Priest [DVD]

This is a very powerful movie about a gay priest coming to terms with his humanity and human-ness dealing with long-held doctrines about sin and judgment. I actually don't see it as outdated but still very relevant today (except now it's evangelicals who are clinging to black and white thinking regarding certain groups of people and actions they view as an abomination).In this film the senior priest is kinder to the main character than he is to himself. The younger priest has been taught in a very traditional way of viewing the world and morality. He comes to a parish in which the approach required is more realistic and down to earth. He starts by giving a sermon that is stiff and judgmental, but it's soon clear that this is an overcompensation to try to keep his human feelings and desires under control. In some way it seems as though he believes that adhering rigidly and literally to his strict teachings will cause these feelings to disappear, so he rails against the senior priests acceptance of him as he is, hoping to be condemned in a last ditch effort to not have to deal with his dilemma. He soon realizes that hiding behind doctrine will not solve anything and will only lead to misery for the rest of his life. He is working through an emotional process, and in finding out that one of the parishioners, a teenage girl is being molested by her father and struggling with whether to tell someone or keep it confidential, it dawns on him that the concept of perversion is when one person abuses a position of power over another which is very different from two consenting adults on equal footing.The two priests have several deep conversations about man's rules versus what Jesus would expect, and after leaving his job he comes back for one day to ask for the forgiveness of the congregation (even though there really is nothing to forgive). Once out, he seems to feel better and more comfortable in his own skin, yet the story falls short in leaving it unexplained as to whether he continues his relationship with his lover. One is left with the implication that he comes to a place where he doesn't feel an obligation to choose one life over the other.

Absouletly stunning performance, incredibly well told story and emotionally careening arc. I almost didn't watch it when I saw the first scene with the man running into the church door with a cross and assumed it was some fusty story of a gay priest and the church would dominate the story line. Thank God I stuck with it or I would have missed out on a complete treasure of a story. We are so packed tight with our religions and our man made rituals we are blinded from so much of our innate capacities to love to empathize to truly care. After having abandoned my catholic upbringing I can honestly say I now understand what Jesus was trying to help us understand. Watch the movie, don't miss out.

Beautifully acted. Compelling. Heartbreaking. Sad. I could not stop watching the ending. It brought me to tears. A beautifully written movie. Linus Roache as Fr Greg; stupendous. He captured my heart with his struggles; his homosexuality & his commitment to his vows as a priest. Sorry that it took me so long to find this treasure.They became real to me. No longer actors but real people. I became wrapped up in the human frailties, emotions, joy & pain. I wanted to know them, console them. Be friends with them, Help to ease their pain & sorrow. Making me a better person because of them. Such purity of acting.

This is a moving and beautifully made film which deals with crucial issues for the modern church. Set in a gritty inner city suburb in Liverpool, the film tells the story of Father Greg [Linus Roach]: newly ordained, confident and well intentioned. He is appointed to assist the older Fr Michael - a priest with a strong sense of social justice and a poor reputation with the local bishop. The initial scenes of the film focus on Greg's deep sense of vocation and his clumsy efforts to minister to the local working class people. He's a good man - if not a very wise priest. He is critical of Micheal's unorthodox faith and his sexual relationship with the woman who is the housekeeper at the presbytery.The moral focus of the film changes when Greg learns of the sexual abuse of a teenaged member of his congregation. His information is privileged by confidentiality and he struggles to make sense of the conflicting demands on him as a priest and pastor. In the middle of all this, we learn that Greg is gay. He takes off his collar and picks up a man in a bar [Graham, played by Robert Carlyle]. What begins as a casual encounter becomes a relationship with terrible consequences. The most awful moment of the film is not the painful outing of Greg but the scene in the church when Greg refuses communion to Graham when he turns up in the congregation one Sunday morning. I doubt that the "offence" that lands Greg in court has any legal basis anymore. The conclusion of the film is deeply moving and gives the viewer much to think about.There are no heroes in this film - although one comes to love Michael and to feel deeply for Greg and for Graham. There are plenty of villains, however, with the highly political bishop the greatest offender. It's not a film about gay priests, however, nor about corrupt clergy - although there are plenty of them in the film. It's a film about confronting demons: hypocrisy, shame and guilt. In the end, the message is positive and life affirming. Here is a film that challenges and confronts and deals with big issues in an accessible and sympathetic way.

I would submit that for those who watched this film it would do the potential watchers a great service if people tried to hold of with their ideology and broad swath insults and give an honest review of the plot and acting. The film is a powerful one, but an Amazon review does not warrant some amorphous platform for religious shaming or anti-Catholic bias. Catholic charities is one of the largest relief organizations in the world; that has nothing to do with this film, just like tragedies within the faith has no place in a description of this movie.

Ho ricevuto il dvd nei tempi indicati e ben impacchettato. Esso corrisponde alla descrizione e soddisfa le mie aspettative.Comprero' ancora da questo venditore.

The first time I watched this movie I was shocked and totally entranced by it.I now own this movie and have watched it at least a dozen times.If you're extremely religious, I would caution you about this movie because it pushes many sacred lines to the limit and beyond.

Comme d'autres personnes sur Amazon, j'étais tombé sur des portions de "Prêtre" à la télévision; dans mon cas à deux reprises, soit en 2002 et 2005. Mais toujours à des heures ou des moments qui m'empêchaient de visionner le film au complet. Néanmoins, beaucoup de scènes et moments m'avaient frappés et hantés pendant longtemps, et ce même aujourd'hui.Bien que j'aurais pu me procurer une copie du DVD en Zone 1 de Miramax en vente sur Amazon depuis longtemps, j'avais entendu qu'elle était censuréee. Ce n'est seulement qu'après avoir acheté et regardé cette copie de la BBC que j'ai acheté un exemplaire usagé de la version Miramax sur Amazon Marketplace. Et malheureusement, les rumeurs sont vrais.La copie américaine "est" honteusement censurée.En effet, on y retrouve de la nudité coupée dans les belles scènes d'amours et des scènes mutilées pour des raisons douteuses. Certaines ont subies des modifications qui changent même la tournure de l'histoire. Par exemple, la relation entre le prêtre Greg et Graham. Dans la version Miramax, la relation est montée d'une façon qui se termine mal alors que dans la version originale, présente dans ce DVD, les événements présagent une fin ouverte et une continuité positive dans leur relation entre eux après le dénouement du film. En bref, la censure de cette copie produite en 2002 est honteuse et, disons le franchement, homophobique; en pleine contradiction avec les valeurs de ce film de la défunte Antonia Bird et de Jimmy McGovern, créateur de la magnifique série "Crackers" avec Robbie Coltrane. Ironique cette censure considérant les prétendues valeurs de Liberté d'Expression des États-Unis et de leur Premier Amendement. Mais venant d'un tel pays avec des valeurs théocratiques, cette censure réflète bien le scandale entourant la sortie de "Prêtre" qui a eu lieu dans plusieurs pays.Pour une fois, nous avons un film qui ne présente pas les gays comme des effeminés, des drag queens ou des pétasses promiscueuses (ce qu'un certain talk show à scandale qui s'appelle le "Jenny Jones Show" a fait durant une émission très homophobe tournée en 1995). Dans cette copie non-censurée produite par BBC et Optimale, nous avons un film qui, suivant la rigueur d'écriture de Jimmy McGovern, présente la réalité de Greg Pilkington, un nouveau prêtre orthodoxe fraichement arrivé à Liverpool qui se retrouve en pleine crise de foi suite à un confessional troublant entre lui et Lisa, une jeune fille de 14 ans, et le développement d'une très belle relation amoureuse avec Graham, maginifiquement joué par Robert Carlyle (Full Monty, Castlevania Lord of Shadows, Crackers, Once Upon A Time, etc.) Accompagné par Tom Wilkinson, Paul Barber et Lesley Sharp (tous les trois présents dans Full Monty) et d'autres acteurs, Linus Roache livre une performance phénoménale qui ajoute des beaux points à cette production ayant remporté des prix à Berlin, Édinburgh, et Toronto. Des prix qui contredisent l'accueil mitigé que la presse de l'époque avait donnée au film, notamment le démagogique et hypocrite Roger Ebert ou "Roger Pépère" comme j'aime l'appeler. Car en effet, bien que la presse a été dure envers "Prêtre", les critiques du public sur Amazon, Internet et dans les festivals démontrent que le film a réussi à le conquérir, de par son traitment respectueux de l'homosexualité, mais aussi en exposant les hypocrisies de plusieurs pratiquants religieux et leurs doubles standards, de la religion catholique, et la stupidité de certaines de ses lois beaucoup plus humaines que divines, notamment la loi du célibat et de la chasteté.Visuellement, le film ne présente pas une version doublée comme j'avais vu à la télé, seulement une version automatiquement sous-titrée en français. Ces sous-titres sont inclus dans l'image du film et ne sont pas changeables. Dans son contenu, nous avons quelques annonces, dont une pour le film, mais pas de divisions en chapitres ce qui est dommage pour ceux qui aiment visionner un DVD comme un roman. Néanmoins, la qualité d'image est meilleure que sur la version de Miramax et ne contient pas de doublage.Bref, j'encourage pleinement les usagers d'Amazon à visionner ce film dont la finale est réussie et nous laisse avec le sentiment et désir de savoir un peu plus sur ce qui arrivera à Greg et aux autres personnages du film. Sentiment qui pour moi est l'une des preuves incontestables de la réussite d'un film, roman, pièce de théâtre et jeu vidéo.Un grand moment pour le cinéma et pour les droits des minorités sexuelles. Avec des images, une histoire et une musique percutantes.

This is quite simply a superb film with a strong message about intolerance and sexuality. I had the film on VHS for a long time but it was getting worn so while in the US purchased the DVD as it does not seem to have been released here in that format. I was hugely disappointed to discover that several key scenes had been cut or shorted to just a few seconds, no doubt to pander to middle American sensibilities, including a beautiful gay love scene. This is a crying shame because you so seldom see this depicted in such a positive and loving way. At a time when the public so often see homosexuality as a sex thing, the chance has been lost to show that gay men do, in fact, fall in deeply, passionately and very innocently love just like everyone else. I look forward to the day the uncut version appears on DVD in the UK. Until then, I can't recommend this film highly enough, despite the censorship.

Film che si presta a molte discussioni. Il segreto confessionale sarebbe il centro ma la storia gay forse sembra l'argomento principale. Certo che sebbene il film non sia nuovo è molto attuale. Attori molto bravi. Fa' pensare...