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Killing Faith

Name: Killing Faith
Director: Ned Crowley
Released: 2025
Duration: 108 min

Representation Score

8.6/10

Excellent

2025

Director

Ned Crowley

Runtime

108 minutes

Average Rating

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New Showbiz Analysis

Killing Faith aims to deconstruct the traditional Western genre by shifting the focus from conquest narratives to a character-driven journey set in the 1850s. By placing a Black woman as the primary protagonist, the film moves away from exclusionary frontier myths toward a more inclusive perspective. The film's strength lies in its use of supernatural elements to explore social tensions. The central conflict between medical science and spiritual belief provides a platform to examine societal perceptions of illness and difference. However, the film remains limited in its representation of LGBTQ+ identities. While it effectively challenges racial and gendered power dynamics, it does not provide specific markers for non-straight-centered characters.

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Category Breakdown

Does Killing Faith have LGBTQ+ representation?

Fair

The film does not explicitly depict LGBTQ+ identities or relationships outside of heterosexual norms. The narrative focuses on the interactions between the physician, the freed woman, and the child.

How does Killing Faith portray gender?

Good

The story challenges traditional gender hierarchies by emphasizing the ability to act of a recently freed woman. This shifts the power dynamic from patriarchal leadership to a maternal struggle.

How racially and ethnically diverse is Killing Faith?

Excellent

The film avoids the typical 'white frontier' cliché by casting a Black woman as the main character. This presents a complex view of the 1850s landscape.

How does Killing Faith represent religion and culture?

Good

The narrative explores moral relativism by contrasting scientific empiricism with spiritual beliefs. It critiques systemic oppression through the lens of survival and identity in the violent West.

Does Killing Faith include disability representation?

Fair

A child whose touch causes death serves as a metaphor for catastrophic illness. The conflict between medical and spiritual interpretations examines how society handles those perceived as 'other.'

Present on Screen

Strong racial diversity through the central role of a Black woman in a period setting.
Effective challenge of Western clichés by prioritizing women's ability to drive the story and maternal struggle.
Nuanced exploration of how society perceives illness and 'otherness' through its central conceit.

Limited or Absent

Lack of explicit representation for LGBTQ+ identities or relationships.
Limited scope of character diversity beyond the central triad.

Official Synopsis

In the summer of 1859, a widowed physician reluctantly agrees to take a recently freed slave and her mysterious Caucasian daughter on a five-day journey through the bloody West to find a distant town's Faith Healer. The woman believes her daughter is possessed. The doctor believes she simply carries The Sickness. Either way the fact remains that every living thing the girl touches mysteriously dies.

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