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Calvary | 2014 | R | - 6.6.6

A Catholic priest (Brendan Gleeson) in a small Irish town is told by a parishioner during confession that he will be murdered in one week as an act of retribution for sexual child abuse by Catholic priests. Also struggling with alcoholism, the priest tries to deal with a bewildering and challenging situation. Also with Chris O'Dowd, Kelly Reilly, Aidan Gillen, Dylan Moran, Isaach De Bankolé, M. Emmet Walsh, Marie-Josée Croze, Domhnall Gleeson, David Wilmot, Pat Shortt, Gary Lydon, Killian Scott, Orla O'Rourke and Owen Sharpe. Directed by John Michael McDonagh. [1:40]

SEX/NUDITY 6 - A man talks about tasting semen at the age of 7 and that he was raped by a priest orally and anally every other day for 5 years.
 A fully nude man (we see his nude profile including his chest and abdomen and bare hip and legs) is shown seated on the side of a bed next to someone sleeping in the bed (covered by a blanket) and sex is implied. A man and a woman are shown in bed; she is wearing a short nightgown (cleavage, bare shoulders and legs to the thighs are seen) and is straddling the man who is bare-chested and partially reclined (sex is implied). A man is shown bare-chested and we see his bare chest and abdomen to the hip and his bare back in a few scenes. A woman wears a one piece swimsuit and we see her bare shoulders, cleavage and legs to the hips. A woman's coat opens and we see her stocking tops and stocking covered thighs.
 A man makes several crude references to having sex with men (presumably for money) and he propositions a priest, who does not respond. A man tells another man while they are talking in a meat locker, "I hope we don't get locked in here. We'd have to make love to keep warm." A man says that not having sex makes him angry toward women. A priest asks a man if he has tried pornography and the man admits to having done so. A man says, "I have a thing for widows."
 A man and a woman hug. A man and a woman dance together in a pub.

VIOLENCE/GORE 6 - A man shoots another man in the abdomen (we see blood spurt), then in the head and blood pours from the exit wound. A man slams a priest into a table in a pub and the table breaks along with the glasses that were on it (no injuries are shown). A man finds his dog dead with its throat cut and we see blood-soaked fur. A man drinks heavily in a pub and is asked to leave by the proprietor; the man pulls out a handgun and threatens the proprietor and another man, then shoots several rounds into the bar and back bar breaking mirrors and bottles; the proprietor picks up a baseball bat and the scene ends (we understand that the man was beaten when we see his bloody face and hands later).
 A man in prison talks about having killed a number of people and that he can't remember where he buried one of the bodies; he says that he asked them to kill him and he talks about the police questioning him and that "They are obsessed with cannibalism." A man talks about a woman he killed and that "She had been abused before."
 We hear about a car accident where a man was badly injured by a drunk driver (we see him in the hospital with a tube in his mouth and bandages on his head) and we see the man's wife grieving over him in the hospital as a priest performs last rites. We see a coffin being loaded onto an airplane and the dead man's wife tells a priest that she is taking him home to his family.
 A man has a nightmare where he sees a man with a gun moving toward him and shooting (he wakes up with a start). A man tells another man that "I'm gonna kill you because you are innocent." A man lunges at another man and yells at him. A man talks about tasting semen at the age of 7 and that he was raped by a priest orally and anally every other day for 5 years (he says that he bled a lot). A man says that "some of them like to be hit" when being questioned about hitting a woman he is having an affair with. An elderly man asks another man for a gun to use to kill himself when the time comes. A man talks about a gun having been used when "He shot them all on Bloody Sunday." A man talks about clubbing someone to death. A man asks another man, "Why do people kill themselves?" A man says that he thinks his only choices in life are to join the army or commit suicide. A man says that not having sex makes him angry toward women. A man talks about wanting to murder someone. A doctor says, "Excuse me. I have to go kill somebody" as he walks into a hospital. A man admits to shoving his wife. A man talks about the death of his wife. A man talks about his family leaving him. A priest talks about people cursing God and losing their faith after the death of a loved one. A woman talks about her father having been killed. A doctor talks about a young boy in a surgery and the anesthetist making a mistake that left the child blind and deaf and paralyzed.
 We see a woman with bandages on her wrists and understand that she attempted suicide. A woman is shown with a black eye and a priest attempts to figure out who caused it. A priest walks along a road with a young girl and they talk until her father speeds up in a car, yells at the priest and tells him to stay away from his daughter.
 We see a small church engulfed in flames and people gather around to watch. A man shoots skeet on his property. A man shows another man a case of assorted weapons in his home. A man flicks a lit cigarette at another man (we see ash on his clothing).
 A man takes an expensive painting off a wall and urinates on it; we hear him unzip his pants and see a stream of urine as well as hear the trickle. A butcher hacks meat with a large cleaver and we see bloody meat. Two men talk in a meat locker among hanging carcasses. A doctor puts a cigarette out in a bloody organ in a pan.

LANGUAGE 6 - About 18 F-words, 12 sexual references, 10 scatological terms, 11 anatomical terms, 6 mild obscenities, 2 derogatory terms for a Black man, name-calling (the cow, lost causes, pathetic, godforsaken, corny, genius, idiots, supercilious, little blaggard, meanie, Romanians [used in a derogatory manner], heathens), exclamations (bloody), 9 religious exclamations (e.g. Holy [mild obscenity deleted], Oh God, God, Godforsaken, For Christ sake, Jesus, Jesus Christ).

SUBSTANCE USE - A man and a woman snort cocaine in a public restroom and a priest walks in on them, a man talks about having done LSD, a man takes his prescription medication with a glass of alcohol, we see vials of prescription medication on an elderly man's night table, two men smoke marijuana in a pub, and someone asks, "You have any crystal meth?" A man is shown drinking a lot of alcohol and beer in a pub and he seems inebriated (please see the Violence/Gore category for more details), a priest accuses a boy of filling his wine glass too full at mass and then that says he thinks the boy has been drinking some of his wine (he seems to be joking), people drink beer and whisky in a pub, people drink wine with food, people drink alcohol in a pub, a man takes his prescription medication with a glass of alcohol, a man brings a bottle of alcohol to an elderly man, two men drink liquor, and a man drinks a glass of alcohol in his home and he appears to be inebriated. A man smokes a cigarette at his place of work while talking to another man outside, a man smokes a cigarette, and a doctor smokes outside a hospital.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Pedophilia, child abuse, rape, the Catholic Church, suicide, death of a parent, death of a spouse, faith, crisis of faith, infidelity, adultery, mortal sin, small towns, psychopaths, compassion, forgiveness, life choices, guilt, judgment, AIDS, spousal abuse, diversity, memories, aging, capital punishment, cannibalism, foreclosing on business, financial crisis, lack of remorse, hate, pornography, transsexual pornography, possessed by demons, mercy, self-fulfilling prophecy, cynicism, coping.

MESSAGE - Coping can be difficult. Forgiveness is a powerful tool.

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


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