Calvary (2014)

** ½ out of ****

Expectations, expectations..... avoid them at all costs. Whenever I expect a movie to be great it invariably lets me down. “Calvary” is a decent movie, but nothing special. After reading that it was a dark comedy with Brendan Gleason playing a Catholic priest who is threatened with death in the confessional, I expected it to be great. How could it miss?

Well, it doesn't miss, but it doesn't really hit the mark either.

Gleason is Father James, a parish priest in Ireland that we first meet in the confessional of his church. One of his parish (we don't see who) enters the confessional and explains that for five years as a boy he had been sexually abused by a priest, and he has decided to do something about it. He can't seek revenge on his abuser as he has long since passed away, but he is going to kill Father James. His goal is to hurt the church and killing a bad priest would only improve the church, so he is going to kill a good priest. He then gives Father James a week to get his house in order.

The Father knows who it was that made the threat, but due to the secrecy of the confessional he cannot tell anyone about it. He looks into buying a gun to protect himself, but beyond that he carries on with business as usual for a small town priest in Ireland. His activities in this capacity are the most compelling thing about the movie.

Father James wasn't always a priest – his calling came late. He has an adult daughter who has come to visit, and she is the survivor of a recent suicide attempt. A decrepitly old American author lives in the town and is good friends with Father James, and he asks the priest to obtain a gun for him so that he can kill himself when the suffering becomes too great. A couple in his parish get his attention as it appears that he is beating her for her infidelities, and a local wealthy businessman with nothing to live for is trying to buy his place in eternity with insanely large contributions to the church. A young parishoner is considering the army, which Father James thinks would be a horrible mistake. For a small town, there is a lot for Father James to do.  Following him through conversations with these characters and others give you empathy for the priest, but probably not enough to really care about any character in the film other than him.

The best thing in “Calvary” is Brendan Gleason. This is no surprise, as he is generally the best thing in any film he appears in. His depiction of Father James is lovely in its simplicity. James is not a tormented man, or having any crisis of faith. He is simply a priest that tries to do the best he can for everyone under his watchful eye, even if it means risking his own life and future to follow the rules of his office. My only real criticism of the film is its often ham-handed handling of the town's “non-believers” and their cruelty to the Priest. Granted I don't live in Ireland and am not familiar with how deep and cruel cynicism is there, but I found this greatly unconvincing.

Gleason's performance alone is worth the price of the ticket. But don't expect to laugh (you won't), to cry (you won't) or be moved (you won't be). Not a bad film, but much below expectations.