Brendan Gleeson plays
an Irish village priest who receives a death threat in the confessional box at
the start of “Calvary.” “I was 7 when I first tasted semen,” the instigator says,
proclaiming that he wants to slay a good priest in the name of revenge as the
abuser priest has died. Refusing police help, James seeks out the man in secret
among the locals, including a bartender, a butcher, the mayor, the mayor’s gay
trick, a pathologist, an American writer, and a wealthy, lonely Londoner. Near
all angry at life for its cruelty, or the Church, longtime protector of child rapists.
James’ soul is righteous, he having lived as husband and father, his wife now dead,
his grown daughter (Kelly Reilly) troubled and haunted. Writer/director John
Michael McDonagh’s drama focuses on the trouble and glory of faith, even lost.
James’ spirit bends as his week turns to violence, from the same man, others?
Rarely is religion treated with such somberness. Alas McDonagh serves up
blatant, ugly stereotypes. The trick is a Fox News cartoon. That
said, the end broke me as James insists on grace over damnation. That, not the stereotypes,
is a notion to live by. B
Tuesday, December 2, 2014
Calvary (2014)
Labels:
2014,
Brendan Gleeson,
Catholicism,
church,
faith,
grace,
Ireland,
John Michael McDonagh,
Priest,
sexual abuse,
sin,
threat
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