He Took My Licking

The film is based on a story that has circulated in church circles for some time, often under the title "The Whipping." The author is unknown. The story is essentially a Christian allegory about the intercession of Christ. The video draws other lessons from the story as well, providing examples of sacrifice, honor, honesty and charity.

This is a very low-budget production. The sound and video are not up to commercial feature film standards. The video is made for educational purposes, and was not intended to compete on the film festival circuit.

Despite these limitations, this is a worthwhile, quite watchable production. The film is largely about children, and is based on a clearly religious story, but this is not "fluff." The video features some rather daring plot points, including two jarring but tactfully handled beatings. Along with the people I watched this with, I was visibly moved by the ending.

The video was produced and directed by Michael Mills, who has also made a video about the historic Bear River Massacre, in which federal troops slaughtered Native Americans. (A preview for that video appears at the beginning of the "He Took My Licking" video.)

Elizabeth Hansen (who wrote and starred in the Richard Dutcher-directed film "Eliza and I") co-wrote the screenplay for "He Took My Licking", along with Mills. The Director of Photography was filmmaker Kels Goodman, who previously made "Y2K, A Comedy" and is currently at the helm of the upcoming "Handcart" feature.

Unfortunately, the opening outdoor scenes in "He Took My Licking" are marred by lighting and color problems which were most noticable in the garrish-looking skin tones in a few close-ups. Things looked fine during most of the rest of the video, however.

"He Took My Licking" stars Sam Payne as the new teacher who has the unruly students in a one-room school make up their own set of rules. Given the resemblance in appearance, voice, and delivery I assume that he is the son of veteran Utah actor Marvin Payne. Sam Payne is quite effective, and is clearly a talented actor.

Mills obtained good performances from his mostly child cast. Not exceptional, but not embarrassing. Most of the parts are too small to evaluate. But Brandon West stands out as an actor who either has very good instincts, or received very good direction. He plays the part of "Big Tom," the bully, but makes his character three-dimensional, never lapsing into caricature or melodrama. Preston Ewell's character is central to the story, but he has very few lines and he is often obscured by shadows, a sensible choice given the character's cipher-like nature.

"He Took My Licking" is simply and earnestly made. It will not be considered an art film, but that isn't what it is trying to be. The original story has been enhanced with some unexpected but highly effective additions which provide background insight about key characters. The color, sound and acting are not perfect, but nothing in the video detracts from what ends up being a straightforward and very powerful enactment.

Cast

Crew

Post Production