The title of “The Leader” suggests that all the power resides at the top, making it a pleasant surprise that writer/director Michael J. Gallagher’s approach to telling the tale of the notorious Heaven’s Gate cult doesn’t give Marshall Applewhite, who is believed to have convinced the 38 others living on his compound to take their own lives in 1997, any overwhelming sense of authority. He is, in fact, introduced at a moment of great weakness, rushed into the hospital where Bonnie Lu Nettles (Vera Farmiga) works as a nurse in Houston barely able to breathe and she is seen holding all the power when asked if he’s going to die, leaving a pregnant pause between the words “Yes…some day.” It isn’t only notable that Bonnie seems to hold his life in her hands at that moment, but she also lets him off the hook, an exchange that leaves him eternally grateful and at the same time emboldened in what he can ask of others.
The two-way street is what makes “The Leader” worthwhile when Gallagher appears less interested in how Applewhite shaped others than how in the moment they shape him, zipping back and forth in time to show how a variety of broken people ended up giving one another confidence in each other’s company and are all ultimately unwilling to step back to acknowledge they might’ve been wrong when it was shame they were running from in the first place. With their truly unfortunate bowl cuts and the ridiculous names they take upon being let into the group, the filmmaker doesn’t fight the inherent silliness in the material as both the strict abstinence that Applewhite insisted on leads to a number of bawdy punchlines and there’s a lack of preciousness around the hair and makeup choices that feels right for what the film is going for, making the verboten sense of humor that is clearly part of how the leader keeps control a crucial element of the criticism. However, the irrational strictures start to look a little more reasonable, at least for Applewhite, when the episodes from his life illustrate a social anxiety that lead him to abandon the idea of trying to fit in all together, instead creating a cohort where gender is irrelevant and sexual urges are suppressed, mixing in some sci-fi for good measure when he promises they’ll ascend to some celestial plane.
Living somewhere besides earth sounds good to Bonnie, who can be heard saying to her teenage daughter Terrie before meeting Applewhite, “Wouldn’t it be fund if it just picked us up and took us away?” as they wonder if they’ve seen a UFO as they’re looking up at the night sky, and crossing paths with the future Heaven’s Gate leader actually does seem as if it was in the stars after consulting with a fortune teller as she decides to leave an unhappy marriage. Although the other lost souls who eventually convene in Rancho Santa Fe where Heaven’s Gate made their base could probably use a little more backstory, it becomes clear that a common bond among them is how a few coincidences could lead them to place all their faith in someone like Applewhite, who seems to have some answers, and soon enough Bonnie, who becomes his partner, is telling new disciples Michelle (Grace Caroline Currey) and David (Simon Rex), “We’ll be taking care of you from now on,” with the weight lifting off their shoulders from no longer having to decide much of anything for themselves blinding them to the craziness of what they’re actually walking into. Although Bonnie isn’t exactly a Lady Macbeth-like character, her encouragement of Applewhite plays into his worst instincts and as a whole network of people grows around him who don’t question him, he’s pushed quite literally towards digging his own grave, as well as theirs.
The casting of Nelson and Farmiga is critical, given both know exactly the movie they’re in and possess the mix of gravitas and love of the grand guignol required of them to take it seriously and still dip into the story’s lurid charms. (Farmiga somehow reminds both of her unfazed turns in wackadoodle movies such as “Orphan” and speaking so eloquently to faith in her own directorial effort “Higher Ground,” playing the true believer Bonnie.) While the actors flirt with going over the top without crossing that line, it can feel as if the film itself is trying a little too hard with shifting aspect ratios (nodding to the videos Applewhite left behind, detailing his belief system) and a few other stylistic flourishes that impress with their technical prowess more than add to the narrative, but Gallagher does have a strong handle over the unnerving seriocomic tone of the piece and builds on previous films “The Thinning” and “Funny Story” where there’s a real muscularity to the world building and the drama. Although “The Leader” warns of the dangers of giving yourself over completely to anything, it adds to the film’s chilling quality how comfortable one can get feeling as if you’re in capable hands.
“The Leader” will screen again at Fantasia Fest on July 30th at 6:15 at the Auditorium des diplomes de la SGMU.