DIVIDED BY HATE is a cautionary tale about a religious cult fronting a right-wing political conspiracy. Although this well-intentioned, made-for-cable production demonstrates how such groups brainwash their followers, it is less successful in developing its shadowy villain (played by Tom
Skerritt, who also directed).
As banks foreclose on farm belt properties in the '70s, they destroy the dreams of young couples like Carol (Andrea Roth) and Louis Gibbs (Dylan Walsh). While Louis scrounges up day jobs to support his wife and three kids, Carol is recruited by her brother, Jonny Vandenberg (Dave McConnell), to
attend religious services held by self-ordained Reverend Steven Riordan (Tom Skerritt). Louis can't convince her to quit the fire-and-brimstone cult, even after Jonny's wife, Annie (Christy Summerhays), flees the Armageddon-obsessed group.
Riordan drives a wedge between Carol and Louis, persuading her to file for divorce and join what Louis discovers is actually a fringe survivalist clan. Riordan's hate group network kills the local sheriff for interfering and threatens Louis's life. With little help from legal quarters, Louis
enlists the services of professional child-snatcher Danny Leland (Jim Beaver). Carol begins to have misgivings as the bigots arm themselves and Riordan tries to rape her. Leland and Louis infiltrate the Riordan compound just as the cult members are preparing to move to a new home base. Backed up
by federal and state agents (who've been slow to involve themselves), Louis and Leland free Carol and the Gibbs children. Riordan is subsequently convicted of murdering "disloyal" recruits.
Based on fact, DIVIDED BY HATE presents its case lucidly but with a sanitized TV-movie-ish philosophical neatness. With no gray areas, the script is relentlessly linear in depicting the cult's escalating violence so that the overall impact is blunted. Everything you expect to transpire does--and
nothing more. Although Skerritt's directorial debut is technically assured, DIVIDED BY HATE targets bigotry as simplistically as a documentary aimed at a high school civics class.
In front of the camera, Skerritt tries to embody flashy evil, but lacks the histrionic temperament to seduce the innocent; we're always aware of his wholesome leading man's attempt to step out of his range. On the other hand, there are fine performances from Walsh, Roth, and the supporting cast.
DIVIDED BY HATE occasionally vacates the based-on-fact ghetto and moves into the neighborhood of finely realized drama. (Graphic violence, adult situations, sexual situations, profanity.) leave a comment