Ruin & Redemption is a creatively told story of a man named Mordecai (Victor Cole) who is newly released from prison and now seeking redemption for abandoning his son early on. It is fascinating how circumstances work to bring things full circle when Mordecai’s friend puts him in the path of his long lost son Jr.
While he cruises the river in his boat for much of the movie with his friend Jokes (Anthony Moseley), singing about life, getting drunk, and contemplating and discussing the beauty of nature and the philosophy of life, Mordecai waits patiently for his opportunity for a reunion, never expecting it to arrive in the form of a small boy named Cassius (Brandon Reynolds). First encountering the boy’s mother Dil (Jenil Bennett), Mordecai begins to piece together the legacy he has left behind through themes of abuse, abandonment, regret, and loss.
There is one on screen killing; a couple who violently argues off screen; and domestic abuse involving physical struggles, which lends this film to adult viewing, but when Mordecai finally chooses to put the well-being of an innocent child above himself, a tale of redemption unfolds in a unique fashion, and Mordecai receives the second chance he never expected, and an opportunity to break patterns of dysfunction and powerlessness.
The Dove Take
Ruin & Redemption is proof that each passing moment is a chance for redemption.
