***MAJOR SPOILERS*** The film in covering the explosive subject of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church takes the middle ground in showing that as shocking as it is there's also a lot of exploitation on the part of some of the so-called victims and their family members to use the false charges of sexual abuse among the priests and nuns in the church for strictly monetary reasons. It's Father Andre James, Isaiah Washington, who should know better then most in what a false accusation of sexual abuse against a priest can do. He in fact was guilty of that charge back at St.Matthews where unknowingly he had his best friend Father Mark Roberts, Lance Guest,thrown out of the priesthood by backing up a false accusation of sexual abuse against him. That was concocted by a student and his family that, in losing a major law civil suite, ended up bankrupting St.Matthews.
Depressed guilt ridden and almost suicidal in what he did to his friend Mark Roberts, who's now unemployed and an alcoholic, Father Andre James is given a second chance to make up for his mistake by Father William Jennings, Robert Loggia, at his Allentide Catholic Boys Boarding School. It's in fact at Allentide where years ago a 12 years old student Andre James was himself sexually abused by a priest Father Whitman. That incident was not only covered up by the school but it left Andre emotionally scared for life.
As a teacher in the school Father James senses that student Parker Remy, Gordon Garrett, seems to be suffering from the results of being sexually abused by his very unstable and paranoid actions as well as being on anti psychotic medication. As Father James digs farther into Parker's background he finds out that he was very close to a Father Collins who had since disappeared into thin air after he was transferred form the school. Checking on what the relationship was between Parker & Father Collins Father James is shocked to find out that Father Collins was in fact involved in a number of sexual abuse incidents with students in Catholic schools that he once taught in!
As Father James starts to uncover facts about the missing Father Collins his superiors in the school begin to uncover what he himself was involved in back at St. Matthews where he ended up disappearing into thin air, like Father Collins did, for two years.
***SPOILERS***Still not deterred by the accusations thrown against him Father James with his job in Allentide hanging on a thread tracks down the reason that Father Collins disappeared and it was not of his own choosing. It was murder! And the person who murdered Father Collins was in fact one of the many students that he abused in the school! And what's even worse it was the schools headmaster Father William Jennings, who gave Father James his job there, who covered up the murder and ended up hiding the body by dumping it, wrapped in a body bag, into a nearby lake to keep the truth about Father Collins actions from seeing the light of day! As well as setting the stage for a major law suite against Allentide that would end up bankrupting the school!
Even handed in its theme, sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, the movie does in fact cop out a bit by sugar coating the fact that it's only a few and in this case only one individual, Father Jennings, who's involved in covering the abuse up. It's hard for me to believe that Father Jennings could have done all this in not only covering up Father Collins actions but even deep sixing his body all by himself without the knowledge and even help of his fellow priests in the school. The big plus in the film is Isaiah Washington depiction of the guilt ridden Father Andre James who despite what he did in the past as well as the sexual abuse he suffered, at the hands of Father Whitman, was still able to put that all aside and not let it interfere in his investigation what happened to Father Collins. And getting to the bottom of not only who ended up murdering father Collins but what he himself did to put it, his being murdered, into motion.
Depressed guilt ridden and almost suicidal in what he did to his friend Mark Roberts, who's now unemployed and an alcoholic, Father Andre James is given a second chance to make up for his mistake by Father William Jennings, Robert Loggia, at his Allentide Catholic Boys Boarding School. It's in fact at Allentide where years ago a 12 years old student Andre James was himself sexually abused by a priest Father Whitman. That incident was not only covered up by the school but it left Andre emotionally scared for life.
As a teacher in the school Father James senses that student Parker Remy, Gordon Garrett, seems to be suffering from the results of being sexually abused by his very unstable and paranoid actions as well as being on anti psychotic medication. As Father James digs farther into Parker's background he finds out that he was very close to a Father Collins who had since disappeared into thin air after he was transferred form the school. Checking on what the relationship was between Parker & Father Collins Father James is shocked to find out that Father Collins was in fact involved in a number of sexual abuse incidents with students in Catholic schools that he once taught in!
As Father James starts to uncover facts about the missing Father Collins his superiors in the school begin to uncover what he himself was involved in back at St. Matthews where he ended up disappearing into thin air, like Father Collins did, for two years.
***SPOILERS***Still not deterred by the accusations thrown against him Father James with his job in Allentide hanging on a thread tracks down the reason that Father Collins disappeared and it was not of his own choosing. It was murder! And the person who murdered Father Collins was in fact one of the many students that he abused in the school! And what's even worse it was the schools headmaster Father William Jennings, who gave Father James his job there, who covered up the murder and ended up hiding the body by dumping it, wrapped in a body bag, into a nearby lake to keep the truth about Father Collins actions from seeing the light of day! As well as setting the stage for a major law suite against Allentide that would end up bankrupting the school!
Even handed in its theme, sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, the movie does in fact cop out a bit by sugar coating the fact that it's only a few and in this case only one individual, Father Jennings, who's involved in covering the abuse up. It's hard for me to believe that Father Jennings could have done all this in not only covering up Father Collins actions but even deep sixing his body all by himself without the knowledge and even help of his fellow priests in the school. The big plus in the film is Isaiah Washington depiction of the guilt ridden Father Andre James who despite what he did in the past as well as the sexual abuse he suffered, at the hands of Father Whitman, was still able to put that all aside and not let it interfere in his investigation what happened to Father Collins. And getting to the bottom of not only who ended up murdering father Collins but what he himself did to put it, his being murdered, into motion.