Calvary The Review

RATED R

WARNING SPOILERS! 

There are films that play to the comfortable side of Christianity. That side where everything is miracles and mastery of good behavior. Films like "Unbroken" speak to our spirits that there is hope and that we can overcome. They inspire with their upbeat message and optimism. However, these high tempo testimonies in film do not move us like the low and melancholic tempo. Calvary is such a film that will move you and mess with our sense of perfectionism and priesthood. It challenges us with the facts of this world and what we must do to meet all the cursing', crassness, and cold hearts.

Calvary is a critique on the sexual scandals in the Catholic Church, the crushed souls who survived, and yet it also shows an exemplary clergyman who is the antithesis of the scandals. Calvary tackles subjects that we want to stray away from under our steeples like rampant adultery, homosexuality, sexual abuse, physical abuse, and host of other difficult to stomach social issues. So often we want to stay in the confines of our Christian culture where everything is happy and holy. But the mission field is out there, in the cold and cruel society of sinners.

Calvary's story revolves around the protagonist priest Father James. Father James and his parish lie in Ireland. There our clergyman find a community caught in sorrow. People are broken from the bad that has been done unto them. There in confines of a confessional, James has a confessor who was abused sexually by a priest for five years. This anonymous man seeks not absolution, but absolute revenge and he has painted Father James as his target, saying, "Nothing will come of killing a bad priest, so I will kill a good one, because that will send a message." The rest of movie is cloaked in mystery as you wonder which suspect seeks to slay Father James by Sunday on the sandy shore.

We are the viewers are thus given a week tell the Father James must face 'judgment day'. In the course of this time frame that unravels the majority of the film, we see that Father James cares about the community, visiting them to confront sins in private (Matthew 18:15) such as physical abuse, sexual immortality, and many others. Father James is not judgmental or naïve, but a wise, tender, and yet also godly and stern old man played Gleeson. We learn the Father James was once married and had daughter named Fiona who finds herself visiting her father. It is this relationship between Father James and his red headed Fiona that touches the heart. James loves his daughter and the two reconcile and confess their sins to each other. There is loving scene where Father James says to Fiona who tells her father she felt abandoned by two parents, her mother who died and her James who became a priest and sent her away. Father James says to her, "I will always love you, you will always have me in here (points to her heart) and you will always will be here (he points to his heart." This reconciliation is highlight in the film.

Contrast to the moments like restoration of the bond between father and daughter, we have Father James encounter situations like a homosexual prostitute, a enigmatic and eccentric rich man, and even Father James getting drunk after his church is destroyed and his dog murdered. It is in this moment of weakness, when Father James having been alcoholic falls off the wagon, that we see he is not perfect, but more importantly afterwards he does not waver or forsake his calling as a priest. Yes, being follower of Jesus is not about being perfect, but about being penitent and putting our trust in His forgiveness. Normally, a director would use this scene of stumbling for a servant of Jesus to vilify and prove that priests are hypocrites and corrupt, but instead the director makes it clear that Father James is not a villain, but instead a man who was hurting and made a poor decision that can be forgiven.

At the climax of the film, Father James calls his beloved Fiona and tells her a very profound statement, "I think there is too much talk about sins, and not enough about virtues." When asked which virtue he likes the best, James responds, "I think forgiveness has been highly underrated." This is the last conversation our favorite cleric will have with his child. For afterwards on the beach, Father James faces the person who is determined to do him in with a pistol. We then hear the sad story of how this broken man was abused and mistreated by a priest. Father James responds and the reprisal is a bullet to his belly. James falls on his back and keeps looking at his murderer. The Man cries to the clergyman to turn his gaze away, but Father James says, "Its not too late for you." But the broken man disagrees and discharges a final round into Father James brain. The final scene has Fiona visiting the killer of her Father. No words are exchanged, we merely see them both pick up the phones to talk. This I believe is the director trying to indicate that Fiona is living by the last words her father said, "Forgiveness, I think it is highly underrated."

Calvary deals with hard to stomach issues in the church and the character of citizens in communities. It is an intense glimpse in the great troubles and tenuous circumstances clergy must deal with on daily basis. Cultures have changed and Father James gives us a glimpse into the difficulty of "Being in the world, but not of it." (Romans 12:2). As viewer I did not arrive on the shores of 'cynicism' but rather I was encouraged that Father James despite all the deep mire and muck of people's choices in his community, he stays true to Christ and even knows like Jesus, he must go to Calvary.

I obviously cannot recommend the film to everyone, because the subject matter and scenes are intense. There are many moments that will encourage faith in Jesus Christ. One scene in particular has Father James talking to a woman who has lost her husband in an accident, but instead of asking "Why God or Where was God?" She responds, "And now.. he is gone. And that is not unfair. That is just what happened. But many people do not live good lives. They don't feel loved. And that is what is unfair, I feel sorry for them." This is refreshing, to see a believer who does not waver because of trauma but instead reassures and inspires the priest and her words serve as synopsis of the entire film and sadness we saved feel for those who are still lost in this world.

Calvary is cold hard look at the new generation and era the church is in. Father James displays a Biblical disposition and makes the viewer agree with him on many of the problems he is confronted with; but the same time there is compassion in this man of the cloth. What one can take from this film is that many cruel and crass people have been wounded in ways that make us shutter. The language is at times colorful, but not in unnecessary way, it is what you will hear out in about in this world and reminder as Christians that we are facing a very broken people and need to find the balance Father James shows which is dance between tolerance and temper like that of Jesus who drove out the money changers in the Temple. (John 2:15, Matthew 21:12). Father James is a good barometer (with the exception of his drunken moment) for how to respond to the worldly sinner; at times we must show mercy and at other times justice/judgment.

My mother has said this and it is true, "If you show mercy when people need justice (reprimand and judgment) you are show unsanctified mercy and do them harm, likewise if you show people justice (judgment) when they need mercy, you have given them unsanctified judgment." I believe this and I think Father James story tells this well. He shows mercy to a rich man and reassures him he matters, but he also shows mercy to a mad man and pays the price.

I recommend Calvary to Christians who can take the deep concepts and messages out of very raw and unromantic view of society and what it means to serve as follower of Christ. It is not depressing or dark, but the subjects and social issues it tackles are not easy for everyone to stomach. I found it enlightening and a encouragement that yes a man of God can make a difference and even if he makes a mistake (when he gets drunk under grief), it does not have to mark him forever. Father James rises from the jungle of injustice around Him and find peace in Jesus.