a/k/a Heretic
Release Date: 1/21/18; Sundance Film Festival
Genre: Drama
Rating: NR
Director: Joshua Marston
Studio(s): Netflix
Running time: 106 mins.
Cast: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Danny Glover, Condola Rashad, Jason Segel, Lakeith Stanfield,
Martin Sheen.
Story: Every Sunday, Bishop Carlton Pearson—evangelical megastar, brilliant orator, and television host with millions of followers—preaches the fundamentalist gospel to six thousand supplicants at his Higher Dimensions Church. He’s the pride and joy of his spiritual father, Oral Roberts, and the toast of Tulsa. One day, rattled by an uncle’s suicide and distraught by reports of the Rwandan Genocide, Pearson receives an epiphany. Suddenly it’s crystal clear—God loves all humankind; everyone is already saved, whether Christian or not; and there is no hell. But these ideas are heretical, violating sacrosanct doctrines.
The next Sunday, when Pearson unveils this theology of inclusion to his flock, shock waves sweep the enormous hall. Church leaders and members begin to defect in droves, and his empire topples. Based on the true story of a controversial and courageous man of God, Come Sunday elegantly and respectfully captures the authentic texture and tone of Pearson’s devout world, never resorting to hyperbole. Source: Sundance.org.
Trailer:
Black Cinema Connection 