{"id":1017,"date":"1998-03-04T08:00:00","date_gmt":"1998-03-04T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tmatt\/1998\/03\/04\/the-south-heat-sweat-rust-bugs-mud-and-sin\/"},"modified":"2013-01-30T13:24:51","modified_gmt":"2013-01-30T18:24:51","slug":"the-south-heat-sweat-rust-bugs-mud-and-sin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/1998\/03\/the-south-heat-sweat-rust-bugs-mud-and-sin\/","title":{"rendered":"The South: Heat, sweat, rust, bugs, mud and sin"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Most movies about the South look like they were filmed in Southern California.<\/p>\n\n

What\u2019s missing is heat, sweat, rust, bugs, mud and another messy reality called \u201csin.\u201d These movies contain sinful behavior, but nobody calls it \u201csin\u201d or says folks should do anything about it. This is strange, since the real South contains zones in which people still wear Sunday clothes, carry ragged Bibles and say prayers before meals in restaurants.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cMost folks in New York and out here in California just don\u2019t know what to do with life below the New Jersey shore,\u201d said Robert Duvall, who has several weeks doing waves of interviews trying to explain his film \u201cThe Apostle\u201d to whole media world. \u201cThey just can\u2019t seem to get it right. \u2026 Everything ends up looking and sounding all wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Lots of people understand that sinners can do good and that saints don\u2019t win all their battles with their demons. It\u2019s the people who really believe in sin who understand that sin, repentance and redemption are often messy subjects, said Duvall, who recently received an Oscar nomination for this performance as the flawed, but faithful, preacher E. F. \u201cSonny\u201d Dewey.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cThere really are preachers in jail. I\u2019ve met guys like that who have done all kinds of bad things, even murder and rape,\u201d said Duvall, who wrote \u201cThe Apostle\u201d script in long hand and directed it himself. \u201cThese guys are real people and they struggle with the good and the bad that\u2019s in their own souls. They\u2019re human. I wanted to show the reality of that struggle. \u2026 My guy makes mistakes. But he\u2019s more good than bad. He hangs on to his faith, because it\u2019s real.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Duvall\u2019s Pentecostal<\/a> preacher sums it all up one night in a showdown with God, just after losing his wife and church to a younger preacher. \u201cI love you Lord. I love you, but I am mad at you,\u201d he shouts. \u201cI know I\u2019m a sinner, every once and a while, and a womanizer. But I\u2019m your servant. I have been ever since I was a little boy and you brought me back from the dead.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

A few scenes later, he bashes his rival with a baseball bat in a fatal flash of rage and flees. He\u2019s the kind of man who shouts \u201cGlory! Glory!\u201d as he sinks his getaway car into muddy waters and then re-baptizes himself as a reborn apostle. He defends his new interracial church with his fists, while the people sing \u201cThere\u2019s wonder-working power in the blood.\u201d As he gives a final altar call, with police-car lights flashing in the church parking lot, he tells a convert: \u201cI\u2019m going to jail and you\u2019re going to heaven. \u2026 Glory be to God on high.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

This character\u2019s roots run back 25 years, to a time when Duvall began visiting a church in Arkansas while doing research. He wrote the script in 1984 and spent 13 years wrestling with Hollywood\u2019s principalities and powers, trying to get it on film. Finally, he invested $5 million of his own money. Many of the people in the movie weren\u2019t acting, including a Pentecostal pastor who fasted for 24 hours before going on camera. Duvall is the star, but it\u2019s easy to spot the real preachers. Their voices soar, while the director often has the good sense to just stand and watch.<\/p>\n\n

Meanwhile, Duvall is getting used to answering questions about his own faith. The son of a Methodist father and a Christian Scientist mother, he calls himself a believer, even if others on the gospel road might consider parts of his life unconventional. The key, said Duvall, is that he respects the role faith plays in the lives of millions of Pentecostal and fundamentalist believers, even if these people scare the living daylights out of Hollywood.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cA lot of the people who are praising this movie would never set foot inside one of these churches,\u201d he said. \u201cThey tell me, \u2018These people frighten me.\u2019 And I say, \u2018Why? These are good, moral people. You\u2019d be in a lot more danger walking around in parts of New York City than you would be hanging out in these kinds of churches.\u2019 \u201c<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Most movies about the South look like they were filmed in Southern California. What\u2019s missing is heat, sweat, rust, bugs, mud and another messy reality called \u201csin.\u201d These movies contain sinful behavior, but nobody calls it \u201csin\u201d or says folks should do anything about it. This is strange, since the real South contains zones in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe South: Heat, sweat, rust, bugs, mud and sin<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Most movies about the South look like they were filmed in Southern California.What's missing is heat, sweat, rust, bugs, mud and another messy reality\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/1998\/03\/the-south-heat-sweat-rust-bugs-mud-and-sin\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The South: Heat, sweat, rust, bugs, mud and sin\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Most movies about the South look like they were filmed in Southern California.What's missing is heat, sweat, rust, bugs, mud and another messy reality\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/1998\/03\/the-south-heat-sweat-rust-bugs-mud-and-sin\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Terry Mattingly\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"1998-03-04T13:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-01-30T18:24:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"tmatt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"tmatt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/1998\/03\/the-south-heat-sweat-rust-bugs-mud-and-sin\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/1998\/03\/the-south-heat-sweat-rust-bugs-mud-and-sin\/\",\"name\":\"The South: Heat, sweat, rust, bugs, mud and sin\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"1998-03-04T13:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-01-30T18:24:51+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#\/schema\/person\/76ce2260a572ff41a28fb285de9350f1\"},\"description\":\"Most movies about the South look like they were filmed in Southern California.What's missing is heat, sweat, rust, bugs, mud and another messy reality\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/1998\/03\/the-south-heat-sweat-rust-bugs-mud-and-sin\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/1998\/03\/the-south-heat-sweat-rust-bugs-mud-and-sin\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/1998\/03\/the-south-heat-sweat-rust-bugs-mud-and-sin\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The South: Heat, sweat, rust, bugs, mud and sin\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/\",\"name\":\"Terry Mattingly\",\"description\":\"On Religion\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#\/schema\/person\/76ce2260a572ff41a28fb285de9350f1\",\"name\":\"tmatt\",\"description\":\"Terry Mattingly directs the Washington Journalism Center at the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. 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