Into the Night: Religion and Environmental Catastrophe in 'First Reformed'

Paul Schrader's troubling portrayal of a pastor's attempts to reconcile his religious mission with his radical environmentalism is a provocative text, taking aim equally at the greed of corporations and at the silent complicity of mainstream American Christianity. As Anthony Carew finds, however, this often-bleak film inflects its hopelessness with moments of transcendence.

Additional keywords:
New & Notable, senior secondary, Ethan Hawke, climate change, Calvinism, Hieronymous Bosch, transcendental style, activism, terrorism, martyrdom, suicide, Ordet, complicity, death, pentecostalism, corporate, USA, America, God