Why do some films hit us harder than others? In my experience, it is often dependent on the height from which we fall in the course of the film. As I had no information prior to pressing "Play", the two hours were a shocking ride through a haunted house.
The clergy is never glorified yet the flaws its members have change throughout the movie and with it the general tone. For the first act it seemed as quite an amusing comedy: Priests are getting wasted, being called to duty in full booze, getting away from police control, the local construction project turns into a disaster...in short, these guys are nothing else then your normal underachieving losers, the comedic undertone springs from the fact that people still trust in them and they still hold power in society.
But how is that comedic? Should it not be terrifying?
The film goes on to explore that question and begins a journey downwards into human failure.
These things exist, no question. And they are not to be excused. What made me respect this movie a lot and probably made those images hit harder is the fact that they are embedded into the wider universe of the clerical society, with century-old structures that have established perversions, pitfalls and meanders. And generation after generation, the mold within the church survives: Abuse brings new abuse, abstinence brings craving, power brings corruption, charity turns to greed.
And in the characters that face their demons and superiors, admit their crimes and turn their back, we find pure human hearts, unaffected by the clergical structure, fighting to overcome societies inherent evil, that does not spare the church but lures in every part of human life:
"[...]sin is crouching at your door. It wants to rule you, but you must overcome it." (Gen 4:7)
