KILLING FAITH - Mark Reviews Movies

Killing Faith, Shout! Studios

Follow on Facebook | Follow on Twitter | Become a Patron

Review by Mark Dujsik | October 2, 2025

The actual plot—as in how the story progresses step by step—of Killing Faith is wholly straightforward. It's about a trio of characters traveling from one town to another in the American West of 1849. Along the way, the group encounters assorted obstacles and threats, and on occasion, they learn a thing or two about each other when things are a bit calmer, either before or after whatever metaphorical storm hits.

However, there's a strangeness to writer/director Ned Crowley's movie, too, mainly revolving around a single character and what appears to be some sort of supernatural power. Whether or not it is, of course, is a major question of this tale, but it's also fascinating that Crowley treats any definitive answer as being completely irrelevant for the characters and the story at hand.

The girl, only known as the Girl and played by Emily Ford, is quite young. She's quiet but otherwise seems like any ordinary little girl. Almost immediately upon meeting her, though, we watch as she approaches a horse on the ranch where she lives, touches its face, and is met with shouts of warning from her mother. The expectation, maybe, is that the horse could be a threat, but that's quickly dismissed as soon as the beast collapses. It dies, apparently from the child's touch.

This isn't normal, to say the least, and everyone who has met or is aware of the Girl knows this, fears what it means, and wants something to be done about it. The child's mother, a freed Black woman named Sarah (DeWanda Wise), has heard of a faith healer in some town that's a several-days journey away, and that appears to be her last option. The townsfolk, who recently endured and barely survived a widespread sickness that claimed the lives of many, have had enough of death. The child could be a carrier of the illness or cursed in some inexplicable way, but either way, the people in town are starting to murmur or more openly suggest that it'd be better for everyone if the Girl was dead.

That's the basic setup of Crowley's screenplay, which soon sees Sarah and the Girl joined by Dr. Bender (Guy Pearce) on a trek to the healer's town. Bender has had his share of troubles and rumors about him, as well.

By all accounts, he isn't a particularly good doctor, but then again, the only real test of his skills the townsfolk have witnessed since his arrival was that sickness, which isn't a fair gauge of his talents. There's also the fact that his wife died under circumstances that a lot of people believe he might have been the cause of or, at least, could have stopped. The specifics of that situation are a mystery for later in the story, so we'll just leave it with the notion that Bender is a haunted, guilt-ridden, and deeply cynical man.

At this point, it's probably simplest to say that the movie's main interests are split. On one side, there's a fairly standard sort of Western, in which the trio are confronted by outlaws, namely a pair led by the murderous Whitey (Jamie Neumann), and approached by apparent helpers, particularly a Native American man who spent time in England and was given the name William Shakespeare (Raoul Max Trujillo). There's also Edward (Jack Alcott), the son of the man who freed Sarah and who is innocently infatuated with the woman, and of him, it can be said that he has a uniquely pure heart among the characters here—which is on full display by the end of his story.

To be sure, these side players are intriguing in some way, from casual cruelty of the outlaw to how William's proper manner is hiding something about him and his motives, but as such broad descriptions suggest, none of them is anywhere as compelling as the connection between Sarah and Bender. Indeed, the most important and potentially complex figure apart from those two is a character played by Bill Pullman, but he doesn't arrive until the third act, when the story is too busy working to resolve its narrative and thematic concerns to examine or develop the man in any significant way.

Meanwhile, Sarah and Bender, though, have some shared history, although neither wants to speak of it, given what happened and how each has a different reaction to those events. What's really happening between these two, in other words, is an extended philosophical or spiritual debate about grief and remorse, as well as how much tragedy and pain should define one's attitude, behavior, and outlook on life. Despite everything she has been through and the present challenge she faces with her daughter, Sarah is an optimist at heart, but Bender is filled with uncertainty and skepticism, wanting to numb himself to everything with his habit of inhaling ether.

Considering where the movie ultimately goes, this dichotomy feels more pertinent to the story of Killing Faith than any of its traditional Western beats and clichés. The central curiosity of the movie—again, that the whole thing revolves around a little girl who might have some unnatural abilities—would seem to point the whole thing in different direction. Instead of embracing the mystery and the oddity of the story, though, the filmmakers play it all a bit too safe to really dive into those questions or these characters.

Back to Home

Buy Related Products