Faith Under Fire

Sondra Martin Hicks's documentary serves up a reconstruction of a tragic event that occurred on Sunday, June 22, 1980, when onetime science teacher Alvin Lee King III, armed with a battery of weapons, opened fire in the crowded First Baptist Church in Daingerfield, TX, killing five worshippers—an elderly woman, three middle-aged men, and a 7-year-old girl—and wounding 10 others. Pursued out of the building, King shot himself but recovered, only to commit suicide when his trial began in 1982. Hicks combines archival material, interviews with survivors and other townspeople, and some rather homespun re-enactments to examine how different people have responded to the experience, some moved to forgiveness while others remain ambivalent or unable to maintain their faith. But the film suffers from repetition and clumsy structuring, shifting in the latter stages to an examination of King's motivation, which seems to have emerged not only from his hostility to religion but also from domestic problems (his daughter Cynthia accused him of sexual abuse, and an investigation had been initiated). Toward the close of Faith Under Fire, Cynthia returns to Daingerfield after a long absence, chauffeured by a relative of one of her father's victims in a conciliatory gesture. With the 2015 Charleston church shooting so fresh a tragedy, this documentary—even with its shortcomings—offers a potent reminder of how often such events occur in America. DVD extras include a behind-the-scenes featurette, an extended scene, and an interview with Cynthia King. Recommended, overall. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)