Directed by Sam Raimi
Written by Billy Bob Thornton & Tom Epperson

Cate Blanchett .... Annie Wilson
Katie Holmes .... Jessica King
Keanu Reeves .... Donnie Barksdale
Giovanni Ribisi .... Buddy Cole
Greg Kinnear .... Wayne Collins
Hilary Swank .... Valerie Barksdale
Michael Jeter .... Gerald Weems
J.K. Simmons .... Sheriff Johnson
Gary Cole .... David Duncan
Rosemary Harris .... Annie's Granny
Kim Dickens .... Linda
Chelcie Ross .... Kenneth King
Lynnsee Provence .... Mike Wilson
Hunter McGilvray .... Miller Wilson

Produced by Grant Curtis (associate), Sean Daniel (executive), Gregory Goodman (executive), James Jacks, Gary Lucchesi (executive), Tom Rosenberg, Ted Tannebaum (executive), Robert G. Tapert, Richard S. Wright (co-producer)

Original music by Christopher Young
Cinematography by Jamie Anderson
Film Editing by Arthur Coburn Bob Murawski

Rated R for violence, language, and sexuality/nudity.
Runtime: Australia: 111 / UK:111 / USA:111

1. The Gift (Score)- Christopher Young
2. Furnace Room Lullaby- Neko Case
3. Great Divide- Willie Nelson
4. Wastin' Time- Waylon Jennings
5. Mama Why- Loretta Lynn
6. Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven- Loretta Lynn
7. All Alone (Score)- Christopher Young
8. Beautiful Hills- Hasil Adkins
9. Trouble Is A Lonesome Town- Lee Hazlewood
10. In Case We Die- Amy Nelson
11. I'm Alright- The Souvenirs
12. If I Could Only Fly- Merle Haggard
13. Pretty Girls- Neko Case
14. A Picture Of Me (Without You)- George Jones
15. Bonus Track

In the film Annie Wilson has the ability to see things in a prophetic manner. She is portrayed as a church going Christian who practices the art of psychic reading. This is a very interesting story line. Usually a "fortune teller" is portrayed as strange or evil, and sometimes as an "evil witch" or a money hungry charlatan. Annie does not fit into these categories. She is a kind caring mother trying to raise her kids.

I think what writers Billy Bob Thornton & Tom Epperson are trying to do here is to put a human face on those different from us. I think they are dealing with the issue of bigotry. As a society we generally look down on fortunetellers and wife beaters. We tend to pass judgment on these people just because they are different. The brilliance of this film is in the way it turns the table on our prejudicial biases and assumptions time after time.

We think Jessica King is true to her fiancé.
We think Wayne Collins is a model citizen in the community.
We think Donnie Barksdale is a murderer.
We think Buddy Cole is alive.
The table turns on every one of our assumptions.

To some extent we are all prejudicial.
We all make certain assumptions that do not pan out.
This film will help us face our own stuff. --If we let it.

ON PREJUDICE

A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.
-WILLIAM JAMES (1842?1910)

He flattered himself on being a man without any prejudices, and this pretension itself is a very great prejudice.
-ANATOLE FRANCE (1844?1924)

Prejudice is the child of ignorance.
-WILLIAM HAZLITT (1778?1830)

The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water and breeds reptiles of the mind.
-WILLIAM BLAKE (1757?1827)

WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT SPIRITUAL GIFTS.
*Adapted from Paul J. Achtemier, Th.D., Harper?s Bible Dictionary,
(San Francisco: Harper and Row, Publishers, Inc.) 1985.

1. In the Bible spiritual gifts come from the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.

2. Spiritual gifts vary from one person to another (Rom. 12:6; 1 Cor. 12:4-11; cf. 1 Pet. 4:10).

3. There are four separate listings of spiritual gifts (Rom. 12:6-8; 1 Cor. 12:8-10; 12:28; 12:29-30), but since no two of the lists are identical it seems clear that no one list is intended to be definitive.

4. Gifts may be grouped under three general headings:

The gifts of utterance include prophecy (Rom. 12:6; 1 Cor. 12:10, 28; cf. 1 Cor. 12:8; 14:6), with which the ability to distinguish between true and false prophecy is closely associated (1 Cor. 12:10; cf. 14:29 and 1 Thess. 5:19-21); instruction (ROM 12:7; 1 Cor. 12:28; cf. 1 Cor. 14:6);
speaking in tongues (1 Cor. 12:10, 28; cf. 14:1-19);
the ability to interpret speaking in tongues (1 Cor. 12:10, 30; cf. 14:5, 13).
The gifts of practical ministry are caring for the needy (ROM 12:7-8):
serving,
encouraging,
contributing,
performing acts of mercy,
and perhaps giving aid (1 Cor.12:28: helping);
administration (1 Cor. 12:28; perhaps giving aid in ROM 12:8).

Healing (1 Cor. 12:9, 28) and
performing miracles (1 Cor. 12:10, 28, 1 Cor. 12:9; cf. 13:2 ) are gifts of wonder-working faith.

St. Paul emphasized that every believer is graced by some gift and that all gifts are bestowed by ?the same Spirit? (1 Cor. 12:4-11). Nevertheless, since their purpose is to serve ?the common good? (12:7), he concluded that prophecy, intelligible to all, is to be preferred to speaking in tongues, intelligible only to God (unless there is an interpreter; 1 Cor. 14:1-5)

.

STRANGE GIFT
Date: Fri, 9 Feb 2001
From: Kris Childress

I think that the HJ review made some interesting points. However, in addition to the issue of bigotry, the movie also did a fair job of turning the tables on the normal, Christian expectation of charity and compassion. Annie Wilson, who appears to be studiously unreligious, models Christian compassion and grace far more than the self-proclaimed "Christians" who rant that she is a "witch" and "should burn".

What is missing here, as in so much that comes out of Hollywood is the realization that Christians (or sometimes just those who call themselves Christians) are not some monolithic block of uniform good or bad, but people - at best saved by grace - who struggle with some of the same issues that every human does: to be unselfish rather than egocentric, to be generous rather than stingy, to be humble rather than proud. What I wish we would see more of is movies that, like "Hoosiers" give glimpses of believers in Christ as complex, fully formed human beings - warts and all. This is the Biblical model (think of King David, or the apostle Peter - not ivory-carved goody-two-shoes at all.) It is also far more interesting and true to life.

A good film in some ways, but a bit *too* topsy-turvy a reality.
Kris
P.S. I suspected Wayne Collins (Greg Kinnear) early on, Donnie Barksdale (Keannau Reeves) was just a little too easy. Although I also wondered about Mr. King (Jessica King's - played by Katie Holmes, father).