Forgive Us All is directed by Jordana Stott, and the cast includes Lily Sullivan, Callan Mulvey, Richard Roxburgh, Dean O'Gorman, Bree Peters, Lawrence Makoare.
My Thoughts on Forgive Us All
Forgive Us All is a New Zealand-made post-apocalyptic western-horror that sets itself in a bleak and lonely world, where a deadly virus has reduced most of the population to violent, flesh-eating creatures called “howlers.”
While the film presents an original and interesting blend of western and horror elements, it does struggle to fully develop its story and characters into something emotionally or dramatically satisfying.
The film follows Rory (Lily Sullivan), and we meet her immediately after burying a family member. Her body is bruised and bloodied, and her emotional state mirrors the devastation of the world around her.
From the beginning, Forgive Us All makes a deliberate choice to keep its viewer in the dark. The world-building is quite low and minimal, and there is no narration explaining what happened or who the characters are.
Now, this is fine, I don't need things to be spoon fed to me, but I do need something to stay interested, but it offers you little.
As a result, the first third of the film is not just slow, it’s quite disorienting. Important relationships are unclear, the characters’ motivations are vague, and not enough is known about this post-apocalyptic world.
There's definitely a fine balance between trusting your audience and withholding too much, and this film often leans toward the latter.
Once the context does begin to take shape, the film shifts in tone. The middle section plays more like a western - quiet, dusty, and filled with long silences and slow pacing. But unlike great westerns that use stillness and silence to reflect inner tension or reveal character, here the quiet often feels empty.
The film hints at deeper themes but never quite explores them in a meaningful way. Rory remains closed off, and the film doesn’t provide enough interaction or dialogue to deepen our understanding of her emotional journey.
The theme of redemption is touched on but not fully developed, too, and what emerges instead is more about learning to live with guilt and accepting that some things cannot be undone.
The cinematography does though take full advantage of the New Zealand landscape, using wide shots and natural lighting to emphasize the vastness and emptiness of the world. The camera moves with care, allowing the atmosphere to build slowly.
It's not until the final 3rd where things pick up, and we see the howlers, which were pretty much a background threat to this point, become central again, tracking humans through the forest by scent.
These scenes are pretty well-paced and tense, providing some of the film’s strongest moments. But, with that said, the sudden return to creature-based horror clashes a lot with what came before. The two genres, western and horror, never fully merge, which leaves the film feeling uneven.
These scenes are pretty well-paced and tense, providing some of the film’s strongest moments. But, with that said, the sudden return to creature-based horror clashes a lot with what came before. The two genres, western and horror, never fully merge, which leaves the film feeling uneven.
By the time the film ends, the plot has technically come full circle, and the pieces fit together. But emotionally, it doesn’t leave a strong impression. The characters haven’t grown much, and the themes haven’t deepened in a meaningful way.
What we’re left with is a film that’s more about mood and tone than character or story, and more an experiment in atmosphere than a fully realized narrative.
The film also deserves credit for aiming to do something different within the horror and post-apocalyptic genres, though. It's bold, but it's also messy.
But if you enjoy slow, reflective survival stories and are willing to be patient with minimal storytelling, this may still be worth watching. But for me, Forgive Us All felt like a film that never quite figures out what it wants to be.