| Overall Grade: |
A |
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| Story: |
A- |
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| Acting: |
A+ |
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| Direction: |
B+ |
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| Visuals: |
B |
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As Seen by a Catholic Priest
by William G (movies profile)
Jan 7, 2009
88
of
93 people found this review helpful
I thought this movie was going to be a diatribe against the Catholic Church in light of the sexual abuse scandals that have come to light in recent years.
As a priest myself, I have to admit that I watched the opening scenes with some discomfort. Gradually I came to realize that I had prejudged the movie. It is a study of many themes: doubt, male-dominated power and authority in the Church, lifestyle contrasts, tolerance, crime and punishment, moral rigidity and righteousness, innuendo and gossip, rash judgment, guilt and innocence, and, yes, sexual abuse and accusations thereof. The movie comes to few conclusions about any of the themes; it simply and powerfully holds them out there as part of the life. And indeed they are.
The story begins with a homily about doubt, and it ends with the pain of doubt. Yet, as Fr. Flynn points out in his opening homily, doubt is not a vice, and it is something that binds all of us together. I have my own doubts, but I see both doubt and belief as important foundations of my faith. Shanley, the playwright and director, has expressed this with power and eloquence.
I thought that the acting was uniformly good. Streep, Hoffman, Amy Adams and Viola
Davis play the major adult roles with conviction and well-nuanced feeling. The child actors meld in well.
For Catholics who are sensitive to the sometimes ridiculous portrayals of our Church, I would just note that this movie is really a pretty honest portrayal of how some experienced the Church in 1964. Not every nun was like Sister Aloysius, nor every priest like Fr. Flynn. But there were people like them--people with flaws, vulnerable to temptation, sin and doubt--but, for the most part, good people nonetheless. I don't think that this movie will disappoint you. |
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