The Order (2003 film)
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| The Order | |
|---|---|
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| Directed by | Brian Helgeland |
| Produced by | Craig Baumgarten Brian Helgeland |
| Written by | Brian Helgeland |
| Starring | Heath Ledger Shannyn Sossamon Benno Fürmann Mark Addy Peter Weller |
| Music by | David Torn |
| Cinematography | Nicola Pecorini |
| Editing by | Kevin Stitt |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
| Release date(s) | September 5, 2003 |
| Running time | 102 min |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English, Assyrian Neo-Aramaic, Aramaic |
| Official website | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Order, also known as The Sin Eater, is a 2003 film about a religious order, written and directed by Brian Helgeland and starring Heath Ledger, Benno Fürmann.
The film revolves around the mysterious death of an excommunicated priest, which, during the subsequent investigation, leads to the discovery of a sin eater.
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[edit] Plot
The plot involves the premise that there is another way to Heaven besides Jesus Christ; that is, the sin eater. Naturally the Catholic church considers this heresy. Heath Ledger plays the priest, Alex Bonnier, who recalls another priest telling him about the sin eater ritual. The head of Alex's order has died in an unusual way, and Alex goes to see the body. After seeing strange markings on the body, he heads to the Vatican, who tells him that sin eaters don't exist and that the priest who died had been excommunicated for his beliefs.
Meanwhile, Alex has recruited his friend Thomas, a fellow priest, to help him out. A girl who was once Alex's lover, Mara, has also come to the church seeking a place to hide. She has escaped from a mental hospital, and Alex lets her stay. The police come by looking for her, but Alex lies and denies that he's seen her.
Alex goes to a book store and begins to talk with the storekeeper, who takes him downstairs to a room with "forbidden" reading materials. Alex finds half a scroll with information about the sin eater.
Back at the church, a man named Driscoll gives Alex the dagger that is the key to killing the sin eater. However, they still need the other half of the scroll. Thomas takes Alex to a nightclub where they enter some underground catacombs, which turn out to be a base of operations of a semi-Christian religious order led by a man named Sherak, or 'the Black Pope.' The Black Pope owes a favor to Thomas. The Black Pope hangs three people in front of Alex and Thomas, and tells Alex that the dying can see what the living can't, and to quickly ask them before they die. He does, and one of the dying gives Alex the name of the sin eater.
On the way out of the catacombs, demons attack and injure Thomas, but Alex saves him. Alex meets with the sin eater, Eden, who explains that his job is to absolve the sins of those who were denied absolution by the church, thus allowing them entry into Heaven. Alex has the dagger with him, but is curious and so doesn't use it. He assists Eden with a sin eating ritual. Eden tells Alex that he is tired of being a sin eater and asks Alex to take his place, but Alex refuses.
Alex goes back to his church and finds that Mara has attempted suicide - in actuality, Eden was angry and slit her wrists to make it look like she committed suicide. She is dying, so Alex quickly performs the sin eater ritual so that she can go to Heaven. He slept with her earlier in the film and lost his priesthood, so he cannot perform absolution.(This idea is in cluded for dramtic effect. In Catholic theology, a priest does not "lose" his priesthood on account of having commtied a sin, and can always impart absolution in case of emergency.) A recurring theme in the movie is the difference between being a man and being a priest, and Alex crosses the line between the two when he sleeps with Mara. After absorbing her sins, though, he realizes the deception, and Alex seeks Eden out for revenge.
Meanwhile, the injured Thomas is out of the hospital and goes to see the black pope. He reveals himself to be Driscoll, and shows Thomas the second half of the scroll. As Thomas is leaving to find Alex, however, Driscoll has him captured.
Alex cannot find Eden and returns to see the black pope where Eden is. The black pope again tells him to ask the dying. As Alex asks the men who are hanging, he realizes that Thomas is one of them and frees him. However, Thomas is too injured to tell Alex not to leave.
Alex finds Eden and stabs him with the dagger, but then realizes that the dagger does not destroy the sin eater - it transfers the sin eater powers to whomever stabs the sin eater. Driscoll and Eden had plotted to make Alex the sin eater.
Alex tells the church about Driscoll's activities and has him excommunicated. Driscoll decides to kill himself and Alex says that he will eat Driscoll's sins. However, after Driscoll slits his wrists, Alex tells him that he knows that Eden and Driscoll caused the girl to kill herself, and decides not to save him. He does not eat the sins but forces Driscoll to eat them, and he dies a painful death and goes to Hell. Thus Alex has become the sin eater and decides who can go to Heaven.
[edit] Quotes
"I always thought that when God was creating the world, He messed up with sunflowers..."
"You're all mouth and no trousers"
"If I've learned anything in all my years it's that only in death do we really ever say good-bye."
"Am I the answer to your prayers?"
"Flesh rots but, Saint Peter's remains!"
"I am the conductor of the night train and the answer to your question is infinite. Besides in medicine you give people nothing to live by except words they can not pronouce, cancers that act capriciously, and you measure life with a ruler and a bathroom scale. You solve nothing and you are nothing when your dust is more valued than you!"
[edit] Trivia
The Order features the same 3 lead actors as the 2001 film "A Knight's Tale"; Heath Ledger, Mark Addy, and Shannyn Sossamon. Both movies were written and directed by Brian Helgeland.
