August 20. 2014
®lt* ÿ o rtla n h (Ober ruer
Page II
Vancouver
East County
Beaverton
P*WW
North. Portland
Kelly Reilly and Brendan Gleeson star in ‘Calvary. ’
PHOTO COURTESY FO X SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES
‘Calvary’ grasps for a World beyond Fairness
A priest’s faith is
tested as life hangs
in the balance
by
D arleen O rtega
In the opening scene of "Calvary" (my
favorite film so far this year), a priest, Father
James Lavelle, awaits the confession of one
of his parishioners. Instead he receives a
death sentence. The speaker informs the
priest that he was raped by a priest for five
years as a child; the perpetrator is now dead,
so he intends to kill Father James. "I'm going
to kill you 'cause you've done nothing wrong,
I'm going to kill you 'cause you're innocent."
He will give the priest a week to get his affairs
in order.
The rest of the film reveals how this priest
spends the next seven days leading up to his
date with his would-be killer. He believes he
knows who has made the threat - but we
don't. So we watch him going about his
priestly duties, visiting the sick and the (pos­
sibly) penitent, attempting to intervene in a
domestic violence situation, visiting with his
wounded daughter Fiona and the local
bishop. The ending of the story is less impor­
tant than how this minister lives his life.
* The commandment, 'thou shalt not
kill' doesn 't have an asterisk beside it,
referring you to the bottom o f the page,
where there's a list o f instances where it
is okay to kill people.
- Father James, character In Calvary
How should a person of genuine faith
respond to a death threat? The question
resounds for me in both its literal and meta­
phorical senses. Should he report the threat
to the police? Obtain a gun for protection?
Leave town? How Father James responds is
profoundly instructive.
He shows up. Often his job is to be present
when people are struggling or suffering, and
to remain attentive to what he might do. His
first line of the film is "I’m her€ to listen to
whatever you have to say," and he often
expresses a commitment to "try my best to
help you." But that doesn't mean offering
platitudes or cheap solutions out o f the
typical religious toolkit. Sometimes it means
just sitting with a person's dilemma, and
offering a way to wrestle with it honestly. For
example, an angry and awkward young man
tells the priest that he is considering joining
the military, and Father James engages him
on the shallowness of his thinking about
violence. "The commandment, 'thou shalt
not kill' doesn't have an asterisk beside it,
referring you to the bottom of the page,
where there's a list of instances where it is
okay to kill people," he explains. "What
about self-defense?" the young man asks.
"Well, that's a tricky one, alright," Father
James responds. O f course, the priest is the
only one facing a threat.
He listens. Again, watch that opening
scene. Father James listens, intently. When
the congregant criticizes him for his reaction
to the revelation about sexual abuse, Father
James considers, then apologizes. In scene
after scene, you can see him working at
remaining open to what may be happening in
each interaction. That doesn't mean he al­
ways responds in a way the speaker wants to
hear, but generally he works to remain open
and engaged.
He is courageous. He doesn’t shy away
from the hard questions. During the visit
from Fiona, who has recently failed in an
attempt to kill herself, he gently pursues her
with questions that will move them past her
despair and defensiveness. He hangs in there ”
as she expresses sorrow and anger for the
ways he abandoned her for the priesthood
after her mother died, and as she struggles
with the ultimate questions of faith. In other
scenes, he attempts to intervene in a troubled
marriage where a cheating wife is getting
beaten, even though the wife, husband, and
lover all are hostile and unrepentant.
He is discerning. Nearly all the members
of his community are responding to their
own brokenness or doubt with anger, or
treachery, or hostility. Father James is gen-
continued
on page 17