The Sin Eater
| The Order | |
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| Directed by | Brian Helgeland |
| Produced by |
Craig Baumgarten Brian Helgeland |
| Written by | Brian Helgeland |
| Starring |
Heath Ledger Shannyn Sossamon Benno Fürmann Mark Addy Peter Weller |
| Music by | David Torn |
| Cinematography | Nicola Pecorini |
| Edited by | Kevin Stitt |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
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Release date
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Running time
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102 minutes |
| Country | Germany United States |
| Language |
Syriac Aramaic English Italian |
| Budget | $35 million |
| Box office | $11,560,806 |
The Order, also known as The Sin Eater, is a 2003 mystery horror film written and directed by Brian Helgeland, starring Heath Ledger, Benno Fürmann, Mark Addy, and Shannyn Sossamon. Helgeland directed Ledger, Addy and Sossamon in the 2001 film A Knight's Tale.
The film revolves around the investigation of the suspicious death of an excommunicated priest and the discovery of a Sin Eater headquartered in Rome.
The film's premise is that there is another way to heaven than adherence to the practices of the Roman Catholic Church. A secular Sin Eater can remove all taint of sin, no matter how foul, from the soul just before death. The purified soul can then ascend into heaven. The Roman Catholic Church, according to the film, considers this heresy.
Heath Ledger plays an unhappy and disillusioned priest, Alex Bernier, a member of a fictitious religious order The Carolingians which specializes in fighting demons and other hell spawn. Father Dominic, the head of the Carolingians, has died in Rome under suspicious circumstances and Alex leaves the United States to investigate. In Rome, Alex visits the morgue and sees strange markings on Dominic's corpse. After some investigation, he comes across a book that explains the markings as being the sign of a Sin Eater's work. He heads to the Vatican, where an official tells him that Sin Eaters don't exist and that Dominic may not be buried on sacred ground because he had been excommunicated for his beliefs. Alex, moving ever farther from his vocation, defies his superiors and secretly reads a holy service over the body and buries Dominic in the Carolingian cemetery (the service takes place off screen but is referred to later).
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