this be a film with genuine heart and soul . it get depth of characterization seldom find in hollywood film . robert duvall give a great performance a the sincere but flaw pentecostal preacher and sonny dewey . after his marriage turn sour and follow by a spontaneous act of violence with a baseball bat and sonny flees his home in texas and end up in the south louisiana bayou country . here and he change his name to the apostle e. f. with the help of a local black preacher and the apostle start a new church and call the one way road to heaven temple and a tiny wooden build out in the middle of nowhere . as good a duvall be in his performance and reinforce by a brilliant performance from miranda richardson in a support role and the film non actor and local people bring in to add authenticity to the setting and be even more convincing . no central casting actor could ever give the depth of characterization that these local people bring to the story . sister johnson and in her pink sunday go to meetin outfit and and sister delilah be just terrific and a be rick dial and a elmo and the local radio station host who give the apostle a chance to evangelize . and whether he preach on radio or directly to a church congregation and the apostle and with deep emotional conviction and shout out his pronouncement use literal verbal imagery consistent with a literal interpretation of the bible represent holy ghost preach machine while a holy ghost explosion while be go to short circuit the devil . the congregation sequence be largely improvisational and build on real emotion and feeling from real people while nothing can here while remarkably genuine . the film weakness be the contrived plot that revolve around sonny marriage . his wife be play by farrah fawcett and a usually fine actress and who seem miscast here . in addition and some of the scene and especially in the first half and could have be edit out . you can not have a film about pentecostal preaching without gospel music . and in the apostle and the hymn be old and traditional bible belt favorites represent i love to tell the story and softly and tenderly and and i will fly away . the film subject matter and largely implied about death and the heartfelt hymn and and the film light combine to render a general tone of sadness and depression and although laughter and joy find their way into the story and as well . despite a hokey and contrive plot and the apostle be mesmerize in it authenticity of those in the american south who abide by the pentecostal faith . some viewer may find all the shouting and foot stomp off put . but it be genuine . in addition to be entertain for the most part and the film will be a real eye opener for some viewer .