The Overnighters

Director: Jesse Moss

Sometimes documentary subject matter can neatly assume a narrative structure, which is made possible by editing wizardry. And sometimes the subject's lives in documentaries can resemble the dramatis personae in Greek tragedy. In director Jesse Moss' The Overnighters, it seems almost inconceivable (and improbable) that a man's love and compassion could condemn him to a fate so tragically ironic.

Moss' film is powerful and sobering and it does an expert job of disabusing us of the cherished myths Americans hold sacrosanct; our beliefs about tolerance, kindness to strangers and hospitality.

In the last decade, the oil industry emerged and bloomed in North Dakota. During that time, people from all over the country--mostly men--flocked to the state in hope of securing a job that were reputed to be plentiful. In the North Dakotan town of Williston, the Haliburton Corporation (yeah, those guys) employed many but also turned many more away, particularly anyone middle-age and older, regardless of their work ethic or experience. The desperate men who counted on a job often found themselves without lodging, without much money and without much in the way of viable options. If their situation wasn't adverse enough, they also found themselves cast as pariahs by an unwelcoming and often hostile community.

In this simmering cauldron of strife, a local pastor, Jay Reinke, was eager to extend a Christian hand to those who had nowhere to live or nowhere to park their campers or cars. We see the pastor lovingly greeting those who have come to Williston to find work; offering them meals and guidance; both spiritual and practical. Nicknamed Overnighters, the lot are often ragged, hungry, and clinging to the promise of work like a drowning man groping for flotsam.

Some of the men have left behind wives and children to improve their finances, only to find their economic conditions worsened and their relationships strained. Many arrive by bus; lacking a vehicle in which to sleep or to get around.

It is astonishing to see the Pastor tirelessly working to help everyone who comes to the parish. He even opens his own door to some of the men, who he and his family welcome unconditionally. When he isn't processing visitors and leading Sunday services, he is seen battling the town council, who are loathe to deal with the problems the newcomers present.

In trying to establish a neighborly relationship, Reinke goes door to door in the Parish neighborhood to discuss the issue with residents. The response from the community is often one of suspicion and hostility.

As Pastor Reinke helps those who seek the parish's charity, we meet several of the recipients and former recipients who were lucky to find gainful employ with Halliburton. Some of who have managed to find work aren't necessarily free from struggle. One young individual sends for his family from Minnesota, only to find his wife is unhappy with Williston's meager distractions, which prompts her to leave town with their infant in tow and her husband behind.

We also meet a former convict Reinke "saved"; an assistant of 13 years who once struggled with drugs and alcohol.

As the film proceeds, we see things go very wrong for the Pastor. It comes to light that a few men living in his parish are registered sex offenders, which naturally becomes a town controversy. We learn the history behind one sex offender's arrest; a relationship with an underage girlfriend; she 16, he 18; an extenuating circumstance the law doesn't recognize or excuse. Complicating this revelation is the man's recent success finding a truck-driving job, which he then loses because of his sex-offender status. Director Moss captures the meeting between the Pastor and the man, which becomes heated when Reinke scolds the truck-driver for withholding crucial information about his arrest when he applied for the job. If the Pastor often finds himself in the exhausting role of social worker, life is often tougher for those who show up at his door. Some with past criminal convictions are stigmatized almost irrevocably.

In another scene we see Reinke evading a reporter from a local paper as he dodges questions about hosting sex offenders.

Through it all, Reinke maintains a superhuman compassion for everyone who seeks his help; even going so far as to expressing his love for some. For an atheist like myself, whose attitudes about religion are cynical at best, it is particularly powerful to see a Pastor in this age apply Jesus' teachings faithfully, compassionately and unconditionally.

If facing the town council isn't trying enough, Reinke must also endure church elders, who prove to be as intolerant as the civic government. This is acutely felt after a personal issue comes to light. The disclosure has such a devastating impact on his family and his vocation that it leaves him in a position that is both cruel and brutal in its irony.

Director Jesse Moss faces a tragedy of his own: very few people will see his amazing documentary, which I feel is among the year's best. Someone might say Moss' film lacks opposing viewpoints, which might make for a reasonable critique if we didn't hear and see the opposition ourselves. In spite of the Pastor's compassion, it isn't unreasonable for residents to be wary of some of the outsiders but their unwillingness to engage those they distrust is unreasonable.

Moss' film left me feeling pessimistic about our country's inability to fully embrace and maybe grasp Christ's message of charity. It seems that Americans froth at the mouth when their commitment to their Christian faith is questioned yet many of the same people have little patience for the needy or wayward: two marginalized peoples Christ would have most surely welcomed. And for Pastor Reinke, the man who does understand what Jesus preached, he faces the fallout from his disclosure alone; without the succor of familial support or a more progressive response from his denomination's leaders.

And does Halliburton care about the situation it helped create? Shots of upscale homes where executives and upper-management most likely reside may as well be fortresses against the poor and struggling. The media is also culpable; stories I read myself in major news periodicals cast North Dakotan towns like Williston as promised lands where one need only show up to find fortune. Moss' film is an inoculation against illusion while being a good barometric reading of our moral climate. It is unstintingly real; offering no manufactured redemption or life-affirming phoniness.