Movie Rec: “Conspiracy of Silence.”

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“Conspiracy of Silence” (2003) is a drama about the repercussions of celibacy in the Roman Catholic Church as viewed through the lives of an active priest and his partner, an inactive priest; a straight seminarian; and, a journalist who tries to fight the hierarchy.

Although not as powerful and as hard hitting as the movie “Priest”, “Conspiracy of Silence” does an equally wonderful job of posing priests as both the protagonists and antagonists. This movie could have gone deeper…much deeper, but for what it does, it does well. Personally, I feel as if there was another seminarian and a noble priest who seemed to be forgotten by the writer and the director. It almost feels as if they had much larger roles, but were cut short for some reason.

As far as GLBT interests, this movie makes a lot of promises, but lacks follow through. The beginning of the film sets the stage for what could have been quite interesting. In some ways, I feel as if they told the wrong story or, at the very least, half the story. Even considering that, I’m recommending this movie. Don’t watch this film expecting a “gay movie”.

The cinema photography isn’t my preferred style, but that didn’t distract from the quality writing (what was included was written well) and wonderful acting. This is an Irish movie and some people have complained that the accent makes the dialog difficult to follow. I didn’t have this problem.

Now, for more shallow interests.

Eye candy: There’s not really much. Once again, the beginning is charged with a homoerotic element that seems to be forgotten by the middle of the film. The lead seminarian carried special interest for me because he almost has Father Daniel’s lips and the character is named Daniel. I suspect the meaning and origin of that name leads a lot of writers to name priests “Daniel.” There were a few priests in the background who deserved close-ups that they never received. There is a nicely done heterosexual sex scene, but who cares about that? *wink*

Actors: The bishop in this movie is played by the same actor who plays the bishop in “Father Ted.” There were others I thought I recognized, but I couldn’t place them. However, I suck at that.