Amen

Amen

2025

"Seyfried's Oscar worthy performance in a film with enough force to convert you to Christianity or make you a skeptic of religion as a whole, depending what you make of it. Amanda Seyfried turns her grief of serial infant deaths through aversion towards sex and coping mechanisms by creating a separate Christian denomination of her own. Basically, she becomes an 18th century Tyler Durden if he had leaned towards spirituality out of religious episodes via song and dance routines (probably a case of malnourishment induced delusions and reality dissociation as a survival mode from intense agony) than a domestic guerrilla terrorist spearheading anti-consumerism through bare knuckle brawls and vandalism. The chronicles of Ann are expressed through the voice over of her close disciple how she got awakened through visions like Durden, started small mostly like an underground club just like Durden and then ventured into setting up franchises like Durden. What's baffling to me when I watch this kind of entertainment is the thought of religious denunciation when it comes to amorous activities, it has been preached throughout almost every religion to renounce the pleasure of the material, wealth, flesh or any other kind, yet wealth has risen to tremendously unprecedented level and the TFR which used to be as high as 12-13 which clearly means people back when religious fervor were high and apparently pure were doing it not just for the sake procreation, sure without the use of protection or contraception, their acts are now out in the open otherwise countries with less than one total fertility rate would have long become extinct. Thanks to our ancestors and forefathers and their recreational activities, the world population level has reached an explosive level and now, due to the contrary of the fashion it's been a existential problem for some country. Second thing that fascinates me is how quickly personal visions and imaginations used to get passed as divine inspirations as long as one was at the position of authority with enough gullible minds behind them. I'm more of a Saint Maud fan myself but will admit the songs in this one were quite overwhelming. For most, I am sure The Testament of Ann Lee can be representative of a call, a Providence whereas for me it is uncanny of the teachings of researchers who attested to the fact as to how in various cultures across borders and oceans, the oppressed and the repressed tended to have more cases of possessions among them. More particularly for Women, even terribly more so. Here, it's shown spectacularly hinged with cognitive biases and assigned meanings on whims and fancies based on the fallacy of begging the question. Some kind of fascinating mass psychogenic illness without any argut poisoning rather seeking refuge in those chambers of brains where the mind concocts meaning and purpose when it can't figure out the reasoning behind the problem of evil and inconsolable undeserved suffering, finding sanctuary as the infamous instance of the dancing plague takes hold of entire groups. It's really sad but at the same time it's very much empowering and healing from another angle. A lighthearted, more optimistic version of Benedetta, although so much chest beating and full-on ritualistic. Anyway, simply put The Testament of Ann Lee depicts how one woman's misfortunes brought about seismic upheaval in the religious landscape. An entire community of brothers and sisters built up on the foundation of recuperation of a sorrowful soul. It's quite evident that some of these women were having postpartum distress, not that "give your grief to god" hokum. Nonviolence, chastity, celibacy, equal labor for all, socialism. Gandhi would've rubbed one out watching this."