This is Duvall's genius.

It took him decades to bring it to the screen. He put four million dollars of his own money into the movie. He had the mood and the culture down perfectly. My wife, who is from Mississippi, is enthralled with this film. And she did not grow up in a church. I, from the rural North, grew up in a Pentecostal church, which my Grandpa pastored. I saw nothing out of the ordinary here, haha. Duvall hit a home run.