CalvaryMust a good priest shoulder the sins of his community alone, maintaining Christ-like composure in spite of disdain, even to the point of martyrdom? Calvary is an Irish black comedy and drama about a Catholic priest named Father James (Brendan Gleeson). One of Father James's parishioners tells him in his confessional that he will be killed in just over a week because the confessor was sexually abused by a priest as a child. Father James uses this time to take stock of his life and his role in the community as a Catholic priest, while trying to discern who seeks to kill him for the sins of his fellow men of the cloth.
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Calvary plays out somewhat like a mystery, owing to Father James trying to learn the identity of his assassin. It explores his involvement in the lives of the various members of his community, as well as his daughter, Fiona (Kelly Reilly), who visits him after a failed suicide attempt. In his quest for understanding and self-preservation, Father James encounters people like the butcher Jack Brennan (Chris O'Dowd), who acts dispassionate about being made a cuckold by his openly flirtatious wife, Veronica (Orla O'Rourke). She claims Jack gave her a black eye; Jack denies this, and instead accuses her lover, Simon (Isaach de Bankolé)--a mechanic originally from Africa--of being the abuser. Father James adopts the role of a detective here, motivated by his subconscious desire to discover the person threatening him; but because of it, he only ends up antagonizing Simon for intruding into his personal affairs. Father James often makes a point to involve himself in some way to resolve the community's conflicts, but struggles to find a Christ-like solution. He perceives that beneath every encounter, his commitment to his faith is under fire, as well as the role of the Catholic priest as a fixture in the community. Simon's resentment toward the Catholic Church and its priests is shared by the killer and other members of the town; some of them paradoxically still seek absolution from Father James. An arrogant millionaire named Michael Fitzgerald (Dylan Moran) boasts of his wealth, declaring himself to be more significant than God--or his representative, in the case of Father James; he later confesses to an emptiness in his soul, wanting to feel something real in his insulated life. Brendan Lynch (Pat Shortt) is a Buddhist proprietor of a pub who criticizes the beleaguered Father James for becoming openly drunk, leading to a fight between the two men of different faiths, complete with weaponry. The atheistic Dr. Frank Harte (Aidan Gillen) offers serpentine criticism of religion through his self-professed "gallows humor", analogies designed to push Father James into an emotional (or spiritual) crisis. Father James visits with a serial killer serving time named Freddie Joyce (Domhnall Gleeson); both men (played by real-life father and son) are looking to salve their inner turmoil out of desperation more than faith, and are willing to seek their respective answers from even the most unlikely of sources.
Written and directed by John Michael McDonagh, Calvary features a predominantly Irish cast and is set in the countryside of Ireland. The Emerald Isle is depicted with sweeping shots from on high, displaying the tumultuous coastline of the island nation in all its splendor. Brendan Gleeson also starred in McDonagh's earlier film, The Guard; Father James represents the very soul of Ireland--at times in conflict with itself, yet built on a moral foundation that ensures that virtue inevitably outshines vice. Calvary captures the essence of life in Ireland, even if it is dramatized for film, focusing on the role of the Church in modern Irish society, as well as the lifestyles of Irish citizens. The pub is an important gathering place for people in the evenings, and even off-hand comments made by characters--about the influx of Romanian immigrants to the island--adds to its verisimilitude. Calvary takes its name from the location in the Gospels where Jesus Christ was crucified, and the film opens with a quote by Saint Augustine about Saint Dismas and Gestas--the two thieves crucified alongside Christ--who respectively beg for forgiveness and criticize his divinity. This establishes the central theme of forgiveness in Calvary and its importance in dealing with the suffering of everyday life. The man who claims that he will kill Father James claims he does so out of a burning need to see justice done. He realizes that the priest who violated him is already dead, and selects Father James as his scapegoat from the absurd rationale that he is a "good man". The killer wants to balance the proverbial scales by victimizing another because he was victimized in a confused attempt to make sense of a world that (he perceives) would turn a blind eye to his suffering. The killer is essentially "running" from the reality of his trauma, like Father James has been running from his past after the death of his wife. His tragedy pushed him into the priesthood, and yet gave rise to an emotional crisis for his daughter; she tells him that she "lost two parents for the price of one". The threat of death--and the week of dread that follows--compels Father James to evade the inevitable confrontation with his killer. As Father James experiences his "dark hour of the soul", he reunites with the recently widowed Teresa (Marie-Josée Croze), and contemplates joining her and her husband's coffin on a plane to Dublin. He ultimately concludes that to flee the community as the representative of God would be to say that God has fled from the lives of the people who live there. He embraces the role of the shepherd, even when the wolves are closing in, committed not just to his faith but his place in his Irish community, even if--like Christ before him--it means making a martyr out of him.
Recommended for: Fans of a drama punctuated with bursts of black comedy, and one that tackles important themes like forgiveness and the role of Catholicism in Irish society today. Calvary isn't just a movie about religion; it is about how our individual beliefs integrate into the community--crucial ingredients making up a diverse melting pot of values.
Written and directed by John Michael McDonagh, Calvary features a predominantly Irish cast and is set in the countryside of Ireland. The Emerald Isle is depicted with sweeping shots from on high, displaying the tumultuous coastline of the island nation in all its splendor. Brendan Gleeson also starred in McDonagh's earlier film, The Guard; Father James represents the very soul of Ireland--at times in conflict with itself, yet built on a moral foundation that ensures that virtue inevitably outshines vice. Calvary captures the essence of life in Ireland, even if it is dramatized for film, focusing on the role of the Church in modern Irish society, as well as the lifestyles of Irish citizens. The pub is an important gathering place for people in the evenings, and even off-hand comments made by characters--about the influx of Romanian immigrants to the island--adds to its verisimilitude. Calvary takes its name from the location in the Gospels where Jesus Christ was crucified, and the film opens with a quote by Saint Augustine about Saint Dismas and Gestas--the two thieves crucified alongside Christ--who respectively beg for forgiveness and criticize his divinity. This establishes the central theme of forgiveness in Calvary and its importance in dealing with the suffering of everyday life. The man who claims that he will kill Father James claims he does so out of a burning need to see justice done. He realizes that the priest who violated him is already dead, and selects Father James as his scapegoat from the absurd rationale that he is a "good man". The killer wants to balance the proverbial scales by victimizing another because he was victimized in a confused attempt to make sense of a world that (he perceives) would turn a blind eye to his suffering. The killer is essentially "running" from the reality of his trauma, like Father James has been running from his past after the death of his wife. His tragedy pushed him into the priesthood, and yet gave rise to an emotional crisis for his daughter; she tells him that she "lost two parents for the price of one". The threat of death--and the week of dread that follows--compels Father James to evade the inevitable confrontation with his killer. As Father James experiences his "dark hour of the soul", he reunites with the recently widowed Teresa (Marie-Josée Croze), and contemplates joining her and her husband's coffin on a plane to Dublin. He ultimately concludes that to flee the community as the representative of God would be to say that God has fled from the lives of the people who live there. He embraces the role of the shepherd, even when the wolves are closing in, committed not just to his faith but his place in his Irish community, even if--like Christ before him--it means making a martyr out of him.
Recommended for: Fans of a drama punctuated with bursts of black comedy, and one that tackles important themes like forgiveness and the role of Catholicism in Irish society today. Calvary isn't just a movie about religion; it is about how our individual beliefs integrate into the community--crucial ingredients making up a diverse melting pot of values.