Bertaut
Apostasy is the low-budget feature debut of writer/director Daniel Kokotajlo and, as the name implies, it tells the story of a breakdown in the relationship between a member of the faithful and the organised religion to which they adhere, which, in this case, is the Christian denomination movement known as Jehovah's Witnesses. However, whilst the film tells the story of one person abandoning their religion, it also tells the parallel story of two people who refuse to do so, committing themselves more and more to its practices, even as they come to question some of its dogma.Ivanna (Siobhan Finneran) is a mother to two girls, Luisa (Sacha Parkinson) and her younger sister Alex (Molly Wright). Living in a working-class area in Oldham, Greater Manchester, all three are Witnesses, with Alex in particular embracing the role of a publisher (the name for Witnesses active in proselytising), even going so far as to learn Urdu so she can better preach to people in the neighbourhood. The film begins with Alex attending her doctor (Poppy Jhakra), who is explaining that her condition means she may need a blood transfusion in the future. Giving her a document to sign agreeing to allow such a procedure, the doctor promises to keep it a secret from Ivanna. Alex, however, has no interest in signing. Born anaemic, she received a blood transfusion when only a few hours old, against the wishes of Ivanna, and because of this, she is burdened with a sense of guilt, believing she must atone by adhering rigidly to Witness doctrine, helping at the local Kingdom Hall (the term used by Witnesses for their places of worship), and preaching door-to-door. Meanwhile, Luisa returns home from college, and tells Ivanna that she's pregnant, and even worse, the father is not a Witness. Ivanna is disgusted, demanding that Luisa marry the father. When she refuses, she is "disfellowshipped". However, as one of the requirements of disfellowship is that family members who remain Witnesses cannot have any significant contact, Ivanna forces Luisa to leave home. At the same time, Steven (Robert Emms) arrives in the neighbourhood as a new elder. He becomes friends with Ivanna and Alex, and after a few weeks, proposes to Alex.This plot summary takes us up to about a half-hour in the film, which is loosely divided into three discernible acts - the first focuses on Alex, the second Luisa, and the third Ivanna. At the end of the first act, the plot takes a turn, which I have to admit, I didn't see coming, and which changes everything for the family and how they conduct themselves and observe their religious beliefs.To fully engage with the film at a critical level, one must first contextualise its milieu. Kokotajlo is himself an apostate, as he was raised a Witness, but left in his 20s. However, what does being an apostate mean in a practical sense? Why is it such a big deal? The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah's Kingdom, one of two official Witness magazines (and which features prominently in the film), defines an apostate as a person who has abandoned the worship of Jehovah, and aligned themselves with Satan, and/or a person who has rejected the church's teachings, doctrines, dogma, biblical interpretations, and religious holidays. Along these lines, The Watchtower calls apostates "anti-Jehovah", explaining that when the End Time comes, they will not be permitted to enter the Millennial Kingdom. Important here is that anyone espousing a doctrine which deviates from official policy is also seen as an apostate, and is disfellowshiped, even if they still consider themselves a Witness (more on this issue later). According to The Watchtower, apostates are motivated by bitterness, and exhibit traits of "prideful intelligence, lack of love, and dishonesty," with their goal being to "to tear down Jehovah's people and to distort the Truth." Reasons one may become an apostate include presumptuousness, ungratefulness, misguided independence, jealousy, and mental disease. Such people are prone to drunkenness, have loose morals, and fornicate with multiple partners. Witnesses regard apostates as much worse (in a moral sense) than they regard non-Witnesses, and if a Witness even speaks to an apostate, the church considers that person "a sharer in the apostate's wicked works."From a contextualisation standpoint, it's also beneficial to give a brief overview of the development of the religion, particularly its eschatological dogma, as this is central to Witnesses' core beliefs, and an important theme in the film. Witnesses' origins can be traced to 1870, when Charles Taze Russell formed the Bible Student moovement. Millenarian in design, the movement was greatly influenced by Millerism and Adventism, and employed hermeneutics to reject foundational Christian doctrine, including trinitarianism, the existence of hell, and the immortality of the soul. In Three Worlds (1876), Russell and Nelson H. Barbour developed a dispensationalist eschatology, arguing that Christ had been on earth since 1874, and in 1878, the current dispensation will end, and human society will be replaced by the Millenial Kingdom, in which only the chosen few will be allowed to live. In 1879, Russell began publishing Zion's Watch Tower and the Herald of Christ's Presence so as to communicate to people that the End Time was imminent. In 1881, he posited that this was the year of the Rapture. By this stage, there were enough people following Russell to warrant the formation of a governing body, Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society.In 1884, the Society was formally recognised as a religion, and Russell now posited 1914 as the end of human society, a claim he felt was corroborated by the outbreak of the Great War. He died in 1916, still of the belief that human society would soon collapse, but the date was now 1918. Russell was succeeded by Joseph Franklin Rutherford, who offered a different interpretation of the scripture; the End Time didn't began in 1914, instead, it would begin during the lifetime of the generation alive in 1914. In 1920, he asserted that the Millennial Kingdom would come into being in 1925. The term "Jehovah's witnesses" was adopted as the religion's name in 1931, taken from Isaiah 43:10. Rutherford died in 1942, succeeded by Nathan Homer Knorr, who commissioned a new translation of the bible to be used by all Witnesses (The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures). In 1966, the date of the End Time was changed to 1975, and was subsequently changed again in 1984, 1995, and 2010.The current belief is that Satan was cast down to earth sometime after October 1, 1914, and he rules over humanity by controlling governments. Since 1932, Witnesses have believed that 144,000 people will be resurrected during the End Time, and transferred to heaven to rule at Christ's side, whilst the rest of the faithful will remain on earth, living in the Millennial Kingdom, a theory based upon a literal interpretation of Revelation 14:1-5.According to official publications, there are now over eight million Witnesses worldwide. The refusal of blood transfusions (another important theme in the film) was introduced in the Netherlands in 1945, based primarily on Genesis 9:4 ("Only flesh with its life - its blood - you must not eat") and Leviticus 17:10 ("If any man of the house of Israel or any foreigner who is residing in your midst eats any sort of blood, I will certainly set my face against the one who is eating the blood, and I will cut him off from among his people"). In 1961, having a transfusion became grounds for disfellowship, at which time Dr. Américo Valério claimed transfusions lead to "moral insanity and sexual perversion," whilst Dr. Alonzo Jay Shadman argued, "the poisons that produce the impulse to commit suicide, murder, or steal are in the blood." It is estimated that in the period 1961-2016, over 33,000 Witnesses died rather than accept blood. In 2016 alone, there were over 1,200 deaths.7/10
