Calvary




The new Irish film Calvary turns on the premise that one of a priest's parishioners is threatening to kill him in a week's time in retribution for abuse at the hands of a now deceased priest.  Good versus evil, belief versus doubt, retribution versus forgiveness.  So far, so good.  The clock is ticking.
  
The Ireland in Calvary exists trapped in limbo between modernity and the medieval.  The  Catholic Church remains powerful, despite the horrendous crimes committed by its Irish representatives, but there are also numerous atheists only too glad to spell out the Church's shortcomings.  Brendan Gleeson, the stalwart irish actor, plays a world weary, but caring priest tending to a severely dysfunctional village. What's odd from an American perspective is the lack of mental health awareness.  It's as if Ireland has missed Freud and antidepressants completely.  There is one passing reference to finding 'closure', but a character dismissively states "that's something the Yanks do."   

The sticking point here is that the film does a wonderful job of bringing the villagers and their familiar issues to the fore, but does a lousy one of fleshing out the priest's quandary.  He can run and hide or stay and face the music.  Brendan Gleeson is a great actor, with a tendency to appear languid on the surface all the while roiling beneath. He's fun to watch here, but his predicament never ignites.  He seems almost content doling out doubtful wisdom, ambling to and fro among his flock.  A  neglected daughter is meant to give him motivation, but feels more like emotional window dressing.

 Atheists and non-believers are almost psychotically cynical and despite the accuracy of their  anti-Vatican barbs, the film is rooting for the priest.  If pressed, I would venture that  writer-director John McDonagh has a soft spot for Catholicism regardless of the pointed references to Vatican evil.   The film drifts in and out of various characters' predicaments, but the point of it all is both hazy and leaden.  The soundtrack reminds you that this is a  portentous drama about morality,  and the acting is uniformly good, but there's little narrative tension.  

Brendan Gleeson is great, the film disappointed me.