To Kill a Priest

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Joseph R. W I truly enjoyed the soundtrack and the basis being about Jerzy Popieluszko (the priest martyred in 1984). Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 07/22/24 Full Review Audience Member Labouring cold-war drama portraying decent points of view on both sides of the political divide. The crux of the story is brutal, especially being based on the life of a Polish priest, however the choice of Christopher Lambert to portray him is questionable. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/06/23 Full Review Audience Member Very well made with an interesting story. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/19/23 Full Review Audience Member With such great actors, how could this movie have been so bad? Rated 0.5/5 Stars •  Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 02/23/23 Full Review Audience Member Though several scenes are dramatically hampered by the fact the film is done in English, this film is beautiful and morally and ethically profound. It tells the story of the murder of a priest who had ties to the Solidarity movement during the early Eighties in Poland. While that premise sounds like the film might be a didactic look at political oppression, Agnieszka Holland actually approaches the story with great dialectical sophistication, making this one of the best political films I think I have seen. She spends most the film following the character of Stefan (played well by Ed Harris) who is a devoted communist and member of the secret police. In many regards, Stefan comes across as a more fully developed character than Father Alek (played by Highlander himself Christopher Lambert!). This, I think is the key to film's complexity, and what ultimately makes its look at communism far more damning. But looking at what few reviews I could find on the film, it seems like it's a point that is grossly missed. In an awful review, Roger Ebert actually writes, "In fact, the single change that would have helped this movie the most would have been to switch the roles played by Lambert and Harris. That would have given us a hero we could care about and a villain whose blank features and listless personality might have seemed part of the role." The fact that the "villain" in the film, and here the "villain" and "hero" terminology is totally reductive and silly especially for this film, comes across as more passionate and even ethical about his beliefs is what is so fascinating. In fact, Stefan's speech at end where he justifies killing the priest is stunning and suggests his actions arise out of genuine ideological and ethical dedication. Even in the scenes when he seems unhinged, such as in the thoroughly unpleasant moment when we think he's about to choke a dog (or even decapitate it) with a car window, it does not comes across as psychologically black and white in the manner in which Roger Ebert apparently would have liked the film to be. Focusing the film more on Stefan, then, is far more than an ironic reversal. Communism is, after all, an ideology of liberation. That it should have turned so oppressive in most historical cases, while supposedly dedicating itself still to that core of liberation, is why Stefan's character is so fundamentally interesting. His character, in other words, carries all the metaphorical weight of what it means for utopian ideologies to fail and turn to bloodshed. And I think Holland suggests that that it is a more than just a failure of ethics or morality. Ultimately, though the film lacks the stylistic complexity and in depth engagement with Polish history of say Andrzej Wajda's Solidarity films--Man of Iron and Man of Marble-- the film seems more politically and ethically relevant today than either Wajda film. Its central questions, which Holland never answers, speak to problems of resistance, oppression, and ideological commitment that underlie any attempt at political organization. To some extent, the film may seem nihilistic in its failure to totally invalidate the character of Stefan and his brutal actions, in say the manner in which Roger Ebert may have preferred, but as the faces remind us as at the end, the determination for a better world always exists. This really is a film that should be seen, despite its occasional dramatic lapses. (Certainly, having the priest struggle with a romantic attraction doesn't work.) The one positive blurb I could find on the film comes from Jonathan Rosenbaum who notes, "In contrast to the kindergarten-level philosophizing of Woody Allen's Crimes and Misdemeanors, this is a film of some depth with a genuine sense of ethical nuance." He is indeed correct; this is a film with a serious and beautiful sense of nuance that far surpasses the amateurish philosophizing of most filmmakers. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/26/23 Full Review Audience Member A pretty interesting movie. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/08/23 Full Review Read all reviews

To Kill a Priest

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