|
 But award-winning documentary "The Overnighters," opening in
New York on Friday before expanding nationally, shows the bleak
side of that American Dream and the complex efforts of one man
to be a Good Samaritan.
"The film does show how much harder it is to survive here than
people think," filmmaker Jesse Moss told Reuters.
"The Overnighters" tracks the men, and a handful of women, whose
dreams of wealth and redemption from past mistakes collide with
unwelcoming residents and limited housing in Williston, the
epicenter of the energy boom in North Dakota, where more than 1
million barrels of oil are produced monthly.
Lutheran pastor Jay Reinke offers down-on-their luck emigrants a
place to sleep inside his church while they acclimate, labeling
the newcomers as "overnighters." About 1,000 took up his offer
over a period of about two years.
That decision quickly becomes unpopular with the Williston
establishment and nearly tears Reinke's church and family apart.
"The people arriving on our doorsteps are gifts to us," Reinke
says in the film. "Not only are these men my neighbors, the
people who don't want them here are also my neighbors," adds
Reinke, a tall, effusive man who spent 20 years pastoring to the
community in obscurity.
The film won a special jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival
in January and has generated widespread acclaim. Variety
magazine compared it to a John Steinbeck tale from the Great
Depression of the 1930s, and The Hollywood Reporter called it "a
sobering illustration of the tenuousness of stability in
21st-Century America."
So far, there are no plans to show the film in Williston itself,
Moss said.
Moss, who shot the film between 2012 and 2013, showcases North
Dakota's cerulean-hued skies and amber grasslands alongside oil
rigs and pumpjacks, visually connecting the state's cultural and
physical transformation.
[to top of second column] |
While many media reports tout the rich pay offered in North Dakota
by oil companies, construction firms and even Walmart, they rarely
mention the high cost of living and harsh winters that can be tough
for newcomers.
Indeed, Williston is among the most-expensive cities in North
America, with average monthly rents eclipsing $3,000.
Amid that upheaval, Reinke's attempt to be all things to all people,
including the overnighters, politicians, even his wife and four
children, begins to wear him down.
His decision to welcome a convicted sex offender into his home - in
an attempt to shield the church from unwanted press and offer a
chance at redemption - only exacerbates the community's mistrust of
newly-arrived workers.
As the film climaxes, Reinke's program is shut down by city
officials, and the pastor's private demons are exposed - revelations
that Moss said took even him by surprise during filming.
"We all have burdens," Moss said. "What Jay (Reinke) goes through,
is totally, profoundly related to what this film is about."
(Reporting by Ernest Scheyder, editing by Jill Serjeant and Nick
Zieminski)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
