By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.6
Director: Jessie Moss
Country: united_states
Year: 2014
Running time: 102
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3263996/?ref_=nv_sr_1
Jason says: “THE OVERNIGHTERS starts with economics on-screen and probably could have the same sort of genesis as a project: The fracking-based oil boom in North Dakota brings people there in search of jobs that pay well, but a lack of lodging leaves many still homeless or paying exorbitant rents as supply-and-demand fails to work for everyone. You can still see hints of that wider perspective throughout the film, even though a more intriguingly knotty story has taken center stage.
“That would be the case of Jay Reinke, pastor of Williston’s Concordia Lutheran Church. Reinke, in an act of Christian charity, has opened the church’s doors and parking lot to those seeking work but who do not yet have a place to stay. This is not exactly a popular move to a congregation and community already tending to look at the outsiders arriving as criminally-inclined invaders, and that’s before it becomes clear that Reinke is willing to offer a helping hand to even those with very questionable backgrounds.
“There are a number of angles filmmaker Jesse Moss could have taken here, from focusing on the cross-section of transient guests of the church that give the film its title to perhaps comparing the environmentally questionable methods used to extract shale oil to what seems like a similarly exploitative way of churning through employees. Pastor Reinke winds up not just being the common thread connecting a number a different narratives, but a figure not seen often enough in movies not specifically made for a Christian audience: A man who takes Jesus’s exhortations to charity and forgiveness seriously, and is willing to make personal sacrifices or take personal risks to that end. There’s a cheerful sincerity to his voice that can sound naïve or put-on to those who don’t encounter that personality type regularly, although he seems genuine most of the time.
“And the moments that perhaps seem a little off are not entirely because Reinke may be trying to put up any sort of façade. Moss, over the course of what appears to be roughly a year of filming, is apparently able to gain enough trust from his subjects that he can capture some moments that many might balk at allowing to be filmed. Even taking that into consideration, though, there are a lot of times when Ross not only seems to get great, story-making scenes, but on-the-nose connective tissue, without the gasp other documentaries sometimes seem to let out when they stumble upon something big. It’s at times an odd feeling, a fly-on-the wall documentary where the filmmaker can see that path things will take ahead of time, or how his presence altered the way they played out.
“Not that those events were wholly unpredictable; there’s nothing here that goes against basic human nature. Moss does a fine job of keeping things level, working with editor Jeff Seymann Gilbert to make sure that, even if the viewer’s sympathies are generally with Reinke, his opponents are not simply represented as horrifically prejudiced people. The wider context of the film being about these workers is also never truly lost, with parts of the end of the film serving as a reminder that this church’s issues are hardly the only concerns with coming to North Dakota to work. In some ways, that works as a better coda than the tail end of Reinke’s story, which is apparently rather abrupt even if I suspect one scene was put in to foreshadow it.
“And yet, it’s perhaps fitting that a documentary that often follows a fairly predictable arc takes a harsh right turn; life doesn’t boil down to a simple issue. The Overnighters may sometimes feel haphazardly put together, with Moss showing his hand quite clearly, but it’s still an interesting story about practicing what one preaches for all that. 4 cats”
Chris says: “Sometimes, as much as we loathe to admit it, even the notion of wanting to ‘do the right thing’ has unfair and unavoidable consequences. Jay Reinke, pastor of a Lutheran church discovers this firsthand during the oil boom that brings thousands of hopeful men looking for work to his small town in North Dakota during the early days of the Great Recession. Naturally, these inquiries far exceed the available jobs, with many men ending up homeless, living in their cars as they seek/wait for employment. Reinke, a community pillar decides to help out and provide shelter for these refugees, whom he dubs ‘overnighters’. In exchange for becoming part of the church’s community by assisting with the cleaning and cooking, attending services an adhering to what Reinke determines as a moral code, he puts them up in the parish’s dormitories and rec rooms; the program proves so popular that he even allows an overflow of men to permanently set up camp in their cars and trailers in the parking lot—and, in a few cases, his own home with his wife and children.
“This last act of goodwill is where Reinke first runs into trouble, as it violates the town’s parking and vagrancy laws. From there, what on the surface initially appears as another documentary regarding an extraordinary do-gooder gets more twisted as the both the town and members of the church inevitably grow weary of this influx of mostly unemployed outsiders. Reinke struggles to keep his program and his ideals in place; then, a shocking revelation about one overnighter threatens not only the program itself but Reinke’s standing in the community. Jesse Moss’ film would captivate solely for examiing how both personal and political approaches to socioeconomic problems are inescapably at odds, resulting in a complex web of misunderstood intentions and shifting perceptions. What pushes it one step further is Moss’ good fortune to have Reinke as his subject—the pastor’s ultimate candidness in the film’s last fifteen minutes transforms THE OVERNIGHTERS into an astonishing character study that’s really all about truth and consequences. 5 cats”
Diane says: “I’m sorry I’m just seeing OVERNIGHTERS now. This would have been a very strong contender for best doc. If you like to explore ethical ambiguities (like ‘Who is my neighbor?’), I recommend this highly, as did Chris and Jay. Great fodder for a group discussion, if you can pull that off. 5 cats”
Julie says: “THE OVERNIGHTERS was an interesting movie that I was motivated to see because my sister (who lives in North Dakota) told me about the people working out there and she interviewed some of them. Somehow it was lacking for me though. Perhaps some rather superficial scenes were too long ? I told her I’d review it and let her know if she should see it and I forgot to even mention it when I spoke to her tonight! (I only saw Diane’s email reminding me after I spoke to my sister). Somehow I feel this movie could have been put together in a smoother way. I felt certain people’s lives and thoughts should have been explored in more detail, especially at the end. Still worth seeing but I’d give it a 4 at best. I will tell my sister to watch it but my point is I forgot all about it!”