Our Movie Review: Deliver Us From Evil (2006 documentary)

Why we watched it: Was on list of best documentaries

Our rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Our review: As this documentary is nearly 10 years old, I was concerned that it would be dated in exploring the issue of sexual abuse committed by Catholic priests. I was clearly wrong, as the power of this film is not limited by when it was made. This power of this documentary comes from the interview conducted with a convicted priest, describing his skewed view of his relationships with children. He acknowledges his sexual assault of children (and manipulation of their parents), yet his candor does not truly reveal a recognition of the implications of his actions. His attempt at reparations–sending letters to each of his victims to ask them to meet with him to so he could apologize–is disturbing revealing (for us, but perhaps not for him) when he casually includes a desire to have them describe what he did to them, in detail, as part of the process.

Beyond this individual exploration of a one abuser, the outrage from this documentary comes from the theocratic machinery that allowed (inspired) the movement of this known pedophile priest from one church to another. It highlights a Church not focused on individual souls, but the p.r. image of the institution. I was left wondering how men, assuming they were drawn to their calling through an honest love of the faith, could justify to themselves enabling of this wolf among the flock. The documentary implies that their belief has been subsumed into a belief in the institution–it is not the people in the pews that must be saved, but the illusion cast by the building.