This is the second film we watched by the Danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer and it is once again a masterpiece even as it extols a cause I dislike. It is tempting at first to view the subject of faith in this film with some ambiguity as even the characters who profess the strongest faith are mired in pointless bickering. But as the film builds in intensity, it leaves you in doubt whatsoever where it stands and overwhelms you with the sheer force of its message.

The elderly patriarch Morten rules over the Borgen family in a small community. He lives in a house with his three sons, only the eldest of whom is married. The second son is insane and goes about claiming to be Jesus Christ. The youngest son wants to marry a girl from the village but Morten is adamantly opposed as her father leads a group that he considers to hold heretical beliefs. His current daughter-in-law Inger who is pregnant promises that the next child will be a boy and Morten is also angered when he hears that Peter, the head of the other family has turned his son away. He goes to Peter’s house to negotiate marriage terms but are unable to come to an agreement as Peter insists that Morten join his sect. Meanwhile the second son Johannes bemoans how everyone lacks faith as even the local pastor treats him as being mentally ill. When they receive a telephone call telling them that Inger has gone into a difficult labor, Morten rushes home but Peter comments that he hopes Inger dies so that Morten might repent.

Up to a certain point in the film, what you see here might pass for an American film. Inger is kind and together with her husband Mikkel want to help the youngest brother Anders. Morten may be a curmudgeonly old man but he’s not a monster. When we hear the actual points of disagreement that he has with Peter, we may even be tempted to chuckle at how trivial they are. It seems that Peter’s congregation is too grim and dreary for Morten’s tastes and he himself favors a version of Christianity that is more joyful and celebrates life. I think it is likely that it is less a difference of doctrine than a matter of prestige and power. At some time in the past, Morten’s views were in the minority and it is his group that dominates the local community now while Peter’s group meets in his own house. Johannes goes around preaching but no one actually listens to what he says and the priest even suggests sending him away for proper care. But Morten insists on keeping him at home and the whole family cares for him. This has all of the makings of a wholesome, pleasant film and an eventual reconciliation between Peter and Morten seems possible.

But the film’s real point is that true religious faith isn’t about petty arguments over how to conduct ceremonies or even being nice and respectful to the others in the community. It’s about really believing in Christ as literal and real and being always able to actively intervene in their lives and the world. Even as Johannes claims to be able to see Death pass through the wall, the others dismiss it as being the headlights of the car outside. What he says is the sound of Death’s scythe descending, they call the sound of the car backing up. The sheer intensity of Johannes’ faith is overwhelming and he bemoans how all those around him claim to be Christians yet not one has prayed to Christ to save Inger. The bickering between Morten and Peter feels pointless to us outsiders as there is so little difference between their beliefs but the film shows us how much more meaningless it is to Johannes as the only thing that matters in the end is to actually believe. You don’t have to be a Christian to appreciate the purity and the power of this message.

As an atheist, of course I think that reaching for the miraculous explanation of observed events is irrational. This film cheats by actually showing a physically impossible miracle with no room for doubt whatsoever. If such miracles really could be observed in the real world they would not be miracles and holding such beliefs actually would be rational. But I do love how this film demonstrates the inescapable truism of all religions: you really have to believe, in all of it and despite everything else that you know and everything else in the world. To the true believer, the doctor is wrong in wanting credit for his medical skills first and foremost, the pastor is wrong for teaching that the age of miracles is past and everyone else is wrong in not reaching out to Christ as their first resort. This is not any kind of message that I can get behind but I can’t help but admire this film for how unapologetically and powerfully it delivers it.