Review #789: 'Calvary' (2014)

Following 2011's wildly entertaining The Guard, John Michael McDonagh continues his dissection of Ireland with Calvary. But there's little of the former's laugh-out-loud humour, and certainly no slow-motion action set-pieces or stylish editing. Calvary feels like the work of a developing auteur, taking giant strides after a highly successful indie debut (The Guard is Ireland's most successful export ever, financially speaking), and creating a deep, meaningful film which is capable of going to some very dark places indeed. Brendan Gleeson again takes the lead, and with his performance as Father James, a good-natured priest given a week to live, he proves that he is one of Britain's acting giants.

The film begins with Father James being visited by an unseen man for a confession. "I first tasted semen when I was 7 years old," the man says, much to the priest's shock. He talks about his sexual abuse as a child at the hands of a priest, and how his desire for revenge rages inside of him. It would be no good killing a bad priest, so he's going to kill Father James instead, because he is a good man. Father James has a week to get his house in order, and is to meet his killer the following Sunday on the beach. James doesn't go to the police, and knows perfectly well who the mystery man is. Instead, he tends to his flock and cares for his suicidal daughter (Kelly Reilly), as his world begins to crumble around him.

Set in a small village in County Sligo, Father James's community is a tightly-knit one. Although the village's inhabitants show up for Mass every week, they show little but contempt and ridicule for the good Father. There's a butcher (Chris O'Dowd) who is suspected of beating up his wife (Orla O'Rourke) for openly cheating on him with an Ivorian immigrant (Issach De Bankole). There's also a surgeon (Aidan Gillen), an aggressively cynical man; a death's-door writer (M. Emmet Walsh) who wishes the end his own life whilst he is still control of it; a socially-inept young horndog (Killian Scott); a stinking-rich businessman (Dylan Moran) who is drinking himself to death; and a strange police chief (Gary Lydon) who frequently frolics with a young male prostitute (Owen Sharpe).

Their scenes play out in multi-layered conversations, slowly unravelling their own grievances with the Church, as the film tries to keep you guessing the identity of Father James's killer. But this soon loses it's importance as James's motivations for apparently willingly drifting towards his death come to the fore. It's no coincidence that the only characters who act with a mutual respect or affection for the priest aren't Irish. The well-documented abuse cases at the hands of Catholic paedophile priests has ruined the Church's reputation, and James goes through the film being mocked, threatened, and in one scene, has a lit cigarette flicked at him as a means to end a conversation.

Yet unlike last year's Philomena, this doesn't bash or condemn the Church. Ultimately, the sympathy lies with Father James, who is a decent man who tries to help people even when he's the subject of aggression. He's flawed, certainly. A recovering alcoholic, prone to violent tempers, he unknowingly neglected his daughter when his wife passed on his road to priestdom. When he comes across a little girl on a country lane for some idle chatter, her father races up and quickly ushers her away. His faith is unshaken but he cannot help embodying something so profoundly damaged and now so closely related to those unspeakable revelations. Calvary is a grand work by a director fearlessly working towards potential greatness.


Directed by: John Michael McDonagh
Starring: Brendan Gleeson, Chris O'Dowd, Kelly Reilly, Aidan Gillen, Dylan Moran, Isaach De Bankolé, M. Emmet Walsh, Orla O'Rourke
Country: Ireland/UK

Rating: *****

Tom Gillespie