CALVARY DVDOF THE MONTH
As baddies go, the Roman Catholic Church is quite a doozy. We’ve seen it protecting
paedophiles in its ranks, selling and killing orphans in its care, laundering Nazi gold, turning a blind eye to the holocaust, and convincing hundreds of millions of people that God’s love is conditional. Having said that, it makes a cracking backdrop for filmic examinations of faith, forgiveness and retribution. Also, it gives away free biscuits so, y’know, swings and roundabouts.
One such filmic examination is John Michael McDonagh’s brilliant ‘Calvary’. It grips from the very first scene, in which Brendan Gleeson’s complex, troubled, but essentially good priest is informed during confessional by a mystery member of his isolated parish that they’re going to kill him in a week’s time. So,
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not so much a “whodunit” as a “whosgonnahavedunit”. If, indeed, it actually gets dun.
We follow our turbulent priest for the rest of his week while he administers to the slightly demented misfits, miscreants and misanthropes that make up his cynical flock - any one of whom could be our bummed nutter – while the plot unfurls with subtle power, driven by searching, often LOLsome, dialogue and superb performances (Gleeson is extraordinary, and the supports - especially Dylan Moran and Chris O’Dowd - are a joy). Add a healthy dollop of religious symbolism, a stirring score and some beautiful Irish scenery and you’ve got a lovely little filum, to be sure.
But should you watch it? Does a bear shit in the woods? Or something Jay Freeman
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