Deliver Us From Evil.

The LA Weekly's Ella Taylor: "When a major distributor like Lionsgate releases a documentary on an inflamed social issue like child molestation, one expects the worst kind of pandering to the public hysteria so skillfully exposed in Andrew Jarecki's Capturing the Friedmans. But Amy Berg's Deliver Us From Evil, which begins as a portrait of a damaged monster and skillfully fans out to his many victims and enablers, lifts the subject clean out of private pathology into the realm where it belongs: the rampant and systematic abuse of theological and institutional power."

"It is a numbingly familiar story for Bostonians," sighs Peter Keough in the Boston Phoenix, where Tom Meek has background on its making. "But Deliver Us from Evil should renew the outrage and the incredulity."

Updated through 10/21.

Nick Schager in Slant: "Bolstered by O'Grady's commentary, which he delivers with a mixture of candor and smiling, 'let bygones be bygones' hideousness, as well as damning video deposition testimony from Church bigwigs who blatantly lied about their enabling of [Father Oliver] O'Grady's actions, Deliver Us From Evil proceeds with a sober clarity that lends credence to its devastating case."

"It almost goes without saying that no one from the church agreed to be interviewed in the film," notes AO Scott in the New York Times. "That silence... cedes the floor to the church’s critics.... Deliver Us From Evil makes the case that justice remains undone." More from Kenneth Turan in the Los Angeles Times and Michelle Orange for the Reeler.

Related: Director Amy Berg in the Huffington Post: "One of the most important dimensions of this on-going crisis is the continuing cover-up by the Catholic establishment. And it's not working." Also, the indieWIRE interview.

Update, 10/21: Gary Dretzka at Movie City News: "Last week, photos of Bush showing his support for House Speaker Dennis Hastert - accused of covering up knowledge of Foley's behavior - were splashed across the front pages of newspaper across the US. Having just seen Deliver Us From Evil, it was impossible not to fear for the safety of children entrusted to adults who have more compassion for the predator than its prey."

Posted by dwhudson at October 14, 2006 2:55 PM