A Prayer for the Dying

It’s 1870 in Friendship, Wisconsin when Sheriff Jacob Hansen (Johnny Flynn) discovers a feverish, ranting woman in a field adjacent to the dead body of a soldier he’s just removed from an out-of-town homestead. This bizarre, mysterious and macabre blend sets the uncommon tone for A Prayer for the Dying. When she and the unknown corpse reach local physician, ‘Doc’ (John C Reilly), concern turns to panic when he diagnoses diphtheria.

Aside from wife Marta (Kristine Kujath Thorp) and new baby at home, Jacob has a head awash with dark secrets from the Civil War, which ended five years previously. This backdrop of trauma, encroaching disease and wildfires nearing town make for a challenging tenure, which escalates when the dead bodies pile up in town and nearby woods where cult leader Chase and his all-female followers reside. Quarantine is the only solution, for what good it will do.

All of which makes for a tense, tough western low on the usual gunfights and saloon brawls but high on apocalyptic foreboding and suspense. The pacing is assured and the action plentiful, whether this encompasses the inspection of a cadaver or last-gasp train escape. 

It’s a western low on gunfights but high on apocalyptic foreboding 

There’s also bizarre humour – the arrival of a long-awaited circus is weirdly hilarious – and, in Jacob’s gruesome dreams and the vividly infernal conclusion in particular, startling imagery. Though it packs more action, Kelly Reichardt’s Meek’s Cutoff and her peerless First Cow are fair points of comparison (even if this film can’t quite match the latter’s quality).

It’s noticeable how dirty the townsfolk’s clothes are. In Jacob’s case this is also a mirror of the ethical grubbiness he grappled during the war and quandaries of his current job. The allegorical intent – disease, quarantine – may suggest Covid but there could be something wider at play with the climate of fear that envelopes the town and approaching wildfires. A connection to the currently choppy US political climate seems possible.

Whatever writer-director Dara Van Dusen’s intentions, this take on Stewart O’Nan’s 1999 novel is as laden with suspense and shocks as a high-class horror feature. Smart camera movement and framing builds the tension, alongside Beata Hlavenková’s nerve-shredding score. Flynn is great as the tormented sheriff, while Reilly maintains his hit-rate of dependably unfussy performances. There’s much to recommend about this astute work.

A Prayer for the Dying premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival