Warning... May have some spoilers in here.
So I found a love/hate relationship with this movie. The fact that it was slow didn't bother at all. It actually kept my interest all the way through. At first I thought the religious undertones were a little heavy, but religious in nature or not it was still good.
Seems like it was all about balance. Think about it, you have a woman so you need a man. Check. You have a white person so you need a person of a different race. Check. You have your down home country people who are smart enough to hunt and grow crops but not smart enough to get gas or electricity, so you need a smart guy. Check. You have a religious person, so you need a non-relogiouos person. Check. You have love, so you need hate. Check.
The entire movie was one big metaphor for trying to find balance when things are so unstable.
I think there were a lot of religious elements hidden in here. Like the fact that all three of the characters had biblical names.
In the Bible, Anna was a prophetess. John was an apostle entrusted by Jesus to protect Mary (which you could say is Anna), and Caleb was a spy.
I'm not religious, so interpret that information as you will, but the roles kind of fit the characters.
The last semblence of a religious statement that irks me a little is why the atheist can't just be left alone. At the end of the movie the last thing you see if John going into what looks like a makeshift little church in their barn where Anna is playing her father's Organ. He sits down at what appears to be a pew salvaged from the old church and then cups his hands and bows his head as if he's praying. Or was he just listening to the music?
But still. Good movie if you don't mind the many possible interpretations.