Demonic children, horrifying houses, bloody body parts and lots and lots of screams are usual Friday the 13th fare. But this past Friday, "Deliver Us From Evil," a documentary about the Catholic Church and pedophilia, was released, exploring topics more unsettling than any horror film. Written and directed by Amy Berg, this documentary follows the stories of one of the most infamous pedophilic priests and his victims.
While other weekend horror films involved creatures and antagonists from out of this world, "Deliver Us From Evil" stayed a little closer to home and followed Father Oliver O'Grady. O'Grady is Irish by birth, but served as a priest in California for over 10 years. During this time, he served in two parishes and was accused of child molestation in both of them. He is one of the first priests to admit to his crime.
The documentary introduces the families and people who had been sexually assaulted by O'Grady, and then it continues to go more in-depth. It follows O'Grady's journey as a priest and the issue of child molestation in the Catholic Church as a whole, leading up to one of the defining moments of the film when two of the victims are sent away from the Vatican in their effort to reveal their secret past.
The subject matter of this film makes for a deeply emotional viewing experience. The frightening nature of pedophilia is not the only thing making the film effective; the story line is effective as well. Each of O'Grady's victims had his or her own personal story, and the viewer is able to see the effect the priest left not only on the victim's life, but also on his or her family.
One family in particular was so deeply distraught that the father not only lost all faith in the Church, but stopped believing in God altogether. The documentary makes no attempts to disguise the reality of the events, and seeing a priest admit to sexually assaulting children is jarring.
"Deliver Us From Evil" uses a perfect combination of great cinematography and powerful music. With original pieces from Joseph Arthur and Mick Harvey, this film is able to heighten the emotion through its music. Each part of the film involves a perfect combination of scenes depicting real people and facts about Oliver O'Grady and the Catholic Church.
The film, perhaps unsurprisingly, does not portray the Catholic Church in a positive light. Though it may not have been Berg's intention to demean the Church, the film attacks Catholic clergy and Pope Benedict XVI. Before becoming Pope, Benedict (then known as Joseph Ratzinger) was the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith.
This congregation was responsible for writing doctrine on child molestation and birth control, among other topics. In the film, Ratzinger is said to have let a lot of these cases of molestation go under the radar. Whether or not this is true, it didn't seem to fit in the film, which was primarily focused on Father O'Grady.
"Deliver Us From Evil" achieves its main goal, which is to educate people about a problem that exists locally and globally. This informative, disturbing documentary puts a face and a story to the headlines we see in the papers about priests and pedophilia, and this is ultimately what makes the film effective.
