The end is coming!
Drirector: Maurice Devereaux
Religion doesn’t scare me, but the religious absolutely do. Religion, in its simplest form, is a moral compass and means of easing the burdens of life, but at its most dangerous, it’s a weapon. Certain religious leaders pervert religion in order to manipulate people, and certain people blindly do what they’re asked. Obviously, 9/11 is one form of this manipulation, but quoting the Bible in attack of gay marriage is surely another. End of the Line uses religious themes, without beating that long dead horse, to create a nifty little film where the religious have to spill a little blood as they spread the faith.
Karen (Elkin) is a psychiatric nurse at the end of a long day filled with the delusions and paranoid rants of her patients when she receives word of a former patient’s suicide. Troubled by the news but with her shift complete, she walks to the subway for her commute home where she finds two other men waiting separately for the train. When Patrick (Wilcock), a creepy sleazebag, hits on her, the other man, Mike (Wright), steps in pretending to be an old acquaintance. Appreciative but not looking to meet anyone, Karen sits by herself on the train wanting only a quiet ride home. She gets one too up until when someone hits the emergency stop button and the subway screeches to a halt mid-route.
Without clear communication as to what the problem is, the passengers eventually start to look for answers. As some of them come together and others wander off, Karen hears tapping and sees her former patient outside her window. And it’s not the first time she’s seen her that night. The image disturbs her, but before she can recover, several passengers receive a synchronized text. Crucifixes suddenly become daggers, the religious become murderers and the night becomes bloody.
Devereaux’s religious themes are certainly heavy-handed – allegory is nowhere – but it never feels like Bible bashing is his main objective. He clearly takes shots at religious fanaticism, but his Voice of Eternal Hope members feel at least somewhat grounded. I’ve read criticisms of their portrayal as too wide-eyed, but the frightening juxtaposition of their joyous mood and their horrible actions is striking. They’re happy to save the souls of these people even though they must commit murder. It’s like a big church activity, in fact, as members pray and sing hymns while they stalk the other passengers in the tunnels. In their minds they’re not horrible people because they’re not committing a horrible act – they’re offering salvation. There’s a powerful scene in the film where the wife of a family of Hope members is happy they’re all together as they slowly bleed out on the dirty floor. So while it might be a slightly over-the-top depiction of such a mindset, it’s an eerie and unsettling one.
When the Hope members are eventually identified as the threat, a little of the cat and mouse suspense you’d expect from such a scenario is felt as they try to “save” the other passengers, but the film isn’t overly suspenseful and its pacing doesn’t help. The survivors hunker down a couple of times to figure out what to do next, and the second act feels sluggish as a result. Ultimately, as bodies litter the tunnels, Devereaux makes one last statement with the conclusion of his film, and he leaves it open to interpretation. I don’t want to spoil anything so I won’t say much, but I feel he left enough clues in the film, especially in one conversation between Karen and Mike, to identify his intent behind the ending. And, personally, I thought it was a smart and effective way to end the film regardless of what you make of it.
End of the Line shouldn’t be viewed with a razor-sharp critical eye, but it’s a surprisingly solid independent film in a vast landfill of trash.