A Review of "Original Sins"
(11/05/02)

"Original Sins" is the most blasphemous movie i've ever seen. I hate blasphemy for the sake of shock-value. This is the best movie ever shot on video because it has a profound purpose. It is so much more important than the zillions of pedantic anti-Christian films made in the nineties. It doesn't make you feel like shit as most anti-Christian films do. It's enlightening, empowering, humorous, and intellectually stimulating! ....... "Original Sins" has a tremendous climax. It is so hard for me to talk about the movie without giving away the ending. You really should find time to see this somehow. It was never really distributed well, and has only seen the light of day in America thanks to Something Weird Video.  The above cover art is from a European PAL release. I've never seen it available on DVD, so dust off those VCR heads... But yes, the climax...oh what a climax! It is a true climax in that everything that happens previously comes together. The motivation of the characters is understood. And it's here where both the viewer, and the movie's true hero (Lila) reach their epiphany. ....... The movie is about three insecure girls who have turned to Christianity rather than madness when life became too hard for them to handle. Mary Katherine is an orphan, Dierdra is an former rock and roll groupie, and Kirsten is an unloved girl with no self esteem who wants to marry Jesus! Something inhabits the girls' minds, convincing them that they are being commanded to serve God. Because of their fragile emotional condition, low self opinion, and general unintelligence, they consume themselves with the most extreme interpretations of their Christian doctrines. They follow the religion to it's own ends, and therefore, plunge themselves in the very madness they were hoping to avoid when they first chose Christianity as the solution to their problems. "Original Sins" blatantly shows the danger of a whimsical mind, especially when the mind wanders into the territory of religion. Insanity arises when the girls find reality in things they don't understand or can't prove, and then allow those whimsical ideas taint any rational decisions they were capable of making. "Original Sins" truly shows the not-so-hidden irrationality of organized religion and the accepted interpretations of the Bible. ....... The girls believe that they have a very strong understanding of good, but often cite how they are unsure what evil is. They are capable of loving their neighbor, but not hating their enemy. Can one truly understand love, if they can't grasp the concept of hatred? These are the types of philosophical questions that "Original Sins" brings forth. When the mysterious God force asks the girls to do something that contradicts their current moral code, they obey. They decree "How can it be sinful if it is done in your service." In other words, any action is acceptable if done selflessly to glorify God. Even when the action causes them pain, they continue. Their god responds "If it is i that you seek, then the pain you feel will be blissful, if it is not then it will be torture." When one of the girls sees the error of her ways, and wants to part from the group, she is chastised and later tortured. To them, she is the blasphemer and sinner, and by this point, they are already convinced that they are God's chosen ones. Of course anyone who opposes the chosen ones must die. It is here when they are capable of expressing their deepest hatred. The hatred is not guided by reason, but by subconscious animal reaction. The ugliest kind of hatred. ....... Lila is the exact opposite of the other three girls. She drinks to the point of puking, sleeps around, and is a groupie to a hysterical death metal band: Satan's Centurions. She has no self control, reverence, or ambition. She lives life day by day, and is happy to die at any moment. "Original Sins" succeeds at illustrating the difference between what is absolute and what is relative, and it shows that the healthiest and most rational being is one who is intelligent enough to evaluate reality by these terms and live by their evaluations to win. By the end of the movie, Lila becomes a hero by understanding the balance of what is absolute (good and evil) and what is relative (the indeterminate). She is the only character who is truly capable of loving herself and others. Evil's definition of love is subjugation: giving the mind, body, and spirit to something deemed supreme. This is the only type of love that the other three girls can understand. Even for their neighbor, they'll constantly turn the other cheek, thus subjugating themselves to everyone and making themselves worthless. Lila refuses to be subjugated by God, Satan, or Man. She decides to live by her own free will. Dierdra reaches a similar epiphany in the movie, but a little too late to save her soul. ....... Perhaps the greatest accomplishment of "Original Sins" is that it destroys the validity of popular Christianity, but maintains a high level of respect for the afterlife. Mary Katherine is the most innocent of the three girls. She dies unjustly and her body becomes possessed with the spirit of her deceased mother. She becomes an angel of sorts in the movie, only to show herself to those who are evil. All who see her are paralyzed in the awe of the true Heaven. While the movie isn't long enough to explore the depths of true Heaven, it does affirm the importance of the spirit world or afterlife. Most movies that oppose Christianity either have another religious agenda to impose or are completely heathenistic. This rare balance of soul self-sufficiency and spiritual intervention is what makes "Original Sins" one of the most motivational movies i've ever seen. ....... It is almost impossible for a shot-on-video (camcorder quality) movie to have this level of importance. But "Original Sins" does. The directing is creative and stylistic. The writing is excellent. And any one actor from this movie is better than every award-winner in Hollywood combined! It's movies like "Original Sins" that liberate young filmmakers from their dependence on Hollywood. After watching it, you'd have to wonder why we even need a Hollywood in the first place. ....... "Original Sins" is one of the best movies ever made. On top of the serious aspects, there are some well-written comedy and horror scenes too. It is very well-rounded without compromising it's own ideology. I highly recommend that everyone sees this movie. Until it is given the proper DVD release (which may never happen), i believe that you can still get a copy from Something Weird. If not, you can buy the PAL version from Screen Edge.