots to give the viewer a sense of Bernier's passion for his priestly duties and to set up the immediately following scene to flow (even if slowly) into the plots branching rivulets.

We see Bernier in full vestments before the actual suit up into them. He enters, palms pressed together, making his way to the altar. The first fade in is a flashback to minutes before, of Father Bernier in the plain black and white, kissing the amice, an oblong piece of cloth that he throws around his shoulders, drawing in at the neck. Back to the present, where he begins to cross himself and recite the first lines of the Confiteor: "Confiteor, Deo onipotenti et vobis, fratres."

Let me take a moment to say that David Torn's score here in this scene, as well as throughout the entire film, is a thing of beauty. If Catholic churches really sounded like this, I would be inclined to spend the rest of my life in one like that hunchbacked fellow from that old Victor Hugo story.

So fade again to his chamber where Father Bernier slips on the alb, a white full-body tunic. Ping-pong momentarily back to a shot of Father Bernier, his eyes starring, an intent glaze of prayer. In the next cut he's tying the waist of the alb. Quick cut as he raises a Communion wafer; jump cut to the father kissing the stole, the embroidered "scarf" priests wear; thunder-cut back to the cup holding the chalice wine and the wafer, each of which will transubstantiate into the blood and flesh of Christ the moment it enters the mortal body. Once more back to his quarters as he lowers the stole around his neck; over the image he continues in Latin: "Mia Culpa. Mia culpa. Mia maxima culpa." (My fault, my fault, my most grievous fault).

This point ends the jumps in time, for the remainder of the scene. It plays the rest of the way with Father Bernier administering the Eucharist. Sound boring? Well it's super surreal when you see Robocop waiting for that cracker.

Well, Peter Weller anyway.

So there it is, the suit up in a movie almost no one saw. I could tell you as well that Shannyn Sossamon has a sex scene in the film (complete with boobie shot), but again, it was way too tasteful of a scene for some of the film's haters. That scene too is filmed in jump cuts and fades, not soft-core titty shots (not saying there’s anything wrong with that either, so don’t get upset and flame me).

But like I said, it’s not a film for everyone… You know, like those people who LOVED "From Justin to Kelly", and watch "According to Jim” and hate pacing, and tasteful nudity, and...