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Redeeming Love (2022 film)
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Wikipedia article
'Redeeming Love' is a 2022 American Christian Western romance film directed by D. J. Caruso, who co-wrote the screenplay with Francine Rivers. The film is based on Rivers' 1991 novel of the same name, which was based on the Biblical story of Hosea, and is set in the American Old West during the California Gold Rush. It stars Abigail Cowen, Tom Lewis and Logan Marshall-Green.
The film was co-produced by Pinnacle Peak Pictures, Mission Pictures International, and Nthibah Pictures, and was filmed in Cape Town, South Africa. It was theatrically released by Universal Pictures on January 21, 2022, and received mixed reviews from critics.
Plot
A beautiful young woman named Angel works as a prostitute in 1850s California. Though she is the object of desire for the local men, she survives through hatred and self-loathing. Meanwhile, a visiting farmer named Michael Hosea prays to God and asks for help finding a wife. Later that day, he sees Angel walking through town and feels prompted by God to marry her.
Flashbacks reveal that Angel's real name is Sarah and that she knows only rejection from men. As a child, she overhears her father, Alex Stafford, say that she should never have been born. Sarah learns that her father is married and her mother, Mae, is his mistress. Alex eventually cuts off support for Mae, leading her to become a prostitute and eventually become sick and die. Distraught, Sarah rejects her mother's Catholic faith. Afterwards, Mae's pimp sells an 8-year-old Sarah to a man named Duke, who renames her "Angel" and forces her into prostitution. One night, when Angel is a teenager, one of her customers is her father, and she knowingly has sex with him to punish him for how he treated her mother. He does not recognize her, but when he finds out the next morning, he commits suicide. This prompts Angel to successfully escape from Duke. She arrives in California with hopes of beginning a new life but, penniless, once again becomes a prostitute at a brothel there.
In present day, when Michael enters Angel's room and tells her he wants to marry her, she is thrown off guard, but remains aloof toward him. After she is nearly beaten to death by a brothel guard, she agrees to marry Michael and leave with him as he nurses her back to health. Michael continues to surprise her as he claims to love her as his wife, and refuses to have sex with her. Afraid to trust him, she runs away at her first opportunity, but Michael finds her and convinces her to come home.
Gradually, Angel develops feelings for Michael, but runs away again when she realizes that he wants children, as she believes herself to be sterile. She gets a ride with Michael's brother-in-law, Paul, who hates her because of her past and demands she pay him for the ride by having sex with him. Back in the city, Angel reluctantly returns to prostitution. When Michael arrives at the brothel, she is relieved to return home with him. He forgives her, and their relationship begins to grow based on honesty and affection.
As Angel falls in love with Michael, she becomes convinced that he will be happier married to someone else who can have children, leading her to leave him once more. Having learned to cook while with Michael, she is able to get a job at a cafe in the city rather than returning to prostitution. Eventually, she by chance encounters Duke, who has moved to California. He attempts to force her to become a prostitute again. Desperate, she regains the faith she lost after her mother's death and tells an audience at the brothel about Duke's pedophilia, resulting in him being lynched by a mob. Afterwards, Angel starts a successful mission to help rehabilitate other young prostitutes.
Three years later, Paul finally comes to find her and tells her that Michael still loves her. Angel returns home to Michael, offering her love and telling him that her real name is Sarah. They reunite and are shown to eventually have children.
Cast
* Abigail Cowen as Angel
* Tom Lewis as Michael Hosea
* Logan Marshall-Green as Paul
* Famke Janssen as Duchess
* Nina Dobrev as Mae
* Eric Dane as Duke
* Livi Birch as Sarah Stafford
* Brandon Auret as Magowan
* Ke-Xi Wu as Mai Ling
* Jamie-Lee O'Donnell as Lucky
* Tanya van Graan as Sally
* Clyde Berning as Rab
* Josh Taylor as Alex Stafford
* Willie Watson as John Altman
* Lauren McGregor as Elizabeth Altman
* Daniah De Villiers as Miriam Altman
* Tayah Ronen Abels as Ruth Altman
* Nicholas Pauling as Virgil Harper
Production
Filming concluded in Cape Town, South Africa in March 2020. The film itself was announced in April 2020, with D.J. Caruso directing and Roma Downey and Francine Rivers executive producing. Rivers also wrote the script, along with Caruso. 'Redeeming Love' marks the second collaboration between producers Cindy Bond and Simon Swart, the first being 2018's 'I Can Only Imagine'. Wayne Fitzjohn, Michael Scott, and Brittany Yost also produce.
The film was released digitally on February 8, 2022, and was released on Blu-ray and DVD on March 8, 2022 by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.
Reception
Box office
The film was released in 1,903 theaters by Universal Pictures on January 21, 2022. In the United States and Canada, the film was released alongside 'The King's Daughter' and was projected to gross less than $5 million in its first three days. It went on to earn $3.5 million in its opening weekend, finishing fourth at the box office. It made $1.77 million in its second weekend, and $1 million in its third. The film dropped out of the box office top ten in its fourth weekend, finishing eleventh with $354,835.Critical response
On Metacritic the film has a score of 32% based on reviews from 7 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, while those at PostTrak gave it an 85% positive score, with 72% saying they would definitely recommend it.References
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