I am surprised by the negative reviews. The film is a lot better than most films that are produced. (Bondock Saints or Chuck and Larry.)The film is essentially a remake of Alfred Hitchcock's superb film, "I, confess," in which a priest is also framed for a murder he has heard confessed. (So the premise, and indeed the ending is not original.)The actors were far to old to be playing high-school characters and their acting left quite a bit to be desired. The priests and the detectives, however, are all quite good, especially Tom Bosley. Another comment seems to have mistaken who confessed the crime, it was the murderer, not the witness.
Plot summary
In a small Catholic boarding school an unspeakable act has been committed. When High School student, Luther Scott, confesses to Father Michael Kelly, Kelly is bound silent to the particulars of a grisly murder. Now, framed guilty by the desperate teen, Kelly must decide to keep his silence or throw away everything the priesthood holds sacred.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
February 10, 2021 at 07:10 AM
Director
Top cast
Tech specs
720p.WEB 1080p.WEBMovie Reviews
Much better than I expected.
Jonathan Meyers directed
Chris Pine is a trouble maker at a Catholic school and another student points the finger at him. He gets Pine kicked out and his roommate. The squealer goes to confession where Father Kelly takes his confession. Then the squealer gets pushed off a balcony and is dead. Pine and his roommate swear not to tell. Then Pine goes to Father Kelly and confesses. Pine is wearing a white robe covered in blood. A truck driver sees the white robe running from the crime scene. Father Kelly won't tell the police. Pine's roommate sees that Father Kelly is being blamed. He wants to tell the truth.
This has a juicy plot about Catholic priests and boys. All kinds of things could go on there. Very watchable.
Very poor policing by obsessed detective
I watched it to the end, which is more than I can say for some films. My major gripe, other than that California does not look at all like Massachusetts, was the poor plotting and the one-note characters.
The priest himself could have asked for confession and advice from his superior about what to do.
The police work by the obsessed Catholic School hating detective was so abysmal that even a fresh out of law school public defender would have had the case thrown out of court. For example, Luke had been caught with a locker full of drugs and porn. Why did the priest who copped him not say so to the detective, and why did the detective not ask him where he had obtained it. Why did the priest not tell the detective right up front that Luke was being expelled for being caught with illegal drugs. This would have revealed that Luke would dress as a priest to get drugs without prescriptions from the pharmacy. Instead we got priests keeping their mouths shut and a detective determined to find a priest guilty and ignore all other evidence. Soap opera plotting. It would not have surprised me if Luke had turned out to be the secret son of the detective and the mother superior.
As a starter film this was OK, after all, everyone has to begin somewhere, but it could have done with a little tightening up.