6/10
Lost In The Vines
22 January 2007
Warning: Spoilers
**SPOILERS** A bit overdone jungle soap opera has pretty blond Kansas medical missionary Rachel Cade, Angie Dickerson, traveling to darkest Africa at the start of WWII to save the local natives from both disease and ignorance of the miracles of modern medicine. Getting a job in the Belgian Congo, by the local Belgain authorities running the country, to save both lives as well as souls Rachel has a stroke of good luck, if you can call it that. Her boss Doctor Bikel,Douglas Spencer, suddenly checks out with a fatal heart attack on Rachel's first day on the job making her the head modern medicine man, or woman, at the local tribal village.

Rachel doesn't get along too well with the head witch doctor Mumango, Woody Strode, and chief Kalanuma, Juano Hernandez, who feel that she's cutting in on their business in running the town and put a hex on Rachel to get her knocked off by their Mountain God. Ignoring the threats by both Mumango & Kalamuma Rachel despite her not being a doctor or having any experience in surgery saves a local youths life by single-handed operating on him and removing his about to explode appendix.

Becoming somewhat a miracle worker among the local natives Rachel's work at the makeshift hospital starts to become too much for her as she's overwhelmed with patients and their problems many non life threatening that just about leads her to have a nervous and physical breakdown. With everything going downhill for Rachel another miracle happens. This time it's a life saving gift from the sky when a plane crashes outside the village and the only survivor just happens to be the young handsome and debonair, and future both "The Saint" and British spy James Bond, Roger Moore playing Doctor Paul Wilton. Wilton who also happens to be an American who on top of all that a volunteer pilot with the RAF in the war against Hitler's Germany.

It doesn't take long for the God fearing and prudish Rachel to fall heads over heels in love with the handsome and dashing Doctor Paul. Being unable to restrain herself Rchel has a hot and heavy affair with Paul leading her to become pregnant with his child. Paul recovered from his leg injury is given orders from the RAF to leave the Congo and go fly combat missions against the Luftwaffe back in Europe and has no idea that he knocked up Rachel. It's non other then the Belgian Congo Belgain administrator Colonel Henry Derode, Peter Finch, who's secretly in love with Rachel who later informs Paul by telegram that Rachel had given birth to his and her child a boy that she aptly named Paul Jr.

Having been given a full medical discharge from the RAF for a broken leg, that he earlier got from crashing his plane, Paul shoots right down to the Congo to get Rachel and Paul Jr to come home with him back in Boston and start a new life as a happily married family man. Rachel doesn't want to give up her work with the local natives and at the same time feels humiliated by Paul for him wanting her to lie, to compound her sin of having an out of wedlock sexual affair with him, about young Paul Jr. Paul want Rachel to say that his Paul Jr's non-existent father and Rachel's married husband was killed in the war in order to make it look like the child wasn't illegitimate. This has Rachel turn down Pauland stay behind in the Congolese village with Paul Jr doing her good work in saving the local lives and souls of the local natives.

The big surprise in the movie for Rachel was that the man who loved her, for herself and not just her very good looks, and wanted Rachel to be his wife and marry her without fooling around was non other then the stuffed up somewhat introverted and keep a stiff upper lip Colonel Derode. Leaving a good and God-fearing man like the Colonel for a happy go lucky in and out of the sack and selfish playboy like Paul Wilton showed Rachel just how she messed up both herself and her son Paul Jr lives. She ended up giving into her carnal pleasures instead of her steadfast practicing the laws handed down by God's prophets, in both the New as well as Old Testament; that in the end is what turned out to be what the title of the movie meant in "The Sins of Rachel Cade".
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