Cathal BarryA leading US prelate has endorsed Calvary, the story of an Irish priest threatened during a confession, as an “intimate, unblinking, unforgettable” film.
Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia said, from “first frame to the last”, the Irish motion-picture starring Brendan Gleeson had “an understated power”.
It’s a blend of “everyday pain, faith, despair, humour, candor, bitterness and forgiveness – that brands itself onto the heart with spare simplicity,” the archbishop said.
“It’s also the best portrayal of a good priest in impossible circumstances I’ve seen in several decades,” he added.
In his review on cruxnow.com, Archbishop Chaput also paid tribute to the movie’s cast, and its portrayal of the Irish countryside.
“It’s enough to say that the cast – led by Brendan Gleeson in an extraordinary performance – gives us a menagerie of human foibles, and the Co. Sligo setting has a raw Irish beauty that few viewers will ever forget,” he wrote.
“Calvary is the kind of film that leaves a theatre silent at the final credits. It’s not the silence of boredom or a morgue, but the silence of people collecting their emotions in order to breathe again,” he said.
Calvary is a 2014 Irish comedy-drama film written and directed by John Michael McDonagh. The film began production in September 2012 and was released in April 2014 in Ireland and the United Kingdom, and last month in the United States.
