A Prayer For the Dying

In 1870 Wisconsin, Civil War veteran and town sheriff Jacob Hansen is confronted by a deadly epidemic just as wildfires close in on his isolated community.

A haunting, feverish vision of the American frontier, A Prayer for the Dying transforms a small Wisconsin settlement into a pressure cooker of disease, fire and buried trauma. Johnny Flynn plays Jacob Hansen, a Civil War veteran serving as the town’s sheriff, pastor and undertaker, whose fragile grip on faith begins to fracture when diphtheria reaches the community. Opposite him, the great John C. Reilly brings a wonderfully restrained gravity to Doc, the pragmatic physician forced to confront the epidemic with science rather than prayer.

Dara Van Dusen’s striking debut unfolds less like a conventional Western than a slow-burning fever dream.

Disease, wildfire and wartime guilt become entwined in a story steeped in apocalyptic dread, while Beata Hlavenková’s pulsing score keeps the tension simmering.

The devilishly beautiful images of award-winning Irish cinematographer Kate McCullough (The Quiet Girl) are instrumental to the film’s atmosphere and unique identity: a Western haunted by ghosts both personal and collective.

On Saturday 14 November, director Dara Van Dusen will be in attendance and participate in a Q&A.