Calvary (Movie Review by Bob Racine)

                                 1 hr & 40 min, color, 2015

                            

An Irish Catholic priest Father James (Brendan Gleason) is catapulted into a crisis of faith, when he receives a death threat from one of his parishioners, delivered in person in the confessional.  The supposed killer is a hater of all things Catholic for past sexual abuse committed against him by the Church, and he has randomly chosen his own parish priest to answer for it. He gives Father James a little over a week before a set day and time in a set place “to get his affairs in order” before he dies.  Father James knows who the man is by voice, but his priestly vows require him to hold in confidence what has been said to him and the identity of the man. 

                            

Or do they???

                            

 Only a fellow cleric and the local police chief are informed about his situation but without disclosing any identity. 

                            

Sounds gripping does it not?  To be sure what we have here is a plot situation that is quite unique.  But something is not right about the way it is treated, and after two viewings I think I have figured out what keeps it from working, at least to my satisfaction.  More about that in a moment! 

                            

Undoubtedly Father James is an individual of considerable interest.  He pastors a very small church in a coastal village of Ireland.  He looks to be somewhere in the vicinity of 55 or 60, heavy set, thick of beard, not particularly demonstrative of emotion – until the death threat undermines his composure and drives him to erratic, irritable and slightly riotous behavior.  He becomes a bit abrupt with some of his parishioners and somewhat dismissive of others.  He even purchases a gun.  The only creatures to whom he displays any overt affection are his dog and his grown daughter.  

                            

He is a widower, married for many years; it was after his wife’s painful and lingering death that he entered the priesthood, a choice for which his daughter is having a difficult time forgiving him.  She feels that she lost both parents at once, her mother to the grave, her father to the service of God.  It is her untimely visit from Dublin that makes the death threat crisis even more unsettling for him.   

                            

Gleason is a good actor, and gives us some throbbing moments of confrontation with the man’s flock.  But despite this, I do not feel as if I ever got but so close to his heart, except for a tender interaction with his daughter in which they both confess to an abiding love for each other, before she heads back to her home.  This is the most gratifying moment in the whole film for me.  But what really drives this man?  What propelled him to take up the cloth at such a late time in his life? 

                            

There are other questions that nag at me.  In what kind of inner spiritual life is he engaged?  An individual clergyman, of whatever denomination, certainly has goals and objectives he wants to reach by means of his labors.  What is his vision?  Why do we never hear him preach?  What is he trying to accomplish in his community?  Or is his routine practice some kind of penance?  If so, penance for what?  What profession did he follow when he was a layman?  Not once in the footage does he recall experiences from his past.  Filling us in on some of this material would have given much more body and depth to the film.  The man would have come much more alive.    

                            

What does the script do instead?  It gluts us with an assortment of dreary, unanchored, desperate, depressed and depressing characters who do most of the scene chewing.  Just who is this movie about anyhow?  Among his parishioners we do not meet up with one single devout individual, one person who has something really important and insightful or supportive to offer him.  At best they give only a grudging respect, if even that.  They are self-loathing or morbid or vulgar or totally disillusioned – just plain stuck and going nowhere!  Not one of them lit any fire inside me or aroused my interest or fascination. 

                            

And just a passing comment: I was disturbed that the only woman parishioner in the bunch we ever meet is an adulterous, boozy, masochistic wife who flaunts her infidelity before everyone, even her priest.  All of the others are men.  That would not have been so defeating, if all the men had not been such moral and spiritual deadbeats.  It seems that just about everyone has something to flaunt that is distasteful to Father James.  At moments I felt as if I was viewing imitation Bergman, especially the celebrated Swede’s work “Winter Light”, another dark chronicle about a priest in a struggle with his faith.

                            

“Calvary” is an independent production, with original writing and direction by John Michael McDonagh.  What I would like to have seen him do is keep the story focused tightly upon the priest and his professed assailant.  McDonagh seems to prefer hiding the dangerous man away in the crowd until the climactic point.  He writes as if there would be some sense of inevitability heaped upon these two men.  But despite the tale of horror the professed assailant spews out, one that certainly reflects the scandalous contemporary crisis with which Catholicism is faced, the character is given no real airing.  He seems to come off as nothing more than a mortal threat, a man of venomous self-pity and an irrevocable death wish, who adds further to Father James’ agony by burning down his church building.  As with the priest, we are not allowed but so far into his heart and soul.  He is there and gone in a matter of minutes.  We are deprived of further character study. 

                            

McDonagh gets his feet stuck in the mud and has really covered very little ground, after all is said and done.

                            

The only dramatic value the movie evidences is that of suspense.  That may be enough for some viewers.  What is Father James going to do?  Will the threat get carried out?  We are kept on edge.  But the outcome that might have been a catharsis turns out to be only a grisly shock and little more. 

                            

The movie is the sort of thing that devout Christian thinkers are surely drawn to, despite the mess it is.  I saw evidence of that when a group of my church friends and acquaintances and I got together recently and discussed it.  I would not begrudge anyone the right to examine the film in fine detail for purposes of discussion.  Others are apparently more satisfied with it than I am, and I have no problem with that.  If I were as inclined to think theologically as I once was about a half century ago, I might have considered it a morality play or a tale of guilt and alienation, with the priest a Christ figure.  But I now approach any movie drama as an art form, not as an illustrated sermon, and as a work of art I find “Calvary” rather anemic.  

                            

This movie will most likely be viewed by very few individuals.  It certainly is not a general audience vehicle.  But it may have enough of a special audience appeal to give it a return on its cost, even though McDonagh is no Bergman.

To read other entries in my blog, please consult its website:  enspiritus.blogspot.com.  To learn about me consult on the website the blog entry for August 9, 2013.