It can be easy to miss amidst the heavy emotional punch the film carries, but Jesse Moss’ The Overnighters brings a refreshing nuance to its story of a pastor torn between his family and congregation on the one hand, and the pull he feels to love his neighbors, in this case the itinerant workers who pour into Williston, North Dakota looking for work in the newly established oil fields. Moss presents Jay Reinke as a man driven, almost possessed by holy love for the stranger, yet at the same time a man deeply broken: manipulative, power hungry, and hypocritical.
Since fracking opened up the possibility of oil production in western North Dakota, people from all over the country – many unemployable by most standards – have congregated in the area, lured by the promise of lucrative jobs. They often find the promise empty, though, and arrive without accommodations or much hope. Jay Reinke, pastor of Concordia Lutheran, set up a program to let these men sleep on the floor of his church. As the program swells, though, he faces opposition from his own congregation, who feel nervous at the change in the status quo, and from the surrounding community, who view the men as dangerous interlopers. The program takes its toll on Reinke’s family as well, who seem supportive but clearly feel worn down. Despite his good motives, Reinke also alienates some men whom he has helped, who see him as pushy and deceitful. It’s a story told simply, with beautiful shots of the prairies suggesting the empty spaces between human beings that plague our efforts to live together in love. The film starts out a little too slow, and weaves in some strands that do not add much to the narrative; there’s also a crucial piece of information that gets withheld until the end which changes the film, and it seems a bit like cheating that Moss held his cards so close. Still, The Overnighters is a film that recognizes the challenges involved in sacrificial love while remaining hopeful for the possibility.