Movie Review - Losing my religion - Our Burden is Light

A Foo Fighter enlists with Christian soldiers in Our Burden Is Light. The straight-to-DVD, spiritually themed feature includes a modest supporting performance and numerous song contributions from Foo Fighters bassist Nate Mendel. Though the film preaches a religious message, it avoids the scrubbed-clean timidity of more overtly Christian moviemaking. Characters bleed, have sex, hang out in scuzzy rock clubs and grapple with ugly problems.

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For about a half-hour, we wait for two strangers' paths to cross. Morose artist Karen (writer/director Denise Coates) reels from her boozing mother's suicide, while former musician Kyle (Nathan Webb) writes ad jingles in corporate hell to support his gorgeous, money-grubbing wife. One rainy night, a freak accident — not to say a miracle — brings Karen and Kyle together and gives them matching head injuries. Both claim to have amnesia, a corny plot point redeemed through the possibility that one of them is just faking memory loss.

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With an Atlanta-based team of producers, Our Burden Is Light proves visually accomplished for a low-budget production. Coates constructs some striking images, like Kyle's ill-fitting presence in labyrinthine offices, or the opening shot of a nude artists' model with "Faith" tattooed on the small of her back. But the vibrant colors and sharp compositions make the unpolished acting harder to ignore. Webb gives a subtly anguished, watchful performance, but the rest of the cast proves disappointingly flat. As Karen's punk rocker best pal, Jessica Ballard plays all her scenes in the same sullen note, even though she has an intense stage presence reminiscent of X's Exene Cervenka.

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Our Burden Is Light draws energy from furious, live-wire performances by punk band Bleeder, while Mendel also composes mellower ballads with pleasant melodies and beckoning hooks. For secular pop music fans, the grungy sounds serve as the spoonful of sugar that helps the Christian medicine go down. As the story plays out, the religious iconography becomes more obtrusive. Crucifixes nudge into camera shots, while Karen and Kyle find work in a church from a guy named Sam (for "Good Samaritan," no doubt).

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Where The Passion of the Christ pushed buttons of guilt, fear and anger, Our Burden Is Light floats a more comforting "Let go, let God" kind of message suitable for recovery meetings. Thanks to Mendel's joyful noise, Our Burden Is Light resembles the kind of church service in which the choir steals the show. HHIII

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Our Burden Is Light, Brentwood Home Video. $19.98. ourburdenislight.com.