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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A moody, experimental film, March 17, 2003
This review is from: Sacred Silence (DVD)
SACRED SILENCE, an Italian film set in Naples, dares to share the thoughts and words behind the silences that have sequestered the subject of the role of the Catholic Church in cities under the strangle hold of gang viloence. The mood is set as soon as the film opens, showing the credits and title of the film superimposed on a fence/wall that is suggestive of a prison wall overlooking the city. Claustrophobia sets in and is rarely diminished throughout the story. Father Lorenzo is a young, handsome priest in a neighborhood that is beseiged by brutal gang violence at the hands of the Camorra. Almost incidental to the film is the priest's nurturing young men by giving sanctuary to drug addicts and to Nunzio who finds his only safe bond (in the presence of broken homes, miserable living conditions, fear) to be with Father Lorenzo. Yes, he is underaged and yes, it is suggested that the priest and the boy have an intamacy forbidden by the church and the macho community/mob. But the beauty of this relationship overshadows the horrors outside the church doors until the mob attempts to manipulate the priest by the threat of exposing his private life. The manner in which this is told includes momentary face-front-to-camera vignettes of each of the characters tellings us who they are, where they live, and a bit of their position in the story. This "police lineup" method of storytelling is effective and creates a tension that is only relieved by the music and moments between Father Lorenzo and Nunzio. While this film may not be for everyone, for those who seek more insight into the current Church scandals this story and the sensitivity of its telling will surely flesh out perspective.
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29 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
ora pro nobis (the viewers, that is), February 10, 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: Sacred Silence (DVD)
You'd think a film dealing with the Church, the Mafia and a Gay priest (bedding an underage altar boy, no less) would make for a crackerjack spellbinder. Well, not here. Forget it. Nothing but nothing happens. It takes almost a half-hour for what little gears there are to get in motion. People are being gunned down as if spliced from another movie, and no one explains why the local goverment and the bad guys suspect the priest and the boy of anything improper other than just pure malice. (No one has seen them do anything - ourselves included).Instead, time is wasted by having minor characters stop in mid non-action, turn to the camera and babble a short bio of themselves as if this were vital information for an inminent trial sequence to come, but no, it's all useless filler of no value to anyone, least of all the viewer. Again, for no reason, other characters - the priest included -sing pop tunes (yes napolitanos are musical) throughout. Characters constantly gaze out of windows - for the longest time! Then, when you think fireworks are going to finally go off, and you force your half-closed eyelids to open, on come the end titles! The filmaker was obviously more interested in showing us how hopeless and dreary life in this region is, why he chose these particular ingredients to do so is beyond me. The dvd box states that the guy playing the priest got the big one in Venice - for best sleepwalking, no doubt! Thank God I got 'Lola & Bill The Kid' that same day, otherwise, I might committed a sacrilege - on this dvd!
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Disquieting movie about a taboo subject....., May 29, 2007
This review is from: Sacred Silence (DVD)
This move presents the viewer with a classic moral conundrum. The plot of the movie is the story of the local Mafia exploiting a Priest's sexual affair with a vulnerable 13 year old boy to derail his grassroots crusade against the Mafia's influence in the neighborhood.
This movie is a relatively low budget movie, but brilliantly cast, acted and filmed. Its almost worth watching the movie for the glimpse it gives at the culture and street life of the city of Naples. But some might find movie's rather nuanced treatment of a pederastic relationship offensive.
I wonder about the motives of the movie because of the way it depicts the relationship between the adolescent boy and the Priest. We are confused because, unlike in so many abusive stories of pederasty we hear, the young man is not physically coerced or emotionally abused into the relationship but seduced in a caring, affectionate way not so different then that of a normal intimacy. The lonely boy from a dysfunctional family seems grateful for the nurturing attention of the Priest, who seems the responsible mentor in every other way, and he willingly submits to the Priest's seduction. Meanwhile, the Priest begins to preach against the influence of the mafia from his pulpit. But Priest goes too far when he begins to give interviews to the media and organizing public protests. The mafia boss bribes a social service worker to begin an investigation of the relationship between the boy and the Priest. The social service workers relentlessly pursue the investigation, and eventually the boy breaks down and confesses to the police that he had sexual relations with the priest.
We are not certain how to feel as the Mafia triumphs over the young Priest. Was the Priests pederasty more harmful then the violence and corruption of the mafia? Are we supposed to gloat in the Priest's downfall at the hands of the Mafia conspiracy against him? Or regret the end of his activism against the mafia?
I believe this moral conundrum is the tool the movie uses to compel the viewer to reconsider one's views of pederasty. On the other hand, the movie---unintentionally I believe---illustrates the central criticism of adult-teenager intimacy: the unequal power relationships between adults and adolescents. It is this unequal power relationship that makes sexual intimacy between adults and adolescents inherently manipulative, and ultimately harmful for the teenager.
This movie is worth watching, if nothing else but for the high "soap opera" style drama that it contains, as well as the glimpse into the street life of Naples. But be forewarned about it's rather unconventional treatment of the subject of pederasty.
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