Thandiwe Newton Is Intoxicating In The Slow-Burning Film 'God's Country’
essence.comGod’s Country opens, a woman walks into a dimly lit crematorium. This initial scene snaps the eerie tone of Julian Higgins’s film into place.
As the world of the film opens up, the viewers learn that the lone woman at the crematorium is Sandra (Thandiwe Newton). It’s just before Christmas, and she’s grieving the loss of her estranged mother.
A humanities professor at the local university, Sandra is well-liked by her students and more than equipped to do her job. But the unnamed Montana town surrounding her, including its mountains and people, are stark white.
Higgins didn’t need the aid of a desaturated color palette to zero in on Sandra’s otherness, but this Black woman’s solitary state in this environment only fuels the sinister nature of the film.God’s Country, which is based on James Lee Burke’s short story, Winter Light, takes place over a week, and on the first day, Sandra notices a cherry red pickup truck parked boldly on her property.
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