'Overnighters' shows altruism's heavy burden.

• Author: Long, Jeffrey
• Position: Living

Byline: Jeffrey Long

'The Overnighters'

Distributed by Drafthouse Films

Rating: PG-13 for mature thematic material and brief strong language

Running time: 1 hour, 42 minutes

"The Overnighters'' fits into the small niche of well-crafted films that focus upon -- sometimes painfully, but always enlighteningly -- the plight of the shunned and ostracized. Examples include "Voyage of the Damned'' (1976), "The Front'' (1976) and "A Somewhat Gentle Man'' (2011).

Set on the high plains of North Dakota, this documentary also carries something of the regional flavor of that noted Western about exiles, "The Outcasts of Poker Flat'' (1952). But in the present film, we are situated in the 21st century, and the number of shunned individuals is in the thousands. They are men who have traveled great distances, only to be given the cold shoulder upon their arrival in the so-called Peace Garden State.

The lure of flush times in the oil shale industry has drawn them to the town of Williston. They are often seen by locals as black sheep (many of them ex-convicts or registered sex offenders), who are looking for a living wage, cheap meals and a place to sleep. They may not yet spend their nights in barns or stalls, but what is clear is that their lives have stalled.

Enter Jay Reinke, a pastor who has made it his self-appointed mission to help these drifters to find accommodations and begin to reinvent themselves. Nearly as soon as they get off buses or park their campers, these men head to Concordia Lutheran Church, where Pastor Jay awaits.

We seem to accompany this determined man everywhere on his daily rounds. We are there in the early morning, when he cheerily raps on the door of a makeshift bedroom in his church, to rouse a dispirited man to get up and face another day. We are present at a group counselling session, where Jay advises wounded men to turn the other cheek, if they are rudely confronted by natives of Williston.

Not everyone shares Jay's tireless Good Samaritan passion. Results have been mixed in his efforts to assimilate these strangers into the community...