Silence Martin Scorsese, who studied for the priesthood as a young man, has divided his directorial career between mainstream dramas and revisionist religious works like Kundun and The Last Temptation of Christ. Silence falls into the latter category. It’s been in gestation for many years and chronicles the fortunes of a 17th-Century Jesuit missionary called…
The year in films
In a world where commercialism rules OK, Strange Occurrences in a Small Irish Village – ostensibly a documentary about the Marian shrine in Knock and the people who visit it but ultimately a commentary on the state of religion in Ireland today – was never going to wipe the more mainstream releases off the screen.…
Holy war against slave trade in 19th Century America
The Birth of a Nation (15A)
Kirk Douglas celebrates his 100th birthday
“My children didn’t have the advantages I had growing up,” Kirk Douglas said once, “they were born rich.” What he meant was that his poverty-stricken youth made him more aware of the value of a dollar. How many pampered sons and daughters of the rich and famous would learn to appreciate the wisdom of his…
A mixed grill of pre-Christmas treats on the big screen
How can one explain the defeat of Hillary Clinton in the recent American election by a man with so many disgraceful characteristics as Donald Trump unless, as has been suggested, she herself was so passionately disliked by large sectors of the population? One wit suggested Donald Duck could even have beaten her. In the aftermath…
Ruth is stranger than fiction in sentimental drama
A United Kingdom (12A)
Plaintive tug-of-love drama exudes power
The Light Between Oceans (12A)
When the pen is mightier than the sword
The Accountant (15A)
Strange wizardry with Kathmandu cult
Doctor Strange (12A)
A Tom Cruise missile is very late to detonate
Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (PG)

Aubrey Malone