Plot summary of "What Josiah Saw".
It plays on some pretty heavy subjects, including child abuse and domestic murder, and is therefore not an easy watch.
The film follows the Graham family - patriarch Josiah and his three grown children, Tommy, Eli and Mary. At the end of this disturbing tale of terror, a family is reunited after years of separation. Their meeting does not end well.
What happens in Chapter 1?
Chapter 1 is titled The Nightmare of Willow Lane. This is where we meet Josiah and Tommy at the family farm. We learn that Josiah has seen his wife Miriam, who died years ago by suicide, and he believes that she is "burning in the fires of hell." He tells him that if they do not correct their mistakes and make amends with God, he and his family will burn in hell.
What are these errors?
Well, sinister things happened on that farm and these are revealed to us as the film progresses. Josiah's wife witnessed a sinful incident and decided to kill herself.
In this chapter, it becomes clear that Josiah's relationship with Tommy is unhealthy. To clear Tommy's head of guilt, Josiah forces his son to masturbate in front of him. "God is watching you now. Get over it and get it over with,” he says to a visibly worried Tommy, who doesn't agree with his father's request.
Outside of the events at the farmhouse, we also meet a representative of an oil company. He plans to buy homes in the area, including the Graham farm. This is the catalyst for the family reunion later in the film.
What happens in chapter 2?
Chapter 2 is titled Eli and the Gypsies. In this chapter, we meet Eli, who was briefly mentioned by his father in the last chapter.
Eli lives in an RV and is under police surveillance after recently having with a minor. Eli says his crime was premeditated - he thought he was older than he said - but a visiting police officer who questions him about the missing young girl dismisses this.
Eli visits a local bar where he owes Boon, a local town gangster, some money. Eli is asked to steal gold from visiting gypsies to pay off his debt. He is joined by two men working for Boon, Billy and Logan, who are tasked with stealing the gold while Eli distracts the gypsy women.
When he arrives, he greets the men and they win the sympathy of the gypsies. While Billy and Logan go looking for gold, Eli befriends one of the women. He is then introduced to a fortune teller who tells him that he will die soon!
This ominous warning almost comes true when Gypsy realizes that the men are here for the gold.
Eli manages to escape from the gypsies before being killed and makes a shocking discovery: they have the missing girl. He saves her and runs away.
He then returns to Boo and gives him the gold. Boon is delighted with his prize, but dies of a heart attack after touching the gold. Is it related to the gypsies cursing the treasure? It may be.
Eli hands the girl over to the town sheriff and tells her to "get away from here."
At the end of the chapter, Eli goes to the RV where he finds a letter detailing the oil company's offer to buy the farmhouse.
What happens in chapter 3?
Chapter 3 is titled 'Mary May I'. The chapter opens with Mary and her husband Ross. We learn that she hopes to adopt and has previously undergone a sterile operation to remove her ability to have children. She has now changed her mind about having children and believes that adoption will give her the opportunity to love someone.
We also learn that Mary is mentally ill and takes Ketamine for her mental disorder. Later we see him stab himself, but thankfully it's just a nightmare.
Eli shows up at her house and tells her about his offer to buy the farmhouse. All three of Graham's children must sign the contract so he can ask Tommy to come to the farm to talk to him.
Mary is reluctant to go back at first, so Eli reminds her of the game they played as children - Mary May I - that she had to do what was required no matter what. Mary tells Eli that she wants to go back anyway to see the farmhouse gone forever.
Despite the interaction between Josiah and Tommy earlier in the film, we learn that Josiah is dead. Traumatized, Tommy still has visions of his father, although it is possible that his father is actually a ghost.
Tommy talks to his father, much to Eli and Mary's surprise. They remind him of their father's death and that they killed the man when they were all children. They killed him because of the oppression they saw at their hands.
For Eli and Tommy, the abuse was physical (although the scene in chapter 1 with Tommy and Josiah suggests it may have been as well), and for Mary, the abuse was allegedly.
The cause of the mother's death, according to Eli, was the baby that Josiah and her daughter gave birth to together. Apparently it was Josiah's fault, though Josiah's vision/spirit is outraged at the suggestion.
Tommy does not believe this version of events. According to her, the baby is not Josiah's. This brings us to the sin of Eli and Mary. Tommy believes that Mary got pregnant because of Eli having with her. According to his belief, they are the reason why his mother killed herself.
Who was the father of the baby?
It is safe to assume that Tommy is telling the truth and that the baby is Eli's. We can believe this because there is a flashback scene near the end of the movie that shows Eli and Mary having in a motel room. It is likely that Eli seduced Maryam when she was young during the play 'Maryam I May'. This led to pregnancy, and is probably the reason why Mary underwent a sterile operation to eliminate the possibility of another child from intercourse.
The baby is later killed, and according to Tommy, it was Eli and Mary who killed the child, presumably to remove evidence of their misdeeds. The body was buried outside with Josiah's, but Tommy later brought the bodies inside and hid the remains in the trunk.
Things get a little crazy when Eli discovers what Tommy has been up to and confronts him.
Whose sins have been paid in full?
Outside the farmhouse, a tree burns with holy fire. The inscription "Eli and Maryam's sins have been paid in full" is written on it.
This is further proof that Tommy is not crazy at all. It appears that it was Eli, not Josiah, who had relationship with Mary, although this does not rule out the possibility that Josiah was abusive to all of them.
What does "sins are paid in full" mean?
In Christian theology, Jesus paid the full price for our sins when he died on the cross.
It's hard to say how this relates to the movie. However, it can be assumed that the sins of Mary and Eli were paid in full when they faced the truth and died in Tommy's hands. It can also be assumed that Miriam's sin (suicide) was paid in full when her children's sins were revealed. This could mean that his soul (and perhaps theirs) is now saved and saved from hellfire because their wrongs have been "corrected" and things have been "made right with God".
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