Conspiracy Of Silence [DVD]

CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE is a moody, dark, probing inquiry into the concept of celibacy of priests in the Catholic Church in Ireland and all the way to the Vatican. The concept, story and script by Writer/Director John Deery are tight, arrow sharp in aim, but ultimately unresolved issues cloud the success of what could have been a pungent movie.

Set in a seminary in Ireland for preparing young men for the priesthood, we are introduced to some warmly human characters such as Daniel McLaughlin (Jonathan Forbes), a squeaky clean lad who gave up a girlfriend Sinead (Catherine Walker) to follow his (and his family's) life ambition to become a priest. Naive, warm, loving, athletic and bright, he is the seminary poster boy - until one evening after hours he innocently visits a fellow seminarian's room and is the focus of seduction by the student who kindly says 'we're all only human and have our needs'. Daniel gently declines the advances, leaves the student's room but is observed by an old priest with demons of his own. The priest reports the incident and Daniel is abruptly thrown out of the seminary by the evil Rector Cathal (Sean McGinley) for being homosexual - a charge that couldn't be farther from the truth.

At the same time in another part of the seminary the fine Father Sweeney dresses in all his priestly regalia and commits suicide is a gruesome way. His suicide is threatening to the staff of the seminary and a cover-up is immediately put in place. It seems Father Sweeney some four years ago had stirred controversy in the Vatican by publicly exposing his HIV status, alerting the Church and the world that HIV was rampant in the world wide Church. His partner left the priesthood, disillusioned, but following FR Sweeney to the seminary in Ireland.

An earnest reporter David Foley (Jason Barry) begins the investigation of the suicide and in doing so finds the reason for Daniel's expulsion as well as the myriad dark secrets being covered by the Church - all to do with the concept of celibacy and the inevitable sequelae of sensual deprivation on priests. One Father Jack Dowling (Hugh Bonneville) supports David and Daniel and is disenchanted with the behavior of the Church against its own priests. Then, without resolving any of these fascinating strings of thought the movie ends, leaving many questions unanswered - as though there are no answers.

The acting is uniformly strong (including the likes of Brenda Fricker as Daniel's mother et al), for once giving a spectrum of the priesthood that is not favoring bad or good. These characters are men with convictions and none can be faulted for their stances. The setting in Ireland is magnificently captured by cinematographer Jason Lehel, and Francis Haines and Stephen W. Parsons provide a hauntingly beautiful musical score. As far as it takes us this is a fine film. Perhaps Deery is planning Part II to finish this story! Grady Harp, August 05

John Deery's debut written and directed social commentary thriller CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE from 2003 is an excellent and riveting look at the question of celibacy in The Irish Catholic Church.The question is raised that the humanity of priests has been denied since the 12th Century, and that the enforced sexual denial that is imposed upon them has lead to all sorts of lies,cover ups, but ultimately many unhappy men.That the Church has continued to enforce the celibacy rule while knowingly allowing the rule to continually be broken at the highest levels, and yet covered up and silenced is the heart of this well done, but still first attempt by film maker Deery.This film examines all sexual proclivity when it comes to the Priesthood and concludes that 100,000 Priests had vacated the Priesthood by the year he film was debuted.This is not a perfect film, though.There are many story lines introduced in this film, yet many of them are either rushed, not fully developed or simply left unresolved.The ending seems very rushed as if funding may have been limited in order to complete the film;but having said that, this film still is compelling enough in that it raises some very interesting and thought-provoking issues about human nature and the nature of taking vows to serve God in a place where being totally naturally human may be impossible.This is not a Catholic bashing film.It simply presents a side of the coin about which many have questioned over the years, be they Catholic or not.This film does boast an EXCEPTIONAL soundtrack and cinematography.Keep an eye out for more of John Deery in the future.We all start somewhere!
The fact that just yesterday. The Roman Catholic Church paid out $50 M to 100 Alaskan Natives for sexual abuse practices makes this film all the more timely.The Church cannot continue to turn its back on the truth...because eventually the truth WILL set them and their victims free.

Other reviewers have well-documented the film's story, so I won't repeat that. Like the Magdalene Sisters (Anne-Marie Duff), this film deals with Catholic church-related controversy in Ireland; however, unlike the Magdalene laundries, the issues of celibacy and gayness among priests (and homophobia within the church because of it) occur globally within the church. The story is very well-acted by many familiar faces, for those of us who watch PBS or Masterpiece Theater. Pacing is adequate for the message. Yes, issues are left unresolved at the end of the film, but that is a realistic ending, as those issues are unresolved in the church today. Only one thing perhaps IS solved at the end, the conspiracy of silence is shattered and the church's hypocricy exposed on the previously mentioned issues. I might also add, as is often the case, the priests in the film repeatedly mention God's will or God's church. What the film condemns is NOT the Catholic church, but man's corruption within "God's church".