Savage Messiah

2002 "He promised them... Love, Healing, SALVATION"

Savage Messiah

6.3 | 1h34m | R | en | Drama

Savage Messiah is a docudrama about Roch "Moïse" Thériault, the charismatic former leader of a small religious group based near Burnt River, Ontario, Canada. Between 1977 and 1989 he held sway over as many as 12 adults and 26 children. He used all of the nine women as concubines, and probably fathered most of the children in the group. During his reign, Thériault mutilated several members. His major crime was to kill Solange Boilard, his legal wife, by disembowelment while trying to perform surgery on her. He was arrested for assault in 1989, and convicted of murder in 1993. Along with Clifford Olsen and Paul Bernardo, Thériault is considered one of Canada's most notorious criminals.

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6.3 | 1h34m | R | en | Drama , Thriller | More Info

Released: April. 26,2002 | Released Producted By: Astral Films , Corus Entertainment Country: Budget: 0 Revenue: 0 Official Website:

Synopsis

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Cast

Polly Walker , Luc Picard , Isabelle Blais

Director

Carrie Foster

Producted By

Astral Films , Corus Entertainment

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Trailers & Images

Cast

Polly Walker

as Paula Jackson

Bridgerton Age Before Beauty John Carter Clash of the Titans Caprica Cane Scenes of a Sexual Nature Rome Control

Luc Picard

as Roch 'Moïse' Thériault

No Return Family Game Confessions of a Hitman Bad Seeds Summer Crisis Wetlands Babine The Collector Savage Messiah

Isabelle Blais

as Lise

Les bracelets rouges Snowball Effect How to Get Your Parents to Divorce Bête noire Faits divers P=ωρ The Dark Energy Au secours de Béatrice Human Trafficking Human Trafficking

Reviews

info-590 I happen to know that this film was shot in about 18 days and was extremely low budget. This makes you appreciate even greater the talent of the director who obviously had very few tools to play around with, except for the actors. This is a powerfull film which has been powerfully directed. My marks are 8+ out of 10 and the only reason why I do not give it full marks is because it deserved some more money to be put on screen, and then it would have been so much greater I'm sure.

George Parker "Savage Messiah" tells the story of the rise and fall of a mad Canadian cult leader (Picard) who maintains a wilderness commune with assorted concubines and children whom he abuses. A serious, earnest, straight forward docudrama, "SM" tells its story factually with the superficiality of a news story, the "feel" of a budget conscious teleplay, and tethered melodrama making it only of marginal interest when compared with the likes Charles Manson or Jim Jones. "Savage Messiah" should be an interesting watch for anyone with a specific interest in Roch Theriault story but a ho-hummer for all others. (C+)

BigStick88 This movie touched me very deeply. Without no doubts the best performance from Luc Picard. I really think that he deserves a Jutra for that part; he really was."The Savage Messiah" for me; the kind of man you would be afraid of.Thanks Luc. Nine out of ten.

Jona-9 Savage Messiah is a true story. The story of a Canadian social worker, once beaten by her husband, who discovers the women and children of a small commune are being abused by their leader. This leader, it turns out, calls himself Moses and has made the nine women living with him his concubines, mistreating them in the most violent ways.This story made quite a lot of noise when it came out during the late eighties, both in Ontario and Quebec, especially because of the cruelty of the acts involved and the outrageous control "Moses" (Roch Thériault) had on "his" people.While attempting to depict, sometimes with success, how it was like to live on the Church River commune, the movie mostly follows, in a very straightforward way, the social worker who discovers the truth and tries to make everything stop. Thus, it very soon starts to resemble these true stories often seen on tv on Friday night. Of course, the budget here is a little bigger, and the actors quite a bit more talented, but apart from that it just feels like a big made-for-tv movie, very easy to follow, with its few strong emotional moments along the way, but no real character development. And although the advertising prompted the viewer to "be the judge", the movie clearly adopts a subjective point of view. In the end, it's an interesting story, although violent, but a movie that, sadly or not, will not make history.