“Now too late, he understood her. The heart that pumped out love, the mouth that spoke the Word, didn’t count.”
--Toni Morrison, “Beloved”
Part documentary, part visual manifesto, Now promise now threat uses Omaha, Nebraska (population 390,000, literally located in the middle of the U.S.) as a site and subject to follow the often unexpected lines connecting people, religion and politics in “red state” America. An evangelical pastor opposes the mixing of church and state on religious grounds. An anti-abortion mother deplores the hypocrisy of the pro-life movement for being pro-war. A young man wants to die for his country so he can--at last--have a life worthy of living. Now promise now threat mixes interviews with locally produced footage and kidnapping videos from Iraq transformed into fields of undulating color to create a moving “apologia” for the united red states of America.
This title is also available on Tin Drum Trilogy.