Deliver Us From Eden

Corky Dodds, a rattlesnake wrangler in his early fifties, is overconfident, egotistical, and hyper-masculine, and the most powerful person in the small West Texas town of Eden's Lair. He is the organizer and undisputed king of the town's singular claim to fame, the Eden's Lair Rattlesnake Roundup, an event that provides the backdrop for a tale of tyranny, misogyny, incest, and redemption. Corky says, "we're just trying to control the species," but evidence abounds that the Roundup functions as more of a psychological than a physical purging of an imagined threat inspired by the Biblical story of Adam and Eve. Corky's son Valjean is Eden's Lair's only resident who questions the motives of the Roundup. Rose McCleary is a Dallas transplant and fourth-grade school teacher living in Eden's Lair, and Rose and Valjean develop deep feelings for each other. Valjean's devotion to Rose, and concern for his abused sister Darlynn, creates a son-against-father conflict that climaxes when Valjean rejects both his father and his environment, putting Rose in a life-or-death situation. During weekend rattlesnake roundup events, as the snakes are waking up from their winter brumation (the extreme slowing down of metabolism), thousands of rattlesnakes are hunted and captured. Men in paramilitary attire, who in everyday life are ranchers and business owners, transform into mythic heroes armed with snake hooks, trash cans, and gas canisters. They collectively storm local snake dens, spraying gas into their hiding places to force the hapless, torpid snakes into the open air. The captured snakes are deposited in holding bins, later to be milked, butchered, skinned, and eaten, and this elaborate ritual is inspired by the notion that snakes are a deadly threat. The rattlesnake roundup in Deliver Us From Eden expresses its distortions in the characters that populate the screenplay, such as Kundoo, the story's mystic and convenience store manager; Dr. Ennis, the corrupt town physician; Junior Snake Wranglers Chuck and Steve; Richard, Rose's husband whom she left behind in Dallas; and Bob, the Master of Ceremonies for the Miss Snake Charmer contest. Deliver Us From Eden explores the evidence that abounds that roundups are more of a psychological than a physical purging, are a ritual reinforcement of traditional roles, and a murderous paradigm for the superstitious link between snakes, women, and evil. Perhaps it is more than snakes that the Eden's Lair Roundup purports to control, and Deliver Us From Eden explicates this theme.