Introduction to a screening of The Overnighters, Ritzy Picturehouse, Brixton, November 4th, 2014.
Alexandra Sage
Pastor Jay Reinke offers temporary accommodation to some of the shifting population of men who come to North Dakota to seek work in the booming fracking industry.
Reminiscent of the gold rush, or a modern-day Steinbeck setting, the men follow a dream but quickly struggle to make ends meet, making their homes in trailer parks, car parks and the corridors of Reinke’s Concordia Lutheran Church.
Director and producer Jesse Moss experienced documentary making at its finest early on in his career when he worked with Barbara Kopple on the seminal 1976 Harlan County, USA. Kopple’s film tells the story of a ravaging miner’s strike in a small Kentucky town through the eyes of the people, with Kopple’s excellent access and empathy at its core.
Moss follows this tradition, and covers his tale of employment migration from the perspective of the men looking for work, the congregation and the townspeople; and in doing so continually confronts bias, religious values, and fear. Ecologically there is a story here also, but Moss chooses to concentrate on the human cost in terms of poverty, family life and self-esteem.
I hosted a recent, sold-out Q & A for the documentary Virunga, looking at the ecological and economic impact of oil drilling and poaching in Congo’s national park – a world heritage site. The costs there are also infinite, but more expected. In The Overnighters we are taken by surprise by the different levels of impact, and the men coming from all over the world simply to get a job. Ironically some are from the Congo. No stratas of the local community remain unaffected.
Key to a film like this is the relationship between the filmmaker and the subject, and the level of access given. Our entry into the story is through Jay. As Moss said in a recent Indiewire interview with Eric Kohn: “It is about him, but his story is powerful and universal. He’s a human being who trusted me and allowed me to make a film about him. I think that relationship doesn’t end when you stop shooting…. I’m the filmmaker and he’s the subject….this is something we shared together.” Moss equally acknowledges Jay’s vanity and ego, and the fact that he risks conversations about his film being diverted by discussions about Jay’s life and its contradictions.
One striking thing about this film is that the main body of characters are men, struggling to maintain their identities, stripped down by unemployment. They are men who are particularly vulnerable, away from home, anchorless, chasing dreams, or escaping their pasts to make a fresh start. The film is at times revealing about the male psyche in these gruelling circumstances, and these moments are very resonant. There is a dignity, a sadness, a sensitivity about this community of men that takes the viewer unawares.
Against this backdrop of itinerant men is an array of locals who range from bewildered and politely questioning, to outraged and fearful. Pastor Jay quite rightly sites fear as the most damaging response, and preaches open mindedness. He repeatedly takes the part of the marginalised, the offender and the feared, turning no one away no matter what their history. What makes one character so liberal and the majority so reactionary?
Pastor Jay describes himself as the good shepherd. “I lay down my life for my sheep”, he says and, “no one shall snatch them out of my hand”. Certainly his presence, boundless energies, and actions alleviate much collective pain and humiliation. He is a conduit for trust and confessional stories. He gives shelter to more than 1000 men within his church, and many more sleep in the car park.
Jesse Moss trails Reinke throughout his increasingly frenetic daily routines to enter some very private aspects of his life. There is a substantial amount of observation in this film and we are partakers in some extremely personal scenes. This kind of filmmaking demands skills and patience. It is seen less and less as it costly in terms of the time required to build the necessary trust, and its method is technically and emotionally demanding of the filmmaker. But when these scenes work, they are like magic, full of revelation and subtext. Alongside, there are also interviews, formal and informal.
Moss says his take on the film was as a storyteller, attracted by the mythology, as he saw it, of the transformation and destabilisation of boom towns and the desperados they attract.* As Moss films, the mythology fades, although its origins are evident in the characters that Moss encounters.
Storylines like this are often ongoing, and pre- and post-date the film itself. Why do we enter a story when we do? And when is the right time to leave? Films like this have several possible endings at different points. This timeline for the most part runs chronologically but there are also some plays with time that are significant in our experience of the film. Whilst the bulk of it unfolds naturally, the story elements that have been moved out of place offer hints and explanations that cause us to re-evaluate our knowledge. The more we know, the less straightforward things become.
We realise that the end is linked to the beginning and we hold two viewpoints. One that travels chronologically and another that moves back and forth from end to beginning to reassess, replay and reconstruct what we already thought we knew. Some dramatic and revelatory scenes lie in startling places along the timeline.
This is an incredibly demanding and complex story to tell, whatever we ultimately feel about the characters or outcome. It’s interesting to wonder if Moss finds out things in the same order that we do. If not we might question why he told so much of his story in a vacuum. Regardless, it is told with clarity, simplicity, empathy and space. And by space I mean space within the story for us to think and absorb. Moss is a skilled visual and observational storyteller and we experience much of the story as it happens, unfolding around us.
In Jay we find a character who presents a series of puzzles as to his motivations and his morality. He is a wonderful character to a storyteller because he works on several different levels and his actions affect many. If you are like me, you will be left with infinite and shifting questions. And wondering where the film’s moral compass lies. It is ultimately a rich, complex and thought-provoking tale.
*www.Indiewire.com Interview of Jesse Moss by Eric Kohn, October 15,2014
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