TV You Might've Missed 8 — The Fiery Priest

Nobody messes with Father Kim Hae Il. He's ready to bring the Holy Order to serve justice, one fist at a time.

This is a really fun K-drama action thriller about Father Kim, a priest with big anger management issues. Following the mysterious death of a beloved elderly priest, Father Kim attempts to bring the culprits before law. The journey in taking down the gangsters and corrupt officials in the city is both dramatic and funny. 

We were a bit worried about how the priesthood would be depicted. I'm happy to say that the show represented Catholicism well. We felt there must have been a Catholic adviser or writer. Even when a couple of women rhapsodized about Father Kim's good looks, it never went further than simply noticing and a bit of a crush, which eventually wore off and was never acted on. Father Kim's struggles to overcome his sins are real and we were impressed by the fact that many characters wound up in prayer or looking for divine help with their problems. 

That's not to say that it was spiritually deep or sappy. Most of the show is taken up with the investigation, plot twists, and character development. But it is a thread that is always just below the surface. The last episode blew us away and I even shed a few tears.

This was a really popular show that grew by word of mouth. It features parodies of popular movies and dramas which we obviously didn't get. However, you often could tell when they were happening. The drama was genuinely engaging, the mystery of who killed Father Lee was a great springboard for a lot of other plot points, and we especially enjoyed the Catholic parts.

A fellow reviewer on Letterboxd summed up well:

The depiction of "fiery/mad" priest is really genius. Something I never imagine, yet something that I NEEDED the most. Being a priest means being a leader, not a God. They hold a big community, but they're not a sinless bcs they're human after all. And anger is one of human nature. We should and needed to be angry for the sake of change the world and speak for injustice.

I personally love the endings. Sometimes we misinterpreted the terms of "forgiveness". Forgiveness doesn't mean we could run from our sin, but rather realize ourselves that we're wrong and we must atone it by fighting the evil inside us.

It is certainly a special action show that leads to such a review. And I agree with it.

Streaming/Viewing Notes:

This is streaming free on Kokowa. The show has 40 episodes, but don't panic. They are actually 20 hour-long shows which are broken into two pieces so they could put ads in the middle when it ran in Korea. Evidently, there's a law that you can't run ads except before and after shows. This is how some shows get around that law.

Just fyi, it sags in the middle and we almost stopped watching but decided to give it one more episode to prove its worth. It turns out that was the one where everything suddenly hit high gear and took off.  

The Miracle Club

In 1967 three women from a small Irish town dream of winning a pilgrimage to Lourdes, a place of miracles. An old acquaintance surfaces just before they leave and, despite hard feelings from long ago, joins the pilgrimage. They are each seeking a miracle. 

This movie got mixed reviews and we were going to skip it until a trusted friend said that she liked it and it had some good funny bits. So we went ahead and it was a pleasant surprise. It was solidly directed and expertly acted with an underlying look at what you are expecting when you go looking for a miracle.  

I especially appreciated how understated the story was. There were many opportunities for an impassioned explanation of an old wrong but usually we were given small hints or implications from an actress's stillness or slight change in posture. This left the story feeling more real and drew us in.

The weakest link was the priest who didn't actually believe in anything except the need to believe. That was a typically weak, modern presentation of a priest. Luckily he wasn't in the movie very much. The story focuses solidly on the four women and it really is a women's movie. 

Recommended even for those who, like me, don't want to see a "women's movie."

Nefarious — A clumsy Christian movie that might still be worth your time.

INCLUDES SPOILERS

On the day of his scheduled execution, a convicted serial killer gets a psychiatric evaluation during which he claims he is a demon, and further claims that before their time is over, the psychiatrist will commit three murders of his own.

I'm giving this movie a dual rating.

As a movie: 0 stars. It's like a Christian textbook on demons and basic pro-life teachings. As a devout Catholic what offends me aren't the beliefs expressed but the fact that it was done with a sledgehammer. This is why I avoid Christian movies. They are so often extremely clumsy just like this.

This is not to say that there weren't some bright spots. Sean Patrick Flanery's performance was very good. I did like the device through which the three murders were committed. There were very powerful moments building to the discovery that the abortion had been performed and also leading up to the execution. The small moment of cruelty practiced by the demon on his victim was particularly vivid, denying him that last meal which was so important to him. These, however, weren't enough to recommend it as a film.

As a Christian: 3 stars. In many ways this is like The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. It will have meaning to a Christian audience that's lost on everyone else. The theology in this movie was right. I haven't been able to shake the demonic expression of absolute contempt and hatred for humans as expressed by the condemned man, who we never doubted was possessed. It is given a tangible quality that is a good reminder that the invisible battle is raging fiercely. It has been sticking with me since I saw it.

Also of value. Interestingly, what we viewed as being a straight Christian movie once we were watching, wasn't understood that way by my mother at all. An 89-year-old atheist, she simply saw it as a horror movie since she was completely unfamiliar with the Christian concepts in the demon's and the psychiatrist's conversations. Later she was musing on the agony that was conveyed by the film and said that she thought it was a good movie. That made the movie worth watching for us.

A Movie You Might Have Missed #90 - Father Stu

GOD WANTED A FIGHTER. AND HE FOUND ONE.

The true-life story of boxer-turned-priest. When an injury ends his amateur boxing career, Stuart Long moves to Los Angeles to find money and fame. While scraping by as a supermarket clerk, he meets Carmen, a Sunday school teacher who seems immune to his bad-boy charm. Determined to win her over, the longtime agnostic starts going to church to impress her. However, a motorcycle accident leaves him wondering if he can use his second chance to help others, leading to the surprising realization that he’s meant to be a Catholic priest.

This is that rare find, a well done Christian movie. Usually we avoid faith based films like the plague because they are terribly schmaltzy, poorly acted and produced, and painfully obvious. We gave this a chance because we were intrigued not only by the basic story but by Mark Wahlberg's dedication to getting it produced.

It definitely is made for a specific audience which includes our family and it has the familiar beats of such a story. However, they were done in so well that it hit the mark in a big way. We were all pleasantly surprised by the high quality of acting and production which accompanied this inspiring story.

Note: some Catholics are put off by the very vulgar language. We felt it told the story of Stu's background and how far he comes. However, there is a PG-13 version where the language has been cleaned up called Father Stu Reborn.

A Movie You Might Have Missed #30 — The Mill and the Cross

It's been 10 years since I began this series highlighting movies I wished more people knew about. I'm rerunning it from the beginning because I still think these are movies you might have missed.

This film is a luminous masterpiece that is an art movie in every sense of the word. 

Painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder (Rutger Hauer) explains the meaning of his painting, The Procession to Calvary,  to his patron (Michael York) from within the painting itself. That is the description from the back of the DVD case which gripped my imagination and made me take it home. We were not disappointed. As Roger Ebert said, "If you see no more than the opening shots, you will never forget them."

This is an art movie in every sense of the word. Dialogue is spare, the pace is deliberate, and sometimes it can be difficult to tell where real life ends and the painting begins. Those elements contribute to this movie's power, as we are introduced to a dozen of the over 500 characters in the painting in an extraordinary blend of live action and special effects. As the artist imagines them coming to life with a new morning, we follow the characters to their eventual inclusion within the art. With careful scene framing and lighting as luminous as that of any painting, we truly felt as if we were within a painting.

Most of what I have said would not actually tempt me to watch the film. It must be experienced and is very difficult to describe. It came to my attention after being recommended as a contemplative piece during Lent by Joseph Sousanka, but I think this film stands on its own as a unique piece of art which anyone may appreciate. It certainly should fascinate anyone interested in the making or appreciation of either art or films.

A looking deeper hint — pay attention to how many times you see bread, whether being carried, eaten, or made. And then think of the Mill of God and the Cross of Christ, with all that implies for Catholics.

You will either love it or hate it, but you will not forget it. (And then you'll go to a museum.)

Pieter Bruegel's The Way to Calvary
via Wikipedia

Movie Review: Calvary

Not for the faint-of-heart. But simply astounding. 

A real masterpiece that provides food for thought for everyone from Catholics to atheists.

============

"No point in killing a bad priest. I'm going to kill you because you're innocent."

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.


Rated R for sexual references, language, brief strong violence and some drug use.

NOTE
I had the opportunity to interview the director/writer John Michael McDonagh. That interview appears here.

SECOND NOTE
Here is a featurette about Calvary which shows some insights into Father James's character from Brendan Gleeson and others. It doesn't really spoil anything that I can tell and I liked it much better than the trailer I saw.

At the Movies and Related News: Philomena

Philomena (2013, Stephen Frears dir.)
★★★

I'm not a fan of movies where the theme is "bash the bad guys" especially when the "bad guys" have been bashed by many a moviemaker already. You know what I mean: Slavetraders, Nazis, heartless mine owners, and so forth. I don't deny the bad guys need bashing much of the time, I just don't care to get my "facts" via a one-sided, often manipulative film. And I often find the subject matter too sad to want to watch. I can read articles or a book if need be, where I will often find more nuanced, complete information.

Therefore, I'd managed to avoid Philomena until forced to watch it for a movie discussion group. If you have to watch a "bash the bad Irish Catholic nuns" film, this is probably the one you want. In this case they preach shame to unwed mothers while allowing rich American Catholics to adopt the babies without the mothers' permission. The mothers have to work in a horrible, prison-like laundry. It's definitely not Christian by any stretch of the imagination. So - very bad nuns.

Philomena (Judi Dench) is a woman who alongside reporter Martin Sixsmith (Steve Coogan) journeys to America to find the illegitimate son who was adopted 50 years ago. Philomena is still a Catholic, something that atheist Sixsmith just can't fathom after what was done to her.

So far, all is according to what we'd expect. The nuns are bad, the reporter is angry, and the film is fairly predictable and manipulative. So why do I say it is worth watching?

Judi Dench, as we'd expect, turns in a stellar performance as a little, old Irish lady who loves romances and salad bars. She also shows the fruit of fortitude in living with life's hard knocks, deep empathy, and keen insight. In some ways it made me think of my mother-in-law who had a gift for delivering simple but penetrating insights while we were doing something mundane like making potato salad. You never expected it but you always remembered it.

Philomena's, set between the two judgmental, unyielding, self-righteous forces of Mother Hildegarde and Martin Sixsmith, who delivers the takeaway message of the movie. This is reinforced by the view of her son's life, which points up the fact that life is often not easy no matter what one's circumstances. Viewers are left to ponder what actions they themselves take when life delivers a brutal blow.

RELATED NEWS
It hadn't escaped my attention that this movie was in my life at just the time to make me pay attention to more terrible news about the Irish Catholic Church. We were specifically watching the movie as a contrast piece to I Confess featuring Montgomery Clift as a very holy priest from around the same time period. Obviously I needed to do my homework.

And I'm glad I did. It solidified one thing I already knew.

It doesn't matter who is committing evil, under what "trustworthy" banner whether religious, teacher, coach, or friend. Evil is evil. Vision is skewed.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness... — Matthew 23:27-28

Jennifer Fitz has an excellent piece on the Irish news, Evil is Easy, which only served to cement the reading I above, which I'd heard on a podcast while mulling this over. Jennifer pointed out that we need not only point fingers at the past. (Don't stop at this bit ... go read it all.)

What you and I need to fear, then, is not our tolerance of cruelty towards Irish unwed mothers of the mid-20th century, but our tolerance of some other horror that perhaps we can’t even see.

This formed an excellent talking point for the movie group, as a matter of fact. We also wound up discussing Irish culture as a whole which led to some of the points I read in Pia de Solenni's excellent coverage. I'll let you discover them for yourself in these pieces:

• When the Truth Gets in the Way of News
• Still Trying to Get at the Truth of The Tuam House Story

The best overall media analysis, as is so often the case in anything about religion, comes from GetReligion. Read In Irish children's deaths, clarity doesn't thrive in a septic tank to see who is reporting honestly and who is spinning without complete information.

For me the best commentary was that of Irish Independent columnist David Quinn. It is a thoughtful and thorough piece which leaves us with a truth that cannot be denied.

Why didn't the children and adults encounter a proper Christian witness, real love, when they walked through their doors? Why was it impersonal rules and regulations on a good day and cruelty of a sometimes very extreme kind on other days?

I think it was because Christianity in Ireland had by then hardened into something that was all too often more about punishment than mercy and forgiveness. To that extent Christianity in Ireland had become, in the strict meaning of the term, anti-Christ, and the church is still living this down.

With all that said, these are the sorts of things I read to get a real grip on a situation. You can't turn to a movie like Philomena expecting more than one view. We're just lucky that Philomena herself had the one view we really needed.