The Overnighters (2014)

This film is definitely not your typical documentary where certain highlighted persons will mostly succeed in their endeavors. As a matter of fact, as it progressed it turned darker and darker eventually leading to some real shockers at the end.The movie centers on the tireless efforts of 57-year-old Pastor Jay Reinke, of the Concordia Lutheran Church, in Williston, North Dakota., as he tries to run and keep open what has become known as the Overnighters program.Thousands of people have been flocking to Williston to find jobs and the promise of extremely high wages in the then booming oil fracking business. However, many make the journey with little or no money and no place to live. Thus, Pastor Reinke organized the Overnighters program to give these people temporary sleep areas on the church floors or in their cars on church property, believing this is the Christian thing to do by helping others.He will face, though, rising opposition from neighbors, city government, the city newspaper, and even his own congregants. Eventually, we will see things begin to fall apart not only with the program, but with the people that have been chosen by the filmmakers to follow. Finally, I won't reveal it but we get a real shocker as the film nears its end, that I certainly did not see coming.In summary, this documentary, directed by Jesse Moss is, as mentioned, not your typical film of this genre, and left me at the end feeling quite unsettled and sad.

I'm not a religious person by any means, but half-way through seeing this, the movie almost starts to rope you in. Pastor Jay Reinke of Concordia Lutheran Church in Williston, ND seems to be practicing what he preaches. He does so by helping those arriving in town for work due to the state's oil boom with accommodations in the church or church parking lot- and sometimes even in his home. Some of those arriving in town have felonies in their past, and Reinke even lets them live in his house with his children nearby, so I kept expecting something to happen. But what does end up happening (not to give anything away) was quite a shock- and ultimately made the film for me. Whether you're religious or not, I really think you can get something out of this, even if just a lesson on being non-judgmental, and helping your fellow man...

I didn't find this all that interesting until revelations and turns in the story midway. It is rather sort of fascinating the film just started off sort of maybe having this figure in high regard, and then switching that around when we have to come to terms with the question of how likable or unlikable the primary figure is. Those are always the most interesting documentaries, and this seems to ask a lot of those questions in that regard.But the film still holds slow spots at times, and the ending leaves a lot to be desired. It's also rather uncomfortable to watch at times, since I felt like the primary figure did a lot of good but personality-wise also could be quite difficult to stand.

As I write this, I have come to the realization that the Overnighters is among the most thought-provoking and well-made documentary movies I have ever seen. It is beautifully composed and edited, but sobering and utterly devastating on nearly every level.What makes this documentary so moving is that it draws out, in very sharp relief, the eternal tension we all have as individuals and as a society between choosing love and choosing fear-- and rarely does the right choice seem so unclear as it does here.After all, it's all well and good to say "love thy neighbor" when you're talking about neighbors as abstract entities, but what happens when your Christian community is actually confronted with a strange set of outsiders who walk your streets and sleep in the town's parking lots? How do you react when they seem like scary and violent intruders, the source of crime and chaos in your formerly sleepy Northern town? Then, suddenly, the teachings of Jesus must be rendered unambiguous: are these proclamations to "do unto others" just nice-sounding but impractical platitudes, or are they words to live and act by even when (especially when?) they are difficult? We find this out when the protagonist of the documentary, a small-town pastor in a newly-booming oil town in North Dakota, bravely tries to go far beyond just 'talking the talk' with regards to living out the Bibical teachings. By providing refuge and food to those who have no other place to turn, his church floors become flooded with destitute men and women who have spent their last pennies making their way up to this otherwise desolate land in search of the rumored well-paying jobs that can save their families, salvage their broken lives, and restore their faith in America. These "overnighters" have nothing, and rely on the pastor's kindness to survive until they find the jobs they desperately seek. But they also come with their own problems-- problems that the rest of the town isn't eager to deal with.Over time, we find that this well-meaning man of God-- who is resolutely chained to the idea that he must not simply repeat the ideas of Jesus, but truly live them out-- must travel alone in his journey to do the Lord's work. And it is a path he will pay very dearly to walk.*spoiler alert* He soon finds, like Jesus himself, that all those who surround him will eventually turn on him; first his congregation, then his community, then the destitute overnighters he saves from the streets, and ultimately his own family. Once the final twists and turns make their way through the pastor's life, one wonders if God too has chosen to abandon him.