The Irish priest with a week long death sentence over his head reminds me of the late Father Daniel Munn, my parochial vicar at the Church of the Most Holy Trinity in Augusta. He was a former Episcopal priest who became Catholic; was married and with many children and grandchildren.
The priest in the movie is a widower with a daughter who became a priest after his wife died in post-Catholic Ireland damaged by the sex abuse scandal. The entire movie is centered on the sex abuse scandal but not obsessively so, but it is the foundation! The actor who plays the priest is marvelous. The priest is very pastoral, a good man!
After he is given his death sentence in the confessional, the seven days play out with the priest doing a variety of priestly things but also thinking about what he must do about his death sentence. It is a great movie, great acting and a nice Irish feel with the characters and the beautiful Irish landscape. It is beautifully filmed and acted. I recommend it!
3 comments:
I'm a bit surprised it took you so long to get to this film, Father. It really is a gripping story and Brendan Gleason is excellent as a late-vocationed priest. What really got me was how he maintained his composure throughout the week and calmly dealt with such a strange cast of characters in his parish. The end is particularly moving.
I read the plot of this on Wikipedia. You have a pretty bizarre taste in movies. It seems that all that is missing are vampires and space aliens. (I hope there was no s e x involved.....)
I knew Father Munn also. He gave a retreat once at the Melkite parish here in Atlanta. You're right, Father; the actor resembles him.
Post a Comment