Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. for the majority, is a “mockumentary” style until, all of a sudden, it’s not. Here, the camera crew follows around a Tammy Fay and Jim Baker type, Lee-Curtis (Sterling K. Brown), and Trinitie Childs (Regina Hall), once respected community members. They have lost their Southern Baptist Megachurch and their most loyal congregation. How? Well, this is a massive scandal that rocked their community. At first, we notice hints that Lee Curtis had an affair. We later find out his dalliances are much darker than we could have imagined.
However, the Childs are opening up their new megachurch on Easter Sunday in their attempted comeback. Standing in their way are the Sumpters. You have Shukura (Nicole Beharie) and Keon Sumpter (Conphidance), a young, vibrant couple that talks about forgiveness and faith with a Cheshire cat smile when answering questions about Trinitie and Lee Curtis. They smell blood in the water, and while they talk a good game of their faith’s overall humanity, let’s not forget passages of the Old Testament talk about smelling blood in the water.
While the camera crew films the proud first couple of the Southern Baptist megachurch, the lens captures the Childs’ hubris. Mainly Lee Curtis, who is driven to succeed, but you catch a hint of arrogance that keeps building as if this was a foregone conclusion. We also see Trinitie perplexed, questioning her faith, marriage, and religion. When the cameras are put away, we watch two incidents inducing the couple that give the scandal some clarity. When Trinitie tries to initiate sex, he has trouble performing. The other is when he hits on a young make camera operator, offering to help set him up with a career later. All while reaching out to touch the man’s face. Trinitie interrupts them. The young man walks away, upset. She berates Lee Curtis for controlling himself because they are close to their goal.
Trinitie plays the good wife, standing by her husband because she is a Christian. However, she deals with the judgment, the gossip, and the shame of her husband’s scandal, including reconciling her religious beliefs and mental health. As Trinitie’s mother, Sabina, says, she kept going back to the Bible to pray for her marriage. How long exactly? “Until I buried him, baby.”
And finally, we come to the sobering realization of why the Childs have fallen so far from grace. A young man named Khalil gets it off the car to confront Lee Curtis even though the Trinitie chases him, and she desperately reminds him he signed a confidentiality agreement as part of the settlement. As his tears turn to maniacal laughter to deal with the pain, we come to find out that the Reverend had an inappropriate relationship with Khalil, and he was, as inferred from details of the young man’s remarks on how much he needed Lee Curtis at the time, clearly underage. Yes, the man used the power of his faith and belief in God to rape a minor.
The movie ends with a speech from Trinitie, who was forced to wear a “white face” while asking drivers to honk and get a gift of saving your soul. (This is called “Mime Ministry,” popular in the Midwest and the Southeast). She has finally had enough, and as she marches back to the church, the camera crew follows. Lee-Curtis tries to give them a break, but Trinitie goes on about how she is a victim. The thought of her being an enabler never crosses her mind, and when the director asks her why she stays with him, she refers back to her Christianity.
The film ends with Lee-Curtis and Trinitie waiting for members of their congregation to arrive as they moved it up from Easter Sunday. Very few show up. A car pulls into the parking lot and starts doing wheelies and burns rubber. The man is transfixed as Trinitie watches her husband, who seems to think this is some sign that he is about to burst back onto the scene. It’s as if the man who lost his way accidentally found himself on the right path again but no longer has a way to cover his true nature. Of what? He is in love with monetizing religion and also wielding it by knowing his capacity to pay off in ways by manipulating forgiveness.
Trinitie looks like she finally understands the absurdity of it all.
What did you think of the ending of Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul.? Let us know in the comments.
