Ain’t Them Bodies Saints Review

29th Aug 2013

A slow burning film with exquisite performances from all of actors. It falls between a host of genres part romance, part crime thriller, but its biggest appeal is its timeless charm.

Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck are Ruth and Bob, a couple whose reckless behaviour leads to a tragic showdown with the police. Bob goes to prison and Ruth, pregnant with their child, promises to wait. Although the years roll by, Ben’s love for Ruth is unwavering and when an opportunity presents itself he escapes prison and makes the long journey home. For Ruth, things have changed she’s torn between her longing to be with Bob and protecting her little girl from the life Bob is offering them; one that’s on the run from the law and the many dangerous criminals who want Bob dead.

Ben Foster plays Officer Patrick Wheeler, a man who turns the other cheek and then some in his tender efforts to get close to Ruth and her beautiful baby girl. His quiet protectiveness and interest in Ruth is so gentle and sensitive and you catch them all at a moment where you see the life Ruth could have vs. what Bob is offering them. There’s a lot of tenderness in the film and the scenes with Ruth and her little girl are the epitome of motherly love and their dynamic is the cornerstone of this film.

One of the key scenes is one where Bob confronts a member of the criminal gang trying to kill him and he asks him how he could try and kill him when he doesn’t even know Bob. That idea is central to the film; Bob doesn’t recognise his selfishness in forcing Ruth and her little one into a violent lifestyle, full of risk and danger. Ruth has made some terrible mistakes in her past, but knows that to leave with Bob would be a selfish one; she has someone to protect.

Written and directed by relative newcomer David Lowery, its a film which seems to be meticulously researched. You feel that all of the characters are deeply rooted and their motivations are honest. Its a film that wants you to think about the characters long after the film is over.

It’s not quite a crime thriller despite the gun battles, sporadic violence and foreboding tension. Neither is it a love story, despite its ill-fated lover sensibility and burgeoning romance. A strange little film, deeply affecting without saying too much and in spite of being a story you’ve seen on screen many times before, has a very bewitching quality to it that makes it more than its plot.