Corpus Christi

Loved the film. Found this in a review:“It’s a film that engages with the dour without becoming bitter, and a film that allows for redemption but only through the hardest possible work. It’s a film that’s built on a lie but sees only the underlying truth. What an astounding religious drama, and what a beautifully realistic morality play.”I thought the acting superb, the writing honest, and the direction unflinching. A real treat

This is an essentially tragic but unconvincing film. It centers around a disturbed young delinquent following his release from a detention center. The film then asks you to suspend your sense of reality by expecting you to buy that a young delinquent can get away with posing as the parish priest of a village. (?!) I find such lapse handling of a plot generally annoying in any film as it directly impacts the viewers intellectual and emotional involvement. Ironically the film's director seems intent on realism in many very intense and raw scenes. Ultimately the story meandered aimlessly centering on the "priest" handling several grieving villagers who were dealing with the loss of 5 young people (killed in a car crash).Not really any spoiler alert needed here because knowing this takes nothing from the shallow but overly dramatic direction the film takes. Corpus Christi does not coherently amount to anything except for depicting an exaggerated and desperate human situation dominated by characters who are selfish, deceitful, angry, violent and ultimately miserable. There is no life here, only a fragmented parade of bleakness which borders on cynical.

My rating is more of a 4.5Thank you for reading!Corpus Christi (Polish: Boże Ciało) is a 2019 drama film directed by Jan Komasa and written by Mateusz Pacewicz.To best organize my thoughts I will be pairing them with the descriptors of this film - because what is promised and what is received are far from being the same thing.𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒍𝒎 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒈 𝑷𝒐𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒂 𝒋𝒖𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚...If one thing is for certain - Daniel is a complicated character in theory. His pursuit of the role of a priest is a sharp contrast to what he is introduced as being at heart: a hardened criminal stuck on the yellow brick road to Hell. The exposition is lackluster and doesn't elaborate much on his capacity for complexity, but a strong performance delivered by Bartosz Bielenia Is as intense as it is meek. The last frame - Daniel's final glare into the camera before the credits roll - will be burnt in the back of my mind for quite some time.𝑼𝒑𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒍, 𝒂 𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔𝒕. This is more of an observation than anything else but there is something innately contradictory about ‘Corpus Christi’s primary point of contention. Early on it is implied that Daniel’s status as a felon in conjunction with his struggle to remain sober makes his chances of becoming a priest damn near impossible (Random thought! Ironic that this is delivered through a priest employed at the Juvenile Detention Center - talk about dangling a carrot!). It goes without saying, but the casual nature in which the small town assigns the presumably coveted responsibilities related to priesthood to Daniel (a complete stranger) is questionable at best. It's possible to guess that some amount of desperation and naivety are playing a part in the readiness to trust Daniel with this level of authority, but the absence of overt conversations related to these emotions makes the transition of roles that Daniel presumes more turbulent than intended.(𝐒𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞: 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐤 𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐝. )𝑻𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒅, 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒎𝒂 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒚.Now - here is where ‘Corpus Christi’ initiates its well-deserved Redemption Arc. It is made rather clear that the small town that Daniel finds himself in by circumstance is struggling with an immense amount of grief; not only this, but the challenge of coping and healing is convoluted by extenuating conditions that are contextually relevant to the trauma plaguing this community. The mystery revolving around this catastrophic event is a tad bit under-developed but ‘Corpus Christi’ avoids beating this dead horse into a state of submission. It is worth mentioning that there is a romantic or intimate element that is incorporated despite being completely unnecessary, but in the end it isn't ultimately a deal-breaker.𝑨𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆, 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒖𝒏𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒆𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒐𝒓 𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔.Herein lies the beating heart - the justification for this film's conception and where the imperfections are outweighed by its strengths. The climax is defined by a startling confession made by Daniel during one of his sermons; despite being a disclosure that is a bit predictable in hindsight it politely destroys the space and schisms created by the aforementioned grief that has torn this small town apart. It is in this scene that Daniel's fragmented - But ultimately validated - identity challenges all-or-nothing thinking in a tactful and easily accepted manner.Given the elements related to religion sprinkled throughout - the universal messages and truths enhances the gravitas. ‘Corpus Christi’ reaches far beyond its immediate subject matter and thus has the capability of appealing to a larger variety of audience members. A silent meditation and introspection: it chews on themes and consequences as they relate to stigma, exile, regret, remorse, and stubbornly maintained grudges without meaningless regurgitation. It is nowhere near being perfect-But a flawed movie, about equally as flawed characters?It's only appropriate.I would recommend!"𝑭𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆" 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏 "𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒆𝒕".𝑰𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏 "𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒅"."𝑭𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆" 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏𝒔 "𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆".𝑳𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒈𝒖𝒊𝒍𝒕.𝑵𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒖𝒊𝒍𝒕 𝒊𝒔.

Polish films often reveal a dark side of Polish culture and this one is no exception. But it is not without its humorous moments. The plot revolves around a young man, released from prison who, in preference to a work camp, claims he is a priest. He takes over from an ailing pastor and his brand of Catholicism is a mix of different and even competing types of spirituality. Needless to say, his claim of priesthood begins to unravel even as he is trying to help the village heal from a tragedy. It seems to be aimed at showing the weaknesses of the church in Poland as well as its potential. And it is a commentary on the brutality of incarceration. Will you "enjoy" this film? It's objective is to encourage you to think more deeply about sin, redemption, and religious and civil institutions.

The message to deliver here about forgiveness could have been done differently and not in such a disgraceful way. The character was disturbing in the use of being a priest. He states he wants to become. priest in prison but engages in evil behavior. As a Catholic, find this movie should be banned. I could say more but probably would be censored

Intense, interesting, unusual

Great movie to watch, keeps you engaged as to what will happen.Would recommend.

Can not truly rate this dvd. Subtitles on movie are non-exhistant. What a shame!I am disappointed with Amazon for selling this dvd without warning subtitles do not work!

My own idiotic fault, I ordered this and didn't notice it had German subtitles until we put it in the machine therefore could no longer return it!

Der Film ist ruhig inszeniert und wird von seinem Hauptdarsteller getragen. Gut gemachter Autorenfilm, jenseits des Mainstreams. Leider finde ich die Bildqualität der Blu-Ray alles andere als zufriedenstellend. Nur in wenigen Szenen stimmt die Schärfe, in den Totalen sieht es wie SD (DVD-Niveau) aus. Schade, daher ein Stern Abzug. Der Ton ist gut. Entgegen der Bildformatangabe hier 1:1,77 hat der Film in Wirklichkeit 1:2,35, entspricht Kino-Breitbild.

Excellent film .....thanks