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Deliver Us from Evil (2006 film)
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| Deliver Us from Evil | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Promotional poster | |
| Directed by | Amy J. Berg |
| Written by | Amy J. Berg |
| Produced by | Amy J. Berg Matthew Cooke Frank Donner Hermass Lassalle |
| Starring | Ann, Maria & Bob Jyono Nancy Sloan Adam, Becky & Phil M. Thomas Doyle Patrick Wall John Manly Jeff Anderson Dr. Mary Gail Frawley-O'Dea Case & Jane Degroot Oliver O'Grady |
| Cinematography | Jacob Kusk Jens Schlosser |
| Edited by | Matthew Cooke |
| Music by | Joseph Arthur Mick Harvey |
Production company | Disarming Films |
| Distributed by | Lionsgate |
Release date |
|
Running time | 101 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $327,205 |
Deliver Us from Evil is a 2006 American documentary film that explores the life of Irish Catholic priest Oliver O'Grady, who admitted to having molested and raped approximately 25 children in Northern California from the late 1970s through the early 1990s.[1] Written and directed by Amy J. Berg, it won the Best Documentary Award at the 2006 Los Angeles Film Festival and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, though it lost to An Inconvenient Truth.[2] The title of the film refers to a line in the Lord's Prayer.
Synopsis
[edit]The film chronicles O'Grady's years as a priest in Northern California, where he committed his crimes. After being convicted of child molestation in 1993 and serving seven years in prison, he was deported to his native Ireland, where Berg interviewed him in 2005. Additionally, the film presents trial documents, videotaped depositions with O'Grady and other members of the Los Angeles Archdiocese (including Monsignor Cain and Roger Mahony), and interviews with survivors of O'Grady's abuse, activists, theologians, psychologists, and lawyers. Taken together, the material suggests that Church officials were aware of O'Grady's crimes many years before his conviction, but took steps to conceal them to protect him and the Church.[3][4]
Reception
[edit]The film was well received by critics. It earned a 100 percent "Fresh" critics rating from Rotten Tomatoes based on 72 reviews, with a weighted average of 8.36/10, and is currently ranked 31st among the site's highest rated documentaries of all time.[5] The site's consensus reads: "Deliver Us from Evil is a superb documentary and a searing look at an institution protecting its leaders at the expense of its followers. A profoundly disturbing chronicle of a wolf in sheep's clothing, the film builds a clear-eyed case against pedophile priest Oliver O'Grady, and the Catholic bureaucracy that protected him. The recollections of O'Grady's victims are nothing short of shocking and heartbreaking."[6] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 86 out of 100, based on 23 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[7]
The Irish Independent criticized Berg for having filmed children in Ireland without their knowledge or that of their families.[8]
Aftermath
[edit]After the documentary was shown on Dutch national TV in April 2010, members of a parish in Schiedam recognized O'Grady as having been an active volunteer in the parish until January 2010. They had known nothing about his background. He had also been active in the Netherlands as an organizer of children's parties.[9]
Inspiration
[edit]Amy J. Berg in an interview with the International Documentary Association cites the cinema verité as well as the works of Stanley Kubrick, Krzysztof Kieslowski, Tomas Vinterberg, Alejandro Innaritu, Gus Van Sant, Lars Von Trier as inspirations.[10] In another interview Berg cited documentarian Michael Moore and the Dogma 95 film movement.[11]
See also
[edit]- Catholic Church sexual abuse cases
- Roger Mahony's role in covering up sexual abuse in the Los Angeles Archdiocese
- Twist of Faith (2005), an HBO documentary film about abuse in the Catholic Church
- Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God (2012), another HBO documentary
- Holy Water-Gate, a 2004 documentary
- Secrets of the Vatican, a 2014 documentary
- Sex Crimes and the Vatican, a 2006 BBC documentary
- Spotlight, a 2015 film about The Boston Globe's 2001 investigation into cases of child sex abuse in the Boston area by Catholic priests[12]
- List of films with a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a film review aggregator website
References
[edit]- ^ Guccione, Jean (May 11, 2005). "A Glimpse at the Mind of a Pedophile". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ "The New York Times: Deliver Us from Evil". The New York Times. 2008. Archived from the original on September 5, 2008. Retrieved November 23, 2008.
- ^ Thomson, Desson (November 10, 2006). "An Unassuming Face of 'Evil'". The Washington Post.
- ^ Stein, Ruthe (October 27, 2006). "The bitter wake of a pedophile protected by the church". San Francisco Chronicle.
- ^ "Rotten Tomatoes' Best Documentary Movies". Rotten Tomatoes.
- ^ "Deliver Us From Evil". Rotten Tomatoes.
- ^ "Deliver Us from Evil". Metacritic.
- ^ Hickey, Walshe. "Uproar as school footage used in film on pedophile". Archived from the original on November 5, 2015. Retrieved October 13, 2006.
- ^ "Convicted Irish priest active in the Netherlands". NRC Handelsblad. 27 April 2010. Archived from the original on April 30, 2010. Retrieved 27 April 2010.
- ^ "Meet the DocuWeek Filmmakers: Amy Berg--'Deliver Us From Evil'". International Documentary Association. Retrieved 2023-05-01.
- ^ Indiewire (2006-10-13). "indieWIRE INTERVIEW: Amy Berg, director of "Deliver Us From Evil"". IndieWire. Retrieved 2023-05-01.
- ^ Lombardi, Kristen (October 31 – November 6, 2003). "Phil Saviano Founder of the local Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests". Boston Phoenix. Archived from the original on October 10, 2015. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
External links
[edit]- Deliver Us from Evil at IMDb
- Deliver Us from Evil at AllMovie
- Deliver Us from Evil at Box Office Mojo
- Deliver Us from Evil at Rotten Tomatoes
- Deliver Us from Evil at Metacritic
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