A Murder of Innocence

When senseless murder invades a community of love & faith

After a pastor (Frank Chiesurin) takes a job at an affluent assembly in the Puget Sound area, his family & congregants are rocked by homicide. Who did it? And, just as important, can they overcome the outbreak of fear? Rachel MacMillan plays the wife and Erin T. Allen the Sheriff.

Based on a true story, "A Murder of Innocence" (2018) is a crime drama with an obvious faith-based element since it involves a pastor’s family and their new assembly. While clueless critics write off the biblical element as “propaganda,” I found the honest communions revolving around God and faith refreshing and convincing. The movie tackles the age-old conundrum of bad things happening to good people. How do survivors overcome the invasion of evil and the tragedies thereof?

The filmmaking is on the level of a quality TV movie and I enjoyed it for what it is, a real-life crime drama involving mostly disciples of Christ. I appreciated the reverent ambiance and the honesty about how churches have to deal with things like jealousies and paranoid suspicions even while sincerely subscribing to a standard of love, which includes tough love. Really, the only flaw is that the story drags; the pace could’ve and should’ve been tightened up by about 10-15 minutes.

The protagonist, by the way, has the Clark Kent vibe down to a ‘T.’

The film runs 1 hour, 43 minutes.

GRADE: C+/B-