I've been reviewing several films from Mormon film makers of late and for the most part I've noticed they are markedly better than the run of cinema from the evangelical churches. But in the case of Overcome this could easily have come from an evangelical denomination.
A cast of complete unknowns who've not done any other work are the ensemble for Overcome. In this completely Caucasian town where I counted one black face in a minor bit young Aaron Brown has grown away from the LDS church and he's a charismatic leader of a little group of high school bullies. They even graffiti an LDS temple.
Jaycee Lynn is a young girl who's a bit of a goody goody, but she's primarily focused on athletics, in her case tennis. These two know but really have no use for each other.
But as fate would have it one night, Brown is in a car wreck in a car driven by another one of his crew and the person in the other car in a head on collision was Lynn. Her knee gets wrecked putting her tennis future in jeopardy. As for Brown he nearly dies on the operating table in fact is pronounced and then miraculously comes back.
These things have happened and that they cause a behavioral change is understandable. There's a reference that the bishop makes to St. Paul on the road to Damascus. Well Brown doesn't become an evangelist, but he does start making amends for bad behavior, especially where Lynn is concerned.
This is so typical of Christian evangelical films not what I've come to expect from the LDS. Kids who are way too white bread that you never really believe are all that bad. Usually LDS films concentrate on their people living in the world, but making their own place in it. Here this little town seems to be something unto itself without any of the problems of America creeping in.
In fact it would have been more realistic from their point of view to have ended it with Brown becoming Elder Brown and going on a mission. I've learned enough to know in that world returned missionaries are a prize catch.
All in all Overcome is your typical church film that I would have expected from the Baptists more than the LDS.
