Description:
In a Bronx Catholic school in 1964 a progressive priest Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman) has his relationship with a 12-year-old student Donald Miller questioned by the school's unpleasant nun principal Sister Aloysius (Meryl Streep).
Where to watch:
Available on Kanopy, to Hoopla and Showtime subscribers, and for rent on Amazon ($3.59), YouTube ($2.88), and Vudu ($3.99).
Where to chat:
Discussion 7:45pm on May 13 (2024) at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/2272006912 Meeting ID: 227 200 6912
Notes:
The film is based on a play by John Patrick Shanley.
Here is a manual explaining the responsibilities and duties of Catholic Altar Boys and terms for some of the items used in their mass ceremony.
Possible issues to be discussed: Is abuse by Catholic clergy more common than that of other professionals? Are successful abusers often friendly, popular, and charitable? Do abusers target kids whom society doesn't care about? If someone confesses, apologizes, or resigns, does it mean they are really guilty? Should people make accusations of serious crimes if they have no evidence or witness statements but just a feeling? Can abuse survivors watch "ambiguous" movies like this about what happened to them without suffering harm?
Postscript:
(Spoilers)
The incident in the film is that the priest had a private meeting with a student/altar boy in regards to his theft and drinking of some communion wine. The priest had the private meeting in order to prevent the boy being expelled from the school. Sister Aloysius thinks something else was going on and goes on a vendetta against the priest.
Among other responsibilities, Altar Boys bring wine and water in "cruets" to the priest. Thus they have private unsupervised access at times to the ceremonial wine supply which is kept in the sacristy. The sacristy is a small room adjacent to the altar area which contains vestments, sacred vessels, and parish records. Altar Boys and priests change into their robes and prepare items for mass there.
The film depicts there being no evidence or accusations by the victim of abuse, it is just a mean and extremely conservative nun who despises the priest's progressivism. The film takes place during a period when the Second Vatican Council of 1962 to 1965. This Council resulted in massive reforms to the Catholic faith and practices, such as the elimination of Latin Mass in favor of mass in languages people could understand. There was a great deal of resistance to these reforms by both clergy and laity. Aloysius represents someone who was very unhappy about changes in the church, and Flynn as someone who was changing with the times. Sister James (Amy Adams) is a young and naïve nun who appears confused and disturbed by events. The film depicts nuns as living quite repressed and miserable in the church, while priests had greater freedoms such as to carouse, party, smoke, drink, and eat well.
A confusing and disturbing element of the film regards Donald Miller's mother. She values the opportunity he has to attend this private Catholic school, but reveals that her son is gay and that his father would kill him if he knew. She is not upset to find that her son might be being sexually abused by the priest, and seems to indicate that she has no issue with it as in her mind it must be consensual. Such consent can not be given by someone so young, but this is not even discussed. Thus the film seems to be saying that abuse did not occur, and the person making the accusations was just a terrible backwards person motivated by hate, but if the abuse actually did occur, then it was okay. This is a confusing and disturbing perspective in the film, making the playwright's intentions and the point of the film unclear.
During our discussion several members noted that they believed the suspected abuse did in fact happen, and made compelling arguments using evidence of details from the film to show this. This left the film being about the sexual abuse of a 12 yr old child by an adult man, which is presented as being okay since it is said to be consensual. It also depicts the accuser of the crime as a terrible backwards person who is committing a wrong by calling attention to the crime. At this point the playwright's intentions and the point of the film become despicable. After the discussion, I was extremely upset, could not sleep all night, and regretted scheduling this film.