The Order
Tags: dark, murder, paranormal, violence, flashback, philosophical, romantic

Plot synopsis:
The film's premise is that there is another way to heaven than adherence to the practices of the Roman Catholic Church. A secular Sin Eater can remove all taint of sin, no matter how foul, from the soul just before death. The purified soul can then ascend into heaven. The Roman Catholic Church, according to the film, considers this heresy.
Heath Ledger plays an unhappy and disillusioned priest, Alex Bernier, a member of a fictitious religious order The Carolingians which specializes in fighting demons and other hell spawn. Father Dominic, the head of the Carolingians, has died in Rome under suspicious circumstances and Alex leaves the United States to investigate. In Rome, Alex visits the morgue and sees strange markings on Dominic's corpse. After some investigation, he comes across a book that explains the markings as being the sign of a Sin Eater's work. He heads to the Vatican, where an official tells him that Sin Eaters don't exist and that Dominic may not be buried on sacred ground because he had been excommunicated for his beliefs. Alex, moving ever farther from his vocation, defies his superiors and secretly reads a holy service over the body and buries Dominic in the Carolingian cemetery (the service takes place off screen but is referred to later).
Thomas Garrett, another Carolingian (there seem to have only been a total of three including Dominic), arrives in Rome to help investigate Dominic's death.
Early in the film we meet Mara Williams, an artist Alex once exorcised, who has escaped from a mental hospital and come to Alex at his church in the USA because she has a feeling that something terrible is going to happen to him. The police come looking for her, but Alex lies and denies that he's seen her and through this exchange we learn that Mara was in the hospital because she had tried to kill Alex during the exorcism. Mara goes to Rome with Alex after promising that she won't try to kill him again.
Cardinal Driscoll (Peter Weller), who is introduced at the beginning of the film and who is tipped to be the next Pope, arrives in Rome from the USA and gives Alex a special dagger. According to a fragment of parchment Alex and Thomas find among Dominic's books, the dagger is to be plunged into the Sin Eater while reciting a text in Aramaic. Alex and Thomas take these instructions to mean that the dagger and incantation will kill the Sin Eater and they begin hunting for the Sin Eater and the remainder of the parchment instructions.
Thomas leads Alex to a nightclub where they are taken to the underground base of operations of a masked man called Chirac, the 'Black Pope.' The Black Pope owes a favor to Thomas and Alex asks where to find the Sin Eater. The Black Pope then hangs three people and tells Alex to ask his question of the dying men who can see what the living cannot. One of the dying tells Alex a riddle that leads to a rendezvous with the Sin Eater.
On the way out of the Black Pope's headquarters, demons attack and injure Thomas, but Alex saves him and gets him to a hospital.
Alex leaves Thomas in the hospital and meets the Sin Eater, William Eden, at St. Peter's Cathedral who explains that he has been a Sin Eater for centuries, taking over for an earlier Sin Eater (a Carolingian priest) who ate the sins of Eden's brother. Eden is very charismatic and talks with Alex about the priest's desires, and Alex admits he wants Mara. He then goes and presumably tells Mara this, and they make love. Afterward, Alex leaves Mara asleep and goes to Eden, who tells Alex that he is tired and ready to die and asks Alex to take his place. Alex has the dagger with him, but is curious and so doesn't use it to kill Eden. Instead, he assists Eden with a sin eating ritual. But in the end, Alex refuses Eden's offer because he has decided to leave the priesthood to be with Mara.
Later Alex returns to their lodgings and finds Mara near death, an apparent suicide. In actuality, Eden slit her wrists and left her for Alex to find. Mara is beyond medical help and Alex quickly performs the sin eating ritual so that she can go to heaven. After absorbing Mara's sins, though, Alex sees that there is no sin of suicide on Mara's conscience and realizes Eden's deception. Alex goes after Eden to kill him.
The rationale that leads Alex to perform the sin eating ritual instead of giving Mara Roman Catholic Last Rites is that Alex has already made the decision to leave the priesthood to be with Mara and he has broken his vows of obedience and of sexual abstinence. He therefore considers himself ineligible to offer Mara Last Rites.
Meanwhile, the injured Thomas is out of the hospital and goes to see the Black Pope who reveals himself to be Cardinal Driscoll. Driscoll shows Thomas the second half of the parchment which instead of being instructions on how to kill a Sin Eater is actually instructions on how to become a Sin Eater. The entirety of Alex's and Mara's lives have been a plot among Dominic, Eden and Driscoll to entrap Alex. Eden wants to die, Driscoll wants to be Pope and Dominic wanted the financial resources to pursue arcane knowledge.
Driscoll prevents Thomas from leaving to warn Alex.
Alex cannot find Eden and returns to the Black Pope to learn where Eden is. The Black Pope (face hidden) tells Alex again to ask the dying. Alex recognizes that Thomas is the man being hanged, and frees him using a pistol. However, Thomas's throat is too injured by the noose to tell Alex the truth of the parchment.
Alex finds Eden and stabs him with the dagger while reciting the incantation. He quickly realizes what is actually happening but it is too late, Eden's powers are transferred to Alex, and Eden, happy to be free of his burden of the sins of others, dies. In the mean time, St. Peter's Basilica in Rome crumbles around them.
Thomas, who arrives at the scene too late to prevent the transfer, vows he will find a way to save Alex, even if it means killing him.
Alex informs the church about Driscoll's activities and Driscoll is ruined. Driscoll then decides to kill himself and calls on the Sin Eater, now Alex, to remove his sins. Driscoll slits his wrists and when he is near death, Alex tells him that he knows that Eden and Driscoll caused Mara's death. Alex does not eat Driscoll's sins but forces them down Driscoll's throat. Driscoll dies a painful death and presumably goes straight to hell.
The Sin Eater William Eden used his power to accumulate wealth. The Sin Eater Alex Bernier decides to act as a power for good, saving only those who deserve it and allowing evildoers to die in sin.

Review: The Order encompasses one or two intriguing ideas gone a bit awry.A priest (played by Heath Ledger) is called upon to investigate the apparent suicide of his mentor, and uncovers the mystery of an ancient being, the Sin Eater, who is able to absolve the sins of those (unrepentant sinners, excommunicated persons, suicides) a normal Catholic priest would be unable to forgive due to church dogma.
The rest was a clogged up mess of random (and inexplicable) demon children, a power-hungry cardinal, and worst of all: a love interest who had absolutely no chemistry with the main character, an accent that was completely out of place, a confusingly pointless back story, and who seemed incongruous with the setting and plot.
It deals with a young reverend named Alex Bernier (Heath Ledger) is a member of an arcane order of priests known as Carolingians , he is sent to Rome to investigate the troubling death of the head of his order .
The body bears strange marks on the chest which may or may not be the sign of a Sin Eater named William Eden (Vincent Cassel had originally been cast but left the production after three weeks due to "creative differences" , as he has been replaced by Benno Fürmann), a renegade who offers absolution, last rites ; therefore a path to heaven outside the jurisdiction of the church and unleashing fantastic powers .
Passable acting by Heath Ledger as Alex , a priest sent to Rome to investigate mysterious circumstances surrounding a strange death and Sossamon as a troubled artist upon whom he once performed an exorcism .
Originally scheduled for January 17, 2002, the film's release date was postponed when the visual effects had to be redone because they were thought to be unintentionally funny , according to a anonymous source close to the production quoted by Variety magazine, the special effects depicting sins exiting the human body after death looked like "calamari".The picture packs a colorful as well as dark cinematography by Nicola Pecorini and eerie musical score by David Torn .
A very pale and thin Heath Ledger takes on the role of the conflicted in this film that pushes boundaries and will no doubt cause eyebrows to raise among several including the Catholic Church.
After Dominic (Francesco Carnelutti), a priest who is one of the last of the Carolingian order, dies of an apparent suicide, the other two remaining Carolingians, Alex Bernier (Heath Ledger) and Thomas Garret (Mark Addy), come to Rome to learn what happened.
Alex, Thomas, Mara Sinclair (Shannyn Sossamon), William Eden (Benno Furmann), and Driscoll (Peter Weller) all seem like real people with complex personalities and back stories.
This is a film that not only bears but demands repeated viewings, but you have to be able to slow down and think while viewing--don't expect action set pieces (although there are a couple minor bits of action), a gorefest, or MTV-styled editing.The ending of The Order cries out for a sequel, but not because the ending is at all incomplete, or because there was a monster who just wouldn't die.
Sex this up a bit with some overt supernatural mojo, let the concept wander where it may, and you have "The Order", a movie that combines "Stigmata"'s religious anti-authoritarianism, "The X-Files"' paranormal investigation, and "The Thorn Birds"' sexual spirituality into an odd melange that sometimes works.Alex (Heath Ledger) is a rogue priest, one of the last members of the Order of the Carolingians, a semi-heretical order of knowledge-seeking, demon-fighting priests.
The three go to Rome to investigate and are drawn into a dark underworld of bizarre Catholic heresy, ominous prophecies, demonic intrusions, and a man claiming to be the last surviving Sin-Eater (Benno Furmann).Written and directed by Brian Helgeland (who worked with the same principals on the scattershot and half-hearted "A Knight's Tale"), the film is an odd one, and difficult to classify.
A very nice score that is evocative without being bombastic and exists in a very deceptive simplicity.A confusing plot, a lack of purpose, and sometimes sleepy performances would often damn a movie, but for some reason, "The Order" remains watchable.
As Alex, the main character, is informed his mentor has died, he gets drawn into something which could alter his own destiny.Without wanting to give away the entire plot Sin Eater is a movie which takes risks - it's not afraid of its take on religion and is filmed with panache, boasts good performances, and some effective cinematography.Fine effort..
What is so intelligent or thought provoking when the story is basically about pretty boy Heath Ledger as a priest who has a love interest and disobeys his religion?
Unlike both of those films, which I quite liked, there is no focus as to what this film is supposed to mean.Heath Ledger plays Fr. Alex, a young priest whose mentor, the former head of a religious order, appears to have committed suicide.
Ledger is skeptical, and accompanied by friend and fellow priest Thomas (Mark Addy) and a young woman whom he had exorcised the previous year (Shannyn Sossamon), he goes to Rome to investigate.He finds that his mentor had employed the services of a "sin-eater", a person who takes on the sins of those about to die who have been excommunicated (apparently unjustly?) by the Roman Catholic Church.Once he finds the sin-eater, the rest of the film deals with Ledger's motivations for being a priest, his conflict between his vows and his love for the young woman, and the sin-eater's offer to make Fr. Alex his successor, as well as interference run in these matters by demons and pagans...While this description suggests a compelling drama of religious conflict, the execution is schematic, murky, half-witted...characterization is imcomplete and inadequately subtle, motivations remain unclear, tension is diffused- in short, the project was not well-thought out.Some things to keep in mind when watching-1.
In what can only be described as the year's worst cast reunion, Heath Ledger and his still-unknown pals from A Knights Tale are placed in such exotic locales as Rome and New York City; however the movie is so dark and inane that they might as well have filmed the whole mess in some abandoned church in New Jersey.Seven years ago, director Helgeland became interested in the medieval idea of Sin Eaters, those who, during the greatest years of the Catholic Church's power, would consume the sins of the excommunicated upon their death, granting them absolution without redemption.
So, Helgeland took it upon himself to write, produce and direct this debauchery, which, in essence, means it is entirely his fault.In any event, the film consists of Heath Ledger playing Alex, a priest of the defunct Carolinian order who seems to have been trained in Catholic X-Files.
He does attempt to inject feeling into his lifeless `Old Soul' of a character, but Ledger actually looks bored at times, and only seems to be half-trying when damning members of the undead.
When the director is finally forced to bring the action out in the open--such as in the supposed climax in St. Peter's Cathedral-the blue screen and faux-architecture is pathetically phony, leaving the audience to wish in vain that this were the finale.`Knowledge is the enemy of faith,' proclaims the immortal Sin Eater at one point in The Order.
Luckily, The Order is more in the vein of something like Boondock Saints, a hugely violent film with strong religious undertones that had a lot of similar meanings as this movie did.
Heath Ledger, unfortunately, strikes me more as a hugely popular American actor placed into the movie maybe for name recognition than as an actor who fits the part of the character.
Basically the film has Heath Ledger as a priest going to Rome to investigate the death of the head of his order.
Incredibly dull, poorly acted, dire script, often incoherent and too many scenes that don't seem to have any relevance to the overall film (like when Heath Ledger's priest partner get's nailed to a wall by a ghost...what was the point in that scene?
Heath Ledger was a pretty well established star by 2003, having appeared in movies like "A Knight's Tale" and "Monster's Ball".
It was interesting learning about the different kinds of Catholic orders that exist, but the movie didn't have enough focus, so I wouldn't recommend it.It's too bad that Heath Ledger died so young.
The only reason I stayed to watch the entire film, was to see if the ending was going to be as predictable as the rest of the movie.
The plot was terrible, the acting was terrible, and the entire feel of the film made me question what was going through Heath Ledgers mind.
I can only assume Colin Ferrell is grabbing all the good leading rolls available to young foreign male actors.If/when Heath makes a sequel to this movie, you will know his dimming career has finally faded.
I know this is a free country, but lets not insult the integrity of the review board much like 'The Order' insulted our intelligence and appetite for a good movie.
The coming attractions to "The Order" make it seem like a decent horror mystery/thriller, but what we get is a plot that has potential to be excellent all thrown together to form a pile of garbage.First off the whole movie consists of terrible dialogue and god awful special affects.
The equally bad Shannyn Sossamon who looks like a boy) doesn't add much to the already laughable, lifeless, bland story.One of the silliest plot lines in "The Order" involves a romance between Ledger's and Sossamon's characters.
Witness the scene with Thomas and Alex in a sewer under a church, where Alex almost drowns and Thomas gets mildly impaled with little knives: What does THAT have to do with anything?Once the Sin-Eater is located -- with an hour left to go -- the film truly flounders.
Instead, we watch these nice-looking folks run around Rome (looking like the Hardy Boys with no purpose) performing various acts that don't seem to be leading anywhere.As One Review stated:Maybe what Hollywood needs is a bomb eater, some poor soul who would take the blame for awful movies so that the real offending parties, both in front of the camera and behind it, could escape censure.
This movie is bathed in catholic religious occultism; it is very dark and secretive and seems more like an occult conspiracy theory movie with the church acting in the place of corrupt big government and the small investigative unit, consisting of the order priests and the artist, searching for the truth.
The film does not transition smoothly, there is very little chemistry between characters, the acting is flat and the director fails to make us care about his movie..
One of the things that I have come to enjoy about actor Heath Ledger is that he is always willing to take on roles that are out of the main stream, and this is definitely true of the character of Alex in "The Order." This is a dark film in which nothing is quite what it seems to be, and you the vier are required to work at enjoying it.
This is a dark story and Heath Ledger's subtle underplaying of the character of Alex, combined with the almost comic relief of Mark Addy as Thomas and ever sinister strangeness of Cardinal Driscoll, played to perfection by Peter Weller gives you an excellent performance all around.
Once there he unwillingly gets himself into a secret plot and crosses paths with a supernatural being who eats people's sins.The premise for this film is quite intriguing and Gothic thrillers have long been a favorite of mine.
From books like "The Name of the Rose" by Umberto Eco (as well as its terrific film adaptation) and movies like "The Ninth Gate" or "The Omen." The rich history of religion and the fact that is has been around for a very long time leaves it with a huge wealth of information, much of it quite esoteric, and it can be arranged into a story in a very interesting fashion...
This being a film written by Brian Helgeland i was expecting something exciting and envolving with a great twist at the end.Nothing could be further from the truth, the reality is that "The Order" is one of the worst films of 2003.This film is supposed to be a mystery film and not for a single moment during the film you are interested in what's going on, no mistery no horror no drama in this film ,it's not scary, it's inconsistent and not very well directed.
This is a very muddled movie about Heath Ledger who is a priest in a dying order.
Well Heath and the only other surviving member of his order, played by Mark Addy, go off to Rome where they search out to kill the sin eater.
The actor playing the sin eater in this, Bruno Furmann, is effectively mysterious but the film overall isn't.
Around the end / beginning of the millennium, religious horror seemed to be the in-thing ("End of Days", "Stigmata", "Possession", The Ninth Gate" and so on) "The Sin Eater" aka "The Order" was one of those interesting efforts, although not particularly successful in its final twisty vision.
Anyway, I wouldn't let something like that deter me from watching a Heath Ledger film that I missed.
It is also dark and moody, which leaves out those looking for scatological humor.Brian Helgeland wrote, produced and directed the film, and even brought Ledger, Mark Addy and Shannyn Sossamon from The Knight's Tale along with him.
The atmosphere does meander between dark and light hearted, sometimes during the course of a single sentence, but it kind of works.Heath Ledger gives a solid performance especially considering that his character has many depths and motivations which sometimes clash.My only criticism would be that a lot of ground is covered story wise and there are many scenes and sub plots which could have been developed more given and extra few hours.
And, while not everything in the film works 100%, the central story and how it plays out is really quite cool and original, which is something I can't say about most "superhero" flicks that are being pumped out en masse these days.So yeah, I think this movie gets a bum rap.
A renegade priest, Father Alex Bernier (Heath Ledger), is sent to Rome to investigate the mysterious death of one of the Order's most revered members.
Mr. Fürmann's Christ-like "Sin Eater" plight breathes some life into the storyline.**** The Order (9/5/03) Brian Helgeland ~ Heath Ledger, Shannyn Sossamon, Benno Fürmann.
They work really good together but the "love story" in this movie feels almost  like a déjà vu.
I still don't know exactly what the movie was about, I think it was about the "Sin Eater" but it seemed like there should have been something more to it.
Heath Ledger and Shannyn Sossamon did a great job and I give this movie a 6/10 for good effort  ........last.
Ok, THE ORDER isn't as bad as my one line summary might leadone to believe, but it does come through as less succinct andengaging as I'd hoped for.Heath Ledger is fairly good as Alex Bernier, one of the last priestsof a sub-order of the Catholic Church known as the Carolingians.
"the order" seems to me to be the kind of movie that should have been made in the late 70's or early 80's, along with movies like the omen, the exorcist, etc.the plot just doesn't stand up in this day and age, the concept is a different twist on an old idea, and just isn't executed well enough to justify revisiting it.we have an "order" of heretical priests within the catholic church who are essentially demon hunters.
i thought the concept of the sin eater was quite good, and as for heath ledgers acting, amazing as ever.
while the actual concept of the movie is very good, the movie itself leaves a lot to be desired...there are many things that aren't explained well if even at all...you leave the theater not commenting on the action but instead questioning certain aspects that were left open or half explained, ie...the children and how he met Mara...neither of these is explained well at all...also the main character Alex is very easily swayed to the point that he becomes a hypocrite in the end...youll see what i mean...the concept was a great idea that i hope someone will redo this time hopefully better than this half attempted version....
Now I see that it's getting bad reviews, but I think these are from people who are predisposed to not liking it.Really interesting story, characters and good acting.
Brian Helgeland's "The Order" fails on so many levels that it's hard to believe the film's writer/director is the same guy who wrote "A Knight's Tale," or even "Highway To Hell.""The Order" feels like only a half of a movie ...
It all adds up to a disappointing experience that lacks any real chills or deep mystery to define the film's purpose.`The Order' tells the story of Alex Bernier (Heath Ledger), a young priest who holds to traditional values such as praying in Latin before his congregation.
No, no, I know what to do, I come in and read some lines and I leave." Fourth, there are times in the movie where it seems that the people making it realized that something should be happening, so they were like: "Quick make up something that happens!
Cinematography presents nothing particularly interesting as well but the few special effects used are far better than the avalanche of bad CGI that some films present to the public.Far from being a good movie, this is a medium-quality thriller that fits anyone who likes the genre or just wants to spend some time idle.
Hereby I'd add up to this movie more dynamic realism and after that - The Order was more popular and had to turn many fan heads to The Story itself and Heath Ledger..