For Religoius and Others, Refreshing

Rating: 10/10 (17 January 2009)

Others have commented about most aspects of this movie and I won't try to repeat what others have said well both here and in the professional reviews. Instead, let me focus on one narrow aspect of this movie which I found refreshing.
One of the main characters in this movie is a Catholic priest. In every movie of recent vintage, this means a person of overwhelming evil, creepy, and probably a child molester. Here the priest is well spoken, intelligent and adds to the evolution of the main character while the main character adds dimension to the priest.
As a personal note, I'm not only an atheist, but have a shade of anti-Catholicism in me too. Yet not in my worst thoughts of religion or the church do I believe that all priests or other Christian clergy are evilly motivated sexual perverts which is what Hollywood of today would have us believe. I'm tired of the same old same old finding this, like so many Eastwood films, thinking its own thoughts rather than following the rutted path of those who (mostly) run the movie industry.
Probably a solid 8 or 9 star movie on its own, this one gets a boost from me for being such a relief in its portrayal of the religious.