A muddled mixture of mystery, tearjerker, and sermonizing about forgiveness, writer-director Keoni Waxman’s faith-based drama, based on a novel by Robert Pascuzzi, is overpopulated with both characters and homilies. The catalyst is the suicide of Danny Turner (Peter Facinelli), who drives his SUV off a cliff while simultaneously shooting himself in the head with a shotgun. His death is only the conclusion of a bloody night since his wife Rachel (Cynthia Evans) and one of their two sons were also murdered in their home. The tragedy naturally shocks those who were close to the family, most notably Danny’s brother Tony (Kyle Lowder) and the dead couple’s closest friends, Mitch and Carolyn Bianci (Eric Dane and Teri Polo).
Carolyn is utterly crushed, and Mitch is obsessed with finding out the truth of what happened. Initially, he and many of the others close to the Turners suspect that the murders were committed by Logan Vanda (Stephen Louis Grush), an employee whom Danny had recently fired. But the detective in charge of the investigation (Byron Mann) explains that Vanda was not the perpetrator, but a pawn in Danny’s plan to kill his family.
The film plods through all sorts of heated conversations by the principals and other characters so numerous that many of them remain ciphers in the disorderly plot, as well as numerous flashbacks. One centers on a housebreaking that Danny and Tony (played by Kelby Robertson and Sam Evans, respectively) were involved in during their high school years. It resulted in the brutalization of the son of the owner (Billy Slaughter) who forgave them as they languished in prison as the result of an intervention by an elderly black woman, Joanna Larson (Leslie Uggams).
Joanna appears periodically to nudge characters in the right direction; she is the person who also ultimately reveals to Mitch and Carolyn what actually happened on that fateful night. She is also blessed with special abilities to peer into the present and future, observing the struggle between the forces of good and evil in the decisions made by individuals. Through this character, The Ravine preaches extreme forgiveness while examining the relationship between free will and providence—in other words, the difficult doctrine of predestination. The picture’s stunningly simple statement of that theological concept may be comforting to some viewers but is unlikely to satisfy any viewers who aren’t already members of the choir.
The cast includes some good actors, the film is technically proficient, and while melodramatic the presentation is certainly earnest. But like many faith-based movies, The Ravine is overflowing with sincerity but lacking in virtually every other department. While suitable for extensive library collections of religious titles, it is not a necessary purchase.