Andrew Baird’s occult film, Sunrise, revolves around an immigrant family’s struggle for survival in America. The family’s savior, Falcon, holds a terrible grudge against the tormentor and makes him pay for his misdeeds. The macabre nature of the film can be compared to occult films like The Ritual and Apostle. The cast of the movie includes Guy Pearce and Alex Pettyfer. What is the concept of The Red Coat? Will Fallon be able to teach Reynolds a good lesson? Will Mrs. Loi and her children attain justice? Let’s find out!
Spoilers Ahead
What Happened To The Loi Family?
Reynolds, a staunch nationalist American, has been portrayed as extremely racist and is seen getting into a conflict with a peasant, Mr. Loi. Reynolds told Mr. Loi (a mongoloid) that since he was not the same race as him, he did not have a right to own land in America. Reynolds believed that only the original inhabitants of the land were capable of holding a piece of land. He had been forcing Mr. Loi to give up his piece of land to him, but when Mr. Loi refused to do so, he was murdered. The racial prejudice is so strong that Reynolds couldn’t take no for an answer from an Asian man.
Meanwhile, Mr. Loi’s family had been struggling to make ends meet since his disappearance. They knew that Reynolds had murdered the breadwinner of their family but did not have any strong evidence to prove his crime. Mr. Loi’s son, Edward, was also seen to be bullied at school for having a different origin than the rest. The intolerance of the white-skinned towards the other races rings throughout the film. When the family was least expecting any help from anywhere, Fallon came into their lives to help them attain stability.
Edward found a vagrant in the backyard of their house and thought that he could be Reynolds’ man. He injured the man, but Yan was compassionate enough to keep him in her house for a while to make sure that he would get better. They kept Fallon locked in a room, and after a few days, when he started getting better, he told Edward that he needed fresh blood. This made it possible that Fallon was the actual Red Coat, who had come to their house in disguise, to rid them of their woes.
Why Was Fallon’s Family Killed?
It was later revealed that Fallon was a cop 10 years ago and was on bad terms with Reynolds. Once, when Reynolds’ neighbor heard his wife screaming, he complained to Fallon, anticipating that Reynold could have hurt her. We get a hint that Reynolds has an incestuous relationship with his mother when he kisses her, and that has driven him to kill his own wife. When Fallon started investigating this case, Reynolds planned something ominous to stop the investigation. Reynolds’ men dragged Fallon and his wife out of their house in the middle of the night, tied them to a tree, and left them to die there at the hands of the ‘Red Coat’.
When the ‘Red Coat’ finally arrived, it accepted Fallon’s wife as an offering but left Fallon. On the contrary, the entity slit its own hand and made Fallon drink its blood to impart some of its energy to him. It is possible that the entity had seen fear in his wife’s eyes and had fed off of it, while Fallon’s fearless eyes caused it to reject him as an offering. Being unable to bear the pain of losing his wife, Fallon had come back to avenge his loss. He would now help the Loi family get justice so that another Reynolds would not be able to uproot a family just based on their race.
Why Did Reynolds Attack Yan And Her Children?
Reynolds was hell-bent on snatching away that land owned by the Loi family. The family knew that he was the real killer of Mr. Loi but was unable to prove it. Reynolds knew that they would threaten his existence someday, so he decided to get rid of them. When he realized that the family had been providing shelter to his old enemy, Fallon, he was furious. He tried threatening them by killing their pet dog first. He tried to attack Fallon, but he bit him, making him lose his sanity. It is possible that Fallon had some kind of infection running through his body after he drank the blood of the ‘Red Coat’.
During Sunrise‘s ending, Reynolds sent one of his men to kill Edward, but while trying to save him, Reynolds’ daughter, Rachel, was killed. On hearing the news of his daughter’s death, Reynolds lost his mind, kidnapped the Loi family, and took them to his factory. When he was about to butcher the entire family, Fallon jumped in, stabbing Reynolds and injuring him. He dragged Reynolds underneath the tree where his wife was killed and burned him alive.
What Are The Symbolic Elements In The Film?
Sunrise revolves around a fictitious element of the religious faiths of the people from the Pacific Northwest forests. They believed that the forest was a sanctuary for a divine entity who protected the forest from evil eyes. It was also said that in the forest, God would also grant an eternal life to anyone who would make animal sacrifices and offer their blood. The blood of the offerings was said to nourish the powers of the divine creature, and it was often referred to as the ‘Red Coat’ by the local people. The entity was said to feed on the fear of the victims.
Antelopes have been a significant symbol in the film, which highlights the spiritual element and is part of African beliefs. The antelopes are believed to be symbols of freedom, which is able to find its path even through harsh terrains. When Mr. Loi’s body is found in the end, the antelope signifies a path of freedom for Mr. Loi to transcend above the physical world and depart freely into a spiritual world. The justice that the family had been waiting for had been finally served, helping Mr. Loi attain moksha.
What Will Happen Next?
Even though Fallon is seen to burn along with Reynolds in the last scene, it is possible that he would resurrect. He had gained divine powers after drinking the blood of the ‘Red Coat’. The other members of the Loi family will now be able to survive in peace after Reynolds’ death. However, we can expect a sequel to the film, where the family would face new challenges from other enemies. It was a bit disheartening that the film didn’t portray a love affair between Fallon and Yan. If a sequel is made, there is almost a 100 percent guarantee that the two will be seen getting attracted to each other. Then Fallon would upturn the world to keep his new family safe, as he had not been able to save his wife earlier.
Final Words
The film has a lot of elements that could have made it a blockbuster in the occult genre. However, the inability to structure the element systematically caused a bit of a mess. The motives of the character have been half-explored, and the climax has not been developed well. A further elaboration of the supernatural elements could have also added more layers to the film. Just when we expect a divine intervention, the film has already ended by that time! A little stretch to the story would not have harmed, but would have added more details to the plot. However, the elements of macabre, such as dead animals, bloodshed, and gore, add to the element of horror in the film. However, a lot of occult films are seen to have quite abrupt endings, but this film is different, as there is a close-knit ending. The Loi family is eventually led to the grave of their father, and they eventually attain their inner peace after their assailant meets his horrific end.
