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Evil has never been more banal than in Amy Berg’s riveting and disturbing documentary, which tells the story of Father Oliver O’Grady, a Catholic priest with soft paternal looks and a lilting Irish accent. He looks like a priest straight from central casting, except O’Grady spent the better part of his adult life sexually molesting dozens of children while serving in Northern California in the ‘70s and ‘80s. One expects a documentary of this sort to contain interviews with experts and survivors. And it does. But the film also includes copious interview footage with O’Grady, who’s been living in Dublin, Ireland since being paroled after serving seven years in an American prison. At times it’s hard to say whether O’Grady’s capacity for self-deception is any more prodigious than his twisted sexual appetite. O’Grady posed for publicity photos to support the film, which his something that only the proudest and most unrepentant criminals would even consider doing. The guy has no shame.

Berg found a lot of damning footage in depositions. There’s a good swatch of footage from O’Grady’s deposition (and more in the extras on the DVD), where he blithely discuses the tricks of his trade, as if explaining how to microwave popcorn. There’s also deposition footage from a monsignor who saw no behavioral similarity between O’Grady molesting a little girl in 1976 and, later, a little boy.  Church officials, finally called out on the carpet for their complicity, dance as fast as they can, and hide behind the piousness of their life’s calling as best they can, but only true blue church apologists would ever deny what the Church knew and covered up. In the film, much blame falls on Cardinal Roger Mahoney, the current Archbishop of Los Angeles, who was the bishop in Stockton, CA, where O’Grady plied his trade. While Mahoney is a slippery little liar, Berg makes a compelling, basically irrefutable case that Mahoney knew about O’Grady’s criminal activities, choosing to shuttle him around California to serve different communities instead of turning him over to the authorities or, at the very least, getting him psychiatric help. That the Church would secretly transfer a child molester from town to town shows they were more interested in saving their own behinds then protecting kids. Also complicit is then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who is now Pope.

Berg also interviews a number of victims and parents of victims. The most heartbreaking interview is with the Jyono family. Bob and his wife were boosters of O’Grady and friends with him for fifteen years. Their daughter Ann, who is also interviewed, was molested by O’Grady from age 5 to 12. Seeing Bob break down in front of Berg’s camera, railing at the betrayal and the lies from what is, ostensibly, a trusted institution, is wrenching. Jyono wails, "He raped my daughter at 5 years old. For God's sake, how could that happen?" Toward the end of the film, Ann visits the Vatican hoping to meet with a Church official, someone who would hear their plea, or at least acknowledge their pain. The Church, of course, ignores them. Church officials, in fact, refuse to be interviewed for the movie. But there are some good guys from the Church, including Jesuit priest Father Tom Doyle, a victims’ advocate who travels with Ann to Rome.

Deliver Us From Evil doesn’t implicate. Berg merely hands out rope and let’s her subjects hang themselves. The movie isn’t hyperactive or proud to make its points.  It’s gentle and clear-eyed in the telling, which makes it even more powerful. Father O’Grady currently lives in Ireland, and one of the last shots of the films shows him walking around town, within feet of children. If only they knew that the man next to them, who represents their most cherished institution, would not only betray them, but be protected by a Church with too much to lose to let the truth be known.

The Video: How Does The Disc Look?

The 1.78:1 transfer is very good looking. The footage is split between new, digital footage and archive footage. The new footage looks crystal clear. There’s a nice depth to the image and the colors are fully saturated, especially in green grass. Detail is excellent. There are close-ups of O’Grady’s withered, wrinkled face and one can see every line. Black levels are generally very good. There are some low light shots in church where the darker hues start to blend together. Otherwise, blacks are good and contrast is very good. Daytime exterior shots have a smoothness and evenness that’s very pleasing. The archive footage, especially the old deposition footage betrays its pre-digital roots. Despite a layer of grain, your enjoyment (if that’s the right word) will hardly be diminished.  A very good transfer for a documentary.

The Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track is consistent in quality with other recent documentaries not shot in a war zone or in a location where audio clarity is an issue. The dialogue is always understandable and even has a little foundation of bass. The score is about the only opportunity the mix has to spread and a couple of times there’s a nice bottom end kick. The only time the track fails is during the vintage deposition footage, but that’s not the fault of the mix. Not much to say about this track, other than you’ll understand every word and there seem to be no transfer issues.

English subtitles are available.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

First is an audio commentary by director Amy Berg and producer/editor Matthew Cooke. Their comments come in two flavors: fleshing out bits of the narrative that the film had no time to discuss; and, discussing why certain bits were left in or taken out. Bergs says that there’s no statute of limitations on child abuse in Ireland, which is where O’Grady is from. So one of the victims is pursuing criminal charges over there.

Next is John Manly Alternate Ending. It’s a two-minute clip of victim’s advocate Manly talking about how the survivors really want to go home (home being the Church) but they can’t. The pedophilic preachers have shut the door on the victims being able to live the spiritual life they want to live. There’s optional commentary where editor/producer Cooke says this would have been a great ending but it’s ultimately not Manly’s story; it’s the story of the survivors and they need the last word.

Bible versus Church outlines the differences between scripture and Church policy. Various players read from the Bible and we see how far the teachings of the Good Book differ from how the Church conducts its business. For instance, the Book of Matthew says that the people who follow Christ are to be servants, not masters, leading by what they do. There are also scriptural passages about the requirements of being a Bishop, none of which include pedophilia, or covering up pedophilia.

The slate of deleted scenes comes with an introduction by director Amy Berg and editor/producer Matthew Cooke. It’s audio only, which is strange, but they felt it necessary to say that they had about 170 hours of footage, so a lot needed to be left out. Cooke said the movie needed “a clear linear structure,” which means some great stuff was left out. Some of that is included in these deleted scenes.

There are eleven deleted scenes and some of them are pretty disturbing. There’s footage of O’Grady’s deposition where he reenacts how he interacts with young girls. In the optional audio commentary from Berg and Cooke, they say that O’Grady had already talked of molesting a girl in an earlier scene and it’s so disturbing, they didn’t felt he audience needed more of it. There’s additional snippets of interviews with some of the minor players, including attorney Pat Wall, who talks about how the discovery process would have yielded the embarrassing fact that the Church knew about O’Grady’s actions long before any lawsuits were filed. All eleven scenes are digital clean with audio that matches the finished film. You should really watch these excised bits. 

Exclusive DVD-ROM Features: What happens when you pop the disc into your PC?

There are no DVD-ROM features on this DVD.