(RNS) — At first glance, the story of 18th-century Shaker founder Ann Lee may not seem like an intuitive choice for a movie musical.
The religious movement leader’s life was punctuated by harrowing moments, from enduring the death of her four infant children to facing violent mobs who condemned her as a heretic. And while plenty of musicals dabble in religion, the genre isn’t known for taking religious subject matter seriously.
But the new film “The Testament of Ann Lee” — which comes to select theaters on Christmas Day (Dec. 25) — manages to depict sincere religious fervor without mocking it and to embrace music and dance without appearing contrived. After all, ecstatic worship was part of what earned the Shakers — known in the movement’s early days for “shaking off” their sin through ecstatic dance — their name.
In many ways, it’s the apparent contradictions that make the movie memorable. It’s a musical, but it’s also a historical drama. It depicts a woman who fiercely spearheaded a religious movement, but whose understanding of liberation is at odds with many modern definitions; Lee was consumed by the idea of sin and sexual purity.
Those tensions are deftly depicted by Amanda Seyfried. The actress has taken on film musicals before, but “Ann Lee” is an entirely different project than “Mamma Mia” or “Les Misérables.”
For Seyfried, who has said she is not religious, Lee’s story isn’t about the e …