The Least Of These

Every now and then, i try to move outside of my comfort zone. What do i mean by that ? Well, i usually avoid films that i don´t think look interesting. Especially films produced by Pure Flix, who have a history of bad films. Last year i did try and give one specific film a chance, even though i had several warning signs shining all around me. A drama film called The Trump Prophecy, a faith based drama film, that is based on a true story of a fireman who predicted that Trump would become president. If you never heard about this film, you should check it out just to see how a really awful film looks like. Last year i named The Trump Prophecy the worst film of 2018. This film had nothing positive to give the audience. The acting is really bad, the cinematography is awful, the horrible CGI scenes are probably among the worst i have ever seen, and the story makes no sense at all. Do you remeber the name of Stephen Baldwin ? I think if you grew up in the 90´s, you might remember him from the classic thriller The Usual Suspects, released in 1995. Since then, Stephen have left Hollywood a long time ago and is now more focused about his love for President Trump, and making Christian films. I have not seen his films in recent years, only Heard him on interviews from different news stations where he talked politics. But i have Heard about one of his latest films, known as The Least Of These. This film is based on a true story about the Australian Christian missionary Graham Staines, how he tried to help people in India with health problems. I have heard some reviews of this film from different movie critics, and this seemed to be a film that divided a lot of people. So i decided to give Stephen Baldwin and his film crew a chance, just in case this might actually be goo. Is this drama a film that will touch your heart, or is this a film you won´t remember at all ?

In the late 1990´s journalist Manav Banerjee ( Sharman Joshi ) moves with his pregnant wife to the State of Orissa, in hope for a better career and hoping for a good life for his family. When speculation mounts that Australian missionary Graham Staines ( Stephen Baldwin ) is illegally proselytizing leprosy patients, Manay agree to investigate undercover for the local newspaper. Manay finds a series of revelations that are impossible to explain, and he begin to question if maybe everyone is wrong about Graham, and all the things that he do for the Indian people are actually making a big difference.

I tried giving The Least Of These a chance, but this is not a good film. And there are several things that don´t work with this film. First of all the acting. The acting in this film feels very lame, as if the actors who are on board are here for the paycheck.  Actor Sharman Joshi ( who i only have seen in one film before known as London 1920 ) is not the strong character a film like this needs to be, as the journalist Manav. In some scenes he does not even act, almost like he only remember the dialogue and say it like he is supposed to. In a few scenes he finally get some acting done, but not strong enough to leave any emotions. Actor Stephen Baldwin ( who have done some classics such as Bio Dome ) is here playing Graham Staines, the Australian missionary worker. I would not say he is very good here either, but he may be one of the few who does some kind of acting, and should have tried harder to make his character feel interesting. Actress Shari Rigby who i have never seen in a film before, could have been interesting as Graham´s wife Gladys. Unfortunately, she does not give the performance that we could have had. The rest of the Indian cast does not make a strong impact either, and i know there are many great Indian actors out there, but they don´t seem to be a part of this film. The story of Graham Staines could have been executed in a much more powerful way. Since this is supposed to tell a story of how he helped people, they should have digged deeper with more emotions and a more clear image of what he managed to do. Director Aneesh Daniel have made a directorial debut film that does have something important to tell you, but fails to do it in a powerful way. This film feels more like an ordinary TV drama film, that we have seen so many times before. The Least Of These is a film that will most likely be forgotten, as many other faith based films have proved in the past. If you want to see a powerful film, choose something else such as Boy Erased, and i am sure you won´t regret it.

Rating: D