Veteran filmmaker Paul Schrader’s latest film, “First Reformed”, is clearly a very personal statement. While dramatically bumpy, it is an ultimately persuasive story of a Christian reverand’s crisis of faith in a world seemingly intent on destroying itself. Ethan Hawke gives a fully committed performance – certainly a career peak – that firmly holds an audience’s sympathy throughout, despite the film’s often agonizingly slow pace.

Hawke plays Ernst Toller, the reverend of a small church in upstate New York, with barely a dozen parishioners. Dating from the Revolutionary War, it is skimpily funded by a prosperous evangelical church that is itself funded by the Balq company, which is an active polluter. Toller is depressed and feels personal guilt over the death of his son, a soldier killed in Iraq, which subsequently led to the breakup of his marriage. He also may be seriously ill, but is in denial over his symptoms. The film opens with him starting a journal in which he will privately express his growing doubts about his faith. One day Mary, a young pregnant woman played by Amanda Seyfried, seeks out Toller for help. She tells him that her husband, Michael, is increasingly depressed over climate change, and is enraged by the pollution caused by greedy profiteers like the Balq company. He believes it is wrong to bring an innocent child into such a world, but agrees to meet with Toller for counseling.

But in spite of the efforts of Toller and Mary, the young man commits suicide. Mary stays determined to have his baby, however, and increasingly seeks Toller’s guidance and support during her pregnancy. Their relationship deepens, and Toller seems to find new purpose from it. He eventually sees a doctor about his symptoms, and agrees to further tests. However, while examining Michael’s research on his computer, he sees how much of Michael’s despair was related to the Balq Company’s increasingly toxic production methods. When he discovers that Michael had even contemplated a public martyrdom in protest, which his suicide prevented, he finds himself alarmingly attracted to the act, both as a statement against pollution, and from a sense of duty to preserving God’s creation.

Toller is also anxious about the upcoming anniversary of First Reformed, its 350th, which the evangelical leader, Pastor Jeffers, played by Cedric Kyles, and the owner of the Balq company plan to be a huge promotional event. Balq’s owner expresses his doubts about Toller to Jeffers after he sees a newscast in which he assisted Mary in a public denunciation of Balq, which had been Michael’s  last request. Jeffers summons Toller to a meeting to be reassured of his obedience. Jeffers mentions that Toller’s drinking has gotten out of control, and that he seems to be in poor health. But Jeffers is mostly worried that he may be looking to find some meaning in his ruined life by making a public “statement” at the anniversary ceremony, possibly one involving violence.

There is a great deal of suspense generated before the film’s abrupt, but dramatically satisfying conclusion. Toller is a character with human flaws and very erratic judgment, but the story is constructed in such a way as to make us care about him. True, there are elements that can be considered pre-fab for generating sympathy. Toller is presented as a modest, guilt-ridden man who may be seriously ill. His moral enemy is shown as a corrupt megachurch hierarchy that worships money and political influence more than God, and that supports dangerous polluters who may be destroying the planet.

And yet, stacked deck or not, the film is affecting because of the quality of the performances and Schrader’s very focused, unfussy direction. But the biggest credit must go to Hawke, who takes us more deeply into his character than I’ve ever seen from him before. Hawke’s hardest work was to hide his natural charm and exuberance. Toller is a grim, tortured man, almost paralyzed by guilt, but with a deeply personal commitment to justice. Also deep are the feelings aroused by the beautiful young woman who craves his support after her husband’s suicide. While his guilt over his son’s death still holds him back from new relationships – as we see in his cruel rejection of Esther, the choir director who cares about him – he does not reject overtures from Mary. In the film’s one ludicrous misstep, he lets her lie on top of him, while both stay fully clothed, in a game she’d played with her husband. Called the “Magical Mystery Tour”, it none too subtly prefigures Toller’s crucial act in the final scene.

While there are some plot contrivances – and Michael never seems a believable character – the film wins us over because of Schrader’s sincerity and passion. And he lucked out, in a way, because I can’t think of any other actor who’d have given a greater commitment to his vision than Ethan Hawke.