Review of Believers, The

Introduction

This is a little reminder that Martin Sheen made a variety of films before becoming the President in The West Wing. Made in 1987 by John Schlesinger (Midnight Cowboy, Marathon Man, Pacific Heights), it tells the story of a police psychiatrist (Sheen), who after losing his wife in a fatal accident, moves to New York with his 8-year old son to make a fresh start. His fresh start gets him involved with a police officer (Jimmy Smits) accused of the murder of two children who are killed in ritulistic ceremony. As he digs deeper, he finds himself and his family in danger as his son is next in line for the ritual by a cult which truly believes that the sacrifice of lives closest to you is the only way to bring your worldly desires to fruition.

Video

The Believers is presented with a better than average 1.85:1 widescreen enhanced video transfer. The transfer is clear with good detail and colour and there were no signs of compression that I could see. The contrast has been boosted a little however, and this leads to some slight edge enhancement, but it`s not bad. Grain and dirt is kept to a minimum and I couldn`t see any other problems with the transfer.

Audio

The film comes with Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo and as usual with back cat MGM titles, there are other Euro languages too. The film doesn`t make demands from the film so the dialogue is clear enough and sound is spread across the front pair. Sometimes the dialogue sounds a bit strange, almost like it`s been processed in some way, but besides this, there are no other strange things on the soundtrack and it`s functional.

Features

None.

Conclusion

Unfortunately there are holes in the story which leave questions unanswered and sometimes it`s difficult to shake off these missing gaps of information. The motivations for the characters` ritual beliefs are not laid down until very late in the film, together with the whys and wheres which neatly sows up some of the previous missing bits. The murders of the two children in the film aren`t properly explained however and we have to assume it was all part of this cult thing. Because of the subject matter I have to admit that I found the film a little spooky. It`s not frightening however, though this might depend on your disposition, but voodoo rituals and ceremonies are not trifling matters when delivered with such seriousness. This aspect kept me intrigued though the film has no idea what to make of it and paints it with utter contempt and ignorance; the writing in general is very poor.

Character performances are what I`d expect with a film like this and aren`t too amateurish; Sheen and Smits deliver average performances, while Loggia is the stereotyped hard cop delivering convincing clichés. As stories go it`s sadly not interesting or focused enough to really get you hooked and remains vague in its purpose. The Believers is one of those movies that you probably saw on a TV station somewhere while flicking to find something interesting. You wouldn`t mark it as a must see in the TV guide either as it feels too much like a movie of the week. If you`ve never heard of it, you`re not likely to pick it out as something to see.