CINEMA: Stanley Peskin
IN Priest, director Antonia Bird clearly believes that two of the feathered=
species in the hand are better than one in the bush. This is to say that Pr=
is not the most subtle film. In complicity with Jimmy McGovern=D5s blunt=20 screenplay, Bird directs with a brashness that is sometimes overwrought.=20 Nevertheless, Priest is a thought-provoking film, despite the simplistic=20 approach it takes towards orthodox Catholic doctrine, which is nothing if=
not thorny and perplexing. The values the film promotes are temporal and secular rather than spiritual=
and eternal; they are rooted in the everyday lives of common people. The=20 meaning of Christian love is given its broadest implication: love thy fello=
man whatever his colour, and more startingly, whatever his sexual=20 persuasions may be. Father Matthew=D5s brand of tolerant religion gives a=
new meaning to the Sermon on the Mount, unless one regards Jesus=D5=20 preachings as radically socialist in the first place. The counter-argument of Father Greg (Linus Roache, in a sensitively=20 tormented performance) is that it is much easier to make society the=20 scapegoat for one=D5s sins than to take personal responsibility for one=D5s=
imperfections. In response, Matthew (a fine Tom Wilkinson), who finds=20 Greg=D5s argument offensive, implicitly questions his idealistic conviction=
that one should not think less of people because they live in a poor parish=
The inner city of Liverpool is his parish and a bleakly uncompromising=20 place it is. Theological debate and the rules of the church, Greg discovers, are less of= a=20 necessity than any practical good he might do. The chief lesson he learns i=
that Christ is not a =D2smug, idle bastard=D3, and there is the concomitant=
recognition that he must be careful not to judge others too harshly. This=
point is made clear when Bird intercuts his giving of Holy Communion to=20 his parishioners with intimate love scenes shared by him and his lover=20
Although there is a strong sense of felt life, the structure of the film is= fairly=20 diagrammatic. On the one side, there is Father Greg=D5s disapproval of the=
relationship of Father Matthew and his housekeeper Maria (Cathy Tyson).=20 On the other side, there is the horror and helplessness he experiences when=
he is told in confession by a young girl (Christine Tremarco) of the=20 incestuous relationship that exists between herself and her father (Robert=
Pugh). In the middle, he is himself gay and not without sexual desire. After a forced exile from the parish, he comes to terms with pride and=20 imperfections. Whether or not he returns to his lover, after a sentimental=
orgy of love and forgiveness shown by Father Matthew, the abused=20 daughter and some of the parishioners, is not made clear. But the film wil=
have it on a number of occasions that no man =D2walks alone=D3, with the=20 kitsch Richard Rodger=D5s song from Carousel prominent on the soundtrack. When it comes to the sex scenes, the film is completely liberated. I should=
imagine that they will shock many members of the audience, for they are=20 genuinely and naturally erotic.