One Bad Cat: The Rev. Albert Wagner Story

Title: One Bad Cat: The Reverend Albert Wagner Story

Director: Thomas G. Miller

Producer: Nancy Dickenson (Exec.), Thomas G. Miller, M.R. Stiff (Co)

Screenwriter: Thomas G. Miller, M.R. Stiff

Cinema: Shana Hagen

Editor: Thomas G. Miller, M.R. Stiff

Music: Miriam Cutler

Year: 2007 (80 minutes)

Synopsis: One Bad Cat is the provocative telling of the provocative story of Reverend Albert Wagner and his continuous journey for self-redemption from his past exploits. While constantly struggling with his own demons, Albert seeks to change the condition of the Black experience in the United States by using his ministry and his art as tools to reach the Black community. He hopes to encourage African-Americans to live up to their potential without focusing on past racial injustices. Through the use of intimate verite scenes and candid interviews of Albert, his family members, and art patrons, this documentary explores whether a driving passion coupled with a divine intervention can really redeem a man with many past indiscretions. Further, the film explores Albert’s past of growing up in a segregated south and how those experiences shape his often controversial messages and “lessons” on race and religion. By examining the community that purchases “visionary” or “outsider” art, One Bad Cat investigates how racism in America has not only affected one man, but how it continues to affect our society at large. Punctuating the films are Albert’s paintings and sculptures, which illustrate not only scenes from Albert’s history, but lend a unique lens to how he views the world.

Review: Some people are hard to like. Rev Albert Wagner is one of those people. For 50 year, Wagner lived a life of over indulgence in alcohol and sexual promiscuity. He fathered 20 children with three different women and treated his wife, his girlfriends, and his family with near complete disregard. All of these sins can be forgiven, but he also molested a young girl; the daughter of one of his mistresses. I can forgive a lot of sins, but child molestation is not one of them.

Forgiving his own sins was also one of Wagner’s problems. At the age of 50, Wagner sat in a basement apartment and reflected on the half-century he had wasted and the pain he had inflicted. Wagner picked up a piece of wood he found lying on his floor and started painting. For the next 30+ years, he continued to paint as a way to exorcise his demons and atone for his past sins. The film chronicles Wagner’s past, his religious conversion, and the art work that consumed him. It also speaks to issues of racism, self-respect, self-responsibility, redemption, and the “outsider” art movement.

In the end, I couldn’t completely forgive Wagner his past sins, but I did come to better understand his troubled life and his unorthodox attempt at redemption. I also came to like the film very much.

(3.5 out of 5.0)