Pearl Diver is a film about two sisters for whom one night, long ago, propelled them into very different paths. A night of tragedy, it left deep scars that could not be erased. One sister left the Mennonite community and faith in which they were raised to become a writer, hoping to purge the hurt by telling the story. The other held onto her faith and community, hoping to forgive by holding onto long-held traditions that bring comfort and a sense of belonging.
The story told in Pearl Diver is a good one, raising issues that matter. Do faith traditions provide a community of safety where our deepest wounds can find healing? Can ancient traditions be fully embraced authentically in our modern world? Can families fragmented by tragedy find a way back together? What cost does violence wreck in human lives?
I can understand how those with a Mennonite background might be attracted to this film. There is a gentle presentation of that tradition that does it honor. The difficulty with Pearl Diver is that, like so many “religious” films, the production values are so poor as to be embarrassing. Wooden dialogue, poor editing, slow pacing (there were six—unbelievably!—six sunset scenes), uncreative cinematography, bad acting, and direction that seemed unable to realize the poignancy of their own plot. It was so bad I only watched the first third of the film and then skipped the majority of the rest. The sad thing is that though I skipped most of it, I seemed to miss nothing.
There are two ways, artistically, to discredit the notion of redemption in our sadly broken world. One way is the way of the skeptic who claims redemption cannot be found. The other way is the way of the believer who presents redemption as forgettable.
I’ll leave it to you to decide which of the two represents the greater sin.