Now that the question of priestly celibacy has been exposed to sunshine, the light of public debate may even pierce the deceit that cloaks the issue. Antonia Bird has directed a vibrant movie for the BBC by building on a spinning core of humanity as embodied by two unquestionably spiritual men. Carrying a churchly tool chest of orthodox remedies to his new job in a Liverpool parish, he is confronted immediately by the affair between the senior priest, Rev. Matthew Thomas, and his housekeeper, who are living together contentedly in a committed affair of heart and body. The seasoned Father Matthew has made peace with himself, knowing absolutely that neither his humanity nor his dedication to Christ is compromised by loving a woman. His younger colleague is tortured by his fear that loving a man may make him unworthy in his own devotion.
Words are the young priest's only tools.
The power of this movie lies in the biting script by Jimmy McGovern, who has framed the moral issues with an extraordinary mix of humor and fury. Linus Roache, as Father Greg, embodies the questions and the anguish, while Tom Wilkinson, as the older Father Matthew, answers with an independent man's accommodation that is poised to explode into rage when the orthodoxy fails both priest and parishoners. This is the story of that failure. If the movie is a polemic, it is an attack not just on the Catholic Church but also on the hypocrisy that infects mankind. An outstanding cast, a fine director, and a first-rate writer have taken on delusion with an ironic, angry humor.