The 1955 thriller
The Night of the Hunter
may be one of the best dramatizations of spiritual warfare ever to come out of Hollywood. In a way the film feels both ahead of its time—it’s direct and wise about the pragmatic realities of spiritual abuse—and helpfully behind our time—it believes in sin. It seems fitting that the film prominently features a Christmas celebration. Though its themes are dark, it’s a good watch for this time of year. The original Christmas story is many things—an advent, an odyssey, a new birth—but often we downplay the tale’s inherent darkness, obscuring the baby born to die. We rarely linger on Rachel, weeping for her children.