Smart Hollywood Film Explores Christian Challenge
August 18, 2014
(Left, Brendan Gleeson stars in Calvary. If you can't tell what the white things are, they're bullet holes.)
Calvary, an Irish film distributed by Fox Searchlight
is winning critical acclaim for its
timely treatment of "the spectacle of goodness
encountering the worst of humanity."
Lauren Ely for First Things wrote, "Is it possible for a film to capture the horror of the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church while at the same time presenting a case for the necessity of the institutional priesthood? Against all odds, this is exactly what Irish director John Michael McDonagh's Calvary manages to do."
by Mick LaSalle
'Calvary' review: Priest suffers for sins of others
"Calvary" is one of the smartest and most impassioned films about Christianity in recent memory, though to say that might give the wrong impression. In tone and strategy, the film is low key and subtle, and the story can be appreciated both for its surface qualities and its deeper intentions.
With no preamble, writer-director John Martin McDonagh lays out the basic situation: Father James (Brendan Gleeson) is hearing confessions one day, when a voice on the other side of the grate tells him a couple of very disturbing things. The first thing the man tells him is that, as a child, he was repeatedly abused by an evil priest, now deceased. The second is that he plans to kill Father James in exactly one week.
He knows Father James is completely innocent of this crime, that he's a good hardworking priest, but that's the idea. He wants to do something horrible and irrational in revenge against the universe for the horrible, irrational thing that was done to him.
This is a compelling set-up, one that might distract the casual viewer from realizing the biblical parallel of an innocent person being asked to die for the sins of the guilty.
In any case, McDonagh doesn't lose himself in metaphor, and despite the film's title, which refers to the place Jesus was crucified, the movie is not about establishing rigid connections. Rather, it's about exploring the challenges of living a Christian life, the not-pretty, hands-on difficulty of practicing forgiveness and forbearance, which always seems a lot easier when you're talking about 2,000 years ago.
The movie's success lies in the fact that Father James is no Christ figure but a specific and realized character trying to do the right thing. A priest in a small Irish village, he carries an awareness of his own imperfection in his very manner. A widower who was called to the priesthood in midlife, he has a devoted but troubled adult daughter (Kelly Reilly) and a history of battling the familiar Irish demon, alcohol.
Speaking of demons, many supernatural films deal in demon possession, and they couldn't scare anybody. But "Calvary," if not outright frightening, is genuinely alarming, in its subtle hint of something terribly wrong within the town. I imagine most people will watch the film and merely see the village as populated by vivid eccentrics. But a closer look at these odd, bitter, hostile characters will suggest something darker at work.
Indeed, the bulk of the movie consists of a series of bizarre encounters between Father James and the villagers, who taunt him and challenge his faith and carry on in outlandish ways that barely conceal their misery. Whether you choose to see them as metaphorically or literally demon possessed, McDonagh's intention is clearly along these lines.
A sense of escalating weirdness maintains the movie's sense of forward motion, and that - plus Gleeson's scruffy humanity, used to loving effect - is quite enough for "Calvary" to hold the audience in its grip. Also look for Marie-Josée Croze, left, in the small and yet strangely key role of a woman transfigured by grief.--------
LaSalle adds:
I'm pleased to see that "Calvary" is mostly getting good reviews, though it also has received a few negative reviews that are rather peculiar. The criticisms of the film usually say something to the effect that the townspeople are strange and extreme, hard to believe, hovering in a zone near comedy, and that this made for a discordant experience.
What is not immediately realized by people, including many critics, is that much of the movie is about demon possession. Now if your entire frame of reference for demon possession is Hollywood movies, you won't recognize this. But if your frame of reference actually includes something like, oh I dunno, the BIBLE, then you can't miss it. It's the most obvious thing in the world. Everyone in the town is tormented, and they see in this priest a living rebuke. They see in him the enemy with whom they are compelled to engage.
The priest is enacting some of the tribulations of Jesus, from the point that Jesus entered Jerusalem. It's the spectacle of goodness encountering the worst of humanity. It's supposed to be extreme. It's supposed to be bizarre. That's pretty much the whole idea.
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Thanks for the tip Dan!
Related- The Trailer for Calvary
-------- Interview with Brendon Gleeson by Rotten Tomatoes
First Comment by Laura
Thank you for posting Mick LaSalle's review of "Calvary". I saw it last week, and I encourage everyone to see it. Yes, it's disturbing. Dan's comments about what demonic possession looks and feels like is important. Hollywood has dramatic scripts and animated effects... but it is a much more subtle experience. It's people encouraging sardonic comments and subtle madness as humor, brought into action.
I grew up being affected by these mind control military projects which had seeped into my town, through the worldwide renowned university and the Veteran's Administration hospital near my home, where broken Korean soldiers were being experimented on.
We had a local grocery store where we stocked up on our daily rations of candy, and the Vets would gather there, and tell stories to kids. They seemed lonely and broken, and we didn't think they were crazy, but we knew they were damaged in some way. They told us war stories. I recall some of them telling us as young children (ages 5-7) of getting electroshocked, something that it is claimed to not done anymore, but apparently it's a common torture technique among the "mind control" MK-ULTRA crowd. (At the time, I thought electroshock was a bona-fide psychiatric technique and it was somewhat accepted, but what did I know? The experts told us so!) Power given freely to torture and kill typically ends up with lots of demonic possession.
This film will grab and engage you, and ultimately perhaps make one feel hopeless. However, my view is that people must confront this evil. Hard to confront when the evil is in a three-piece-suit, and our supposed leaders. Huh, you mean they rape children and then kill them, and eat their organs and drink their blood? Nah! Well, yes, and worse than that! The true challenges for Christians and Muslims and Torah ascribing Jews and Atheists is confronting an organized sect or group of Talmudic Jews (Khazarians, not Israelites?) and Jesuit teachings who infiltrate churches, schools, everywhere to prepare people for proper demonic possession. Crazy? Twenty years ago, I would have scoffed. Not now. It's spiritual warfare, no less than that, and films like Calvary illustrate this. Time to go say some prayers now, for sustenance and strength. I never thought I would see things such as this in my lifetime, but then there you have it.
Dee said (August 20, 2014):
You and your readers can watch Calvary for free at this link:
http://solarmovie.ag/watch-calvary-2014.html
FOLLOW DIRECTIONS:
1. Click on a streaming link in the left column. Any should work fine, but I usually select Putlocker.ws as these guys usually have a good quality stream. This one is excellent.)
2. Click on GREEN "Play Now" tab
3. Then click on "Continue as Free User" and the player will pop up.
SolarMovie is a freeview archive site with a gazillion options. so you aren't stealing anything...
ENJOY.... awesome movie....