Calvary [Blu-ray]

Not for the faint-of-heart. But simply astounding.Father James (Brendan Gleeson) is hearing confessions when the parishioner on the other side of the screen tells him about five years of childhood abuse at the hands of a bad priest. The man plans to exact revenge by murdering Father James, who is given a week to wind up his affairs. It is a small community and the priest recognizes his parishioner's voice, although that identity is not revealed to the audience. Father James takes no immediate action but spends the week tending to his small flock. They are an erring lot who are flawed, wounded, and deeply critical of Father James, who they verbally flay for the suffering, real and imagined, that they have experienced at the hands of the Catholic Church.Father James' life is further complicated by his tenuous relationship with his daughter, Fiona. (Father James entered the priesthood after his wife died.) We also see him contrasted with his bishop and a fellow priest, both of whom are not bad men but who are not fully engaged in their vocations. This leaves the audience in the position of trying to suss out the mystery while observing a truly good priest struggle to live his vocation under seemingly impossible circumstances.Writer and director John Michael McDonagh has given us a layered and nuanced film made for anyone who has ever struggled with faith, forgiveness, betrayal, and revenge. Above all, he looks at the cost to good priests who must struggle with the human fallout and suffering caused by bad ones. Brendan Gleeson, heading up an excellent cast, portrays the good priest with subtlety and depth which allow you to see into his soul as the week progresses.Some reviews have criticized the villagers as quirky, broad caricatures. I felt that was intentional and that it would be a mistake to think they are intended as realistic personalities. The sharply drawn characters give Calvary the feeling of a morality play where each is a personification of a different sin or modern struggle with religion. Yet McDonagh doesn't allow it to rest there. In each case we are given glimpses, however brief, below the brittle facades to the human beings beneath. The director does not intend to allow us the detachment which has led to the problems his film highlights.The most fully realized characters and relationship are Father James and Fiona who translate the struggles to live an authentic faith into real human terms for us. The insistence on the value of each person when combined with Father James' absolute integrity are the messages at the core of this movie.You may see this billed as a dark comedy. I think that is inaccurate. It is a drama, straight up. Yes, there are some lighter moments but that is because life itself has some lighter moments even in the midst of trouble and darkness. It is no comedy.Fundamentalists of both sorts, from atheist to Catholic, will either celebrate or mourn this movie as an attack on the Catholic Church. That approach is far too simple. Those who know real truth is never that easy will appreciate the way McDonagh shows both sides without setting up straw men to knock down.The movie never felt like an attack on the Church to me. Instead of looking at the "evil clergy" McDonagh took the novel and welcome approach of presenting a good priest who doesn't defend horrific actions of bad men but also never denies his own vocation in the very Church to which they all belong. In fact, the inclusion of an angry Buddhist highlights the point that the problem of authentic faith is not constrained to any one religion but is a matter of each person's cooperation with God and others in their community.If Calvary makes you uncomfortable, it is meant to do so. That's what the truth does. In this magnificent film we are shown Truth shimmering beneath the surface of a week in the life of this good priest. And given grace for viewers to take back into the world with them.

THE FILM: I can't say that I was completely prepared for the emotional punch that CALVARY provided, but am very pleased for it. The plot is almost unimportant, in that the construction merely allows for the exploration of various themes. Basically, a priest (Brendan Gleeson) is told in the confessional booth that he will die soon, and is given a week to get his affairs in order. What follows is essentially a series of conversations that touch on everything from faith, suicide, pedophilia in the Catholic Church, to human nature in general. Even though it examines some very high-minded and profound themes, it never felt pretentious, and always felt emotionally honest. The performances from everyone were excellent, especially Brendan Gleeson. His role as a simple priest was very sympathetic and human, in contrast to the corporate monstrosity that the Church has been and, in some way, continues to be. It makes you take a step back and realize that behind every organization are people not so different from you and I. Despite going to some pretty dark places, Gleeson's priest remains the emotional center that grounds everything, and the film overall is quite hopeful when it comes to human relationships. The only thing that could have been slightly better is for the mystery to be a bit less predictable, although the "who's gonna do it?" isn't really the point. When it comes down to it, CALVARY is a great character study that effectively uses its narrative structure to create drama and tension. If I'd seen this last year, it would have definitely been in my top 10. Highly recommended if you're into thoughtful dramas.THE EXTRAS: As with many smaller films, there isn't a lot of special features, but I was grateful for what was there. The longest one was a roughly 20-minute behind-the-scenes featurette in which the cast get to talk about the characters. It was a great ensemble cast and, even though there wasn't a whole lot of additional insight, it felt like this was a project that they all were proud to be part of. Beyond that, there were a few short promotional featurettes that go into the film's themes, Gleeson's priest character, and the key relationship of the priest with his daughter. There is also a still gallery. The material provided doesn't go that deep, but the film more than makes up for it.OVERALL: I can't overstate how amazing this film is. The performances are top-notch, the locations and cinematography beautiful, and above all it explores some very human themes that should speak to anyone. As with many Fox releases (especially from the Searchlight sub-label), it's pretty light on supplementary material, but this is worth a purchase based on the film alone. Again, if you haven't yet seen this I highly recommend that you do so. You won't be disappointed.

I am a Chris O'Dowd fan, so I purchased this movie to watch. All of the actors/actresses were excellent and the story was engaging from the start. The only reason I'm not giving it 5 stars is b/c the topic is dark and the film too graphic for my taste. Even so, the movie was so engaging, I couldn't turn it off. I didn't realize the topic when I purchased the film, or I'd never have purchased it. It is a very different role for O'Dowd and he was amazing. but it's more graphic and dark than I enjoy.