The Testament of Ann Lee features a powerhouse performance by Amanda Seyfried as Ann Lee, one of the spiritual leaders of the Shaker movement. She became known as Mother Ann and was recognized as the second coming of Jesus.

The Testament of Ann Lee was one of the strongest and most moving films of the year. It’s out of theaters and streaming on Hulu. Most people describe it as a musical, but I thought of it as a folk opera. An opera about religion and religious mania.

I didn’t know anything about Shakers except for their furniture, so I did a little studying after I watched the film. (Okay, I read Wikipedia.) Everything in this amazing story is based on fact.

The Shakers are an offshoot of the Quakers. They believed in celibacy, pacifism, and equality of the sexes and races. They thought god was both male and female and that the second coming of Jesus would be a woman. Ann Lee believed she was that woman and she gathered thousands of believers around her who shared her belief.

Shakers worshipped with singing and dance. The dances involved ecstatic repeated motions and repetitious lyrics. I’m sure the motions meant something in relation to prayer or supplication, but they weren’t explained in the film. What we saw were people singing, dancing and sweating their way through hours of hypnotic religious movements as they sought God and grace. Watching it, I thought of Native Americans dancing for hours around a campfire to the beat of drums and repeated songs.

Ann Lee was born in England in 1736. She and her brother William (Lewis Pullman as an adult) were inseparable. In 1774, Ann and William and took several of their followers with them to America. Among them were Ann’s niece Nancy (Viola Prettejohn) and a faithful friend, Mary (Thomasin McKenzie). They began preaching and building settlements all over New England and some southern states.

Ann was persecuted in England, and again in the U.S. She and William were imprisoned by the Continental Army for refusing to participate in the war and beaten by a mob of angry farmers who thought she was a witch.

What Ann Lee did was amazing. She established a religion with thousands of followers, oversaw the building of entire communities of industrious and pious people. Through it all she preached of love, equality, and peace.

The Shakers ideas about love, equality, and peace make this historical journey through a true story particularly relevant. Love, equality, and peace are threatened in a multitude of ways each day by the current administration, even as our leaders describe themselves as Christian. Some of the things Ann Lee says could come out of a contemporary woman’s mouth in talking about today’s political climate.

Mona Fastvold directed The Testament of Ann Lee. It is a mesmerizing work of art. The songs, the dances, the incredible performance by Amanda Seyfried and the masterful direction all add to up make it one of the year’s best films.

If you waited for this one it hit a streamer, now’s your chance. Watch it on Hulu. I’d love to hear how you felt about it after you see it.