Hidden Light follows the tragic happenings of three men whose lives are interwoven in strange ways that unfold throughout the film. Jovan is a reformed drug dealer who serves in a church as a priest but secretly beats himself for his crimes and goes above and beyond to help others as a way to perform and atone for his sins. His need to “save” others manifests itself as a secret alliance with a dealer named Drago, who is desperately trying to leave the drug trade after finding out that he is going to be a father. Jovan refuses to resort to violence, making Drago’s exit all the more difficult. The two cross paths with a grieving widower, Jacob, who’s just found out that his late wife had been unfaithful and had been using drugs the night she died. The way the story plays out points to the truly sovereign hand of God intervening and saving not only the lives of the three men, but intervening at the very root cause of all the movie’s conflict.
Hidden Light is a film that is jam-packed with conflict, suspicion, grief, and revenge, which together, lend themselves to the heavy and dark theme throughout, even though it culminates in redemption towards the end. Though the director wants us to walk away with the idea that that “the light shines into the darkness and the darkness does not overcome it” (John 1:5), the weight of the subject matter focuses solely on the darkness and rarely gives voice to what “light” actually means. I would have liked for the characters to elaborate on what “light” is to them. Is that the absence of darkness? Is it hope for the future? Is it an understanding that God is alive and active and overcomes on our behalf? I would have really liked for “light” to have been expanded upon.
The message the movie hopes to impart is that light overcomes the darkness, but the only redemption scene that we see at the end of the film is the main character scattering his mother’s ashes at the oceanside, thanking God that the light overcomes the darkness. The weaving storylines and lack of character depth left me feeling like I was dipping my toe into an ocean that was an inch deep and a mile wide.
The Dove Take
Hidden Light follows a dark story of the messy and painful lives of three men ultimately leading to redemption and a more clear understanding of Christian theology, though it takes a long, confusing and winding road to get there.
