John Michael Mcdonagh's Black Comedy, Calvary

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John Michael McDonagh’s 2014 Black Comedy/Drama, Calvary, is a wonderfully shot and lovingly written masterpiece, featuring the gorgeous landscapes of the Irish countryside, the beauty of which is only surpassed by the patient and masterfully executed character drama that the film portrays. The film paints an unflinching picture of the modern Catholic priesthood in a rural Irish town, as well as the town’s people who have seemed to have outgrown concepts of the religion altogether. At the epicenter of this traditional Irish town wrought with not so traditional, post-modern problems is Father James Lavelle (played by Brendon Gleeson) who plays the part of, to quote the film, “the good priest.” Seemingly a straightforward role, Father James finds …show more content…

Father James sits in waiting in the confessional booth on a Sunday afternoon and is soon met with the sounds of another person entering anonymously on the other side. The anonymous man explains to Father James that he was the victim of years of frequent rape at the hands of a catholic priest throughout his childhood. The priest responsible is now dead. Father James, to his shame, has no words that could be enough to console the man. No lawsuit can be filed and no revenge killing can ever take place. The anonymous man explains; however, that even if the priest still were alive, retribution would be of little use in his mind. What the anonymous man wants is to take the life of someone innocent. He wants to take the life of Father James because the father has done nothing wrong. Father James is told to put everything in his life in order over the course of one week before him and the anonymous man meet again, face to face, next Sunday on the shores of the small town. The anonymous man leaves with full intentions of murdering the father upon their next meeting while Father James contemplates his options of either fleeing the town, contacting the authorities or trying to personally talk the anonymous man down during their future meeting in the hope he can bring about some sort of true peace in the man’s painful existence. With dialogue alone this opening scene not only provides one hell of an

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