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Priest

The Devil’s Playground (1979).  Coming-of-age semi-autobiographical tour of a Catholic seminary in Australia, circa the 1950s.  Not about priests who prey on boys.  About sexuality itself, or, more specifically, the war between dogma and glands: both priests and students are caught in this grimly funny and exasperating struggle.  Schepisi respects the men of the cloth (and the boys who aspire to the cloth), but he never lets you forget where he comes down on the Catholic Church's war against physical desire: "The body will not be denied."  Directed by Fred Schepisi.

The Boys of St. Vincent (TV 1991, film 1994).  At St. Vincent’s Orphanage, young boys fall victim to sexual, physical, and emotional abuse at the hands of their guardians. The plight of the boys remains a secret until the janitor and a local policeman speak out. The boys testify against the Brothers.  Religious and civil authorities conspire to shut down the case and transfer the accused Brothers to new postings.  Fifteen years later, still unhealed, the victims go public with their ordeal.  Made for TV.  Directed by John N. Smith.

Priest (1995).  A young Roman Catholic priest in a Liverpool parish must learn to deal with the issues of homosexuality and incest, as well as conflicts between his vows and his conscience.  The film explores a provocative checklist of religious taboos – celibacy, incest, sexual abuse, homosexuality, the debatable secrecy of the confessional – as director Antonia Bird delivers a bold condemnation of what she views as the outdated politics and harmful nature of Catholic doctrine.  Screenplay by Jimmy McGovern; directed by Antonia Bird.  Linus Roache, Tom Wilkinson, Robert Carlyle, Cathy Tyson.

Return to Innocence (2003?).  The fictional story of Tommy Jackson, a physically, emotionally, and sexually abused 13-year-old boy.  The boy's mother makes pornographic videos of him and sells them on the Internet.  The film focuses on his relationships with two therapists in his new home, a treatment center, called New Horizons.  B&W.  Directed by Rocky Costanzo.

The Woodsman (2004).  After twelve years in prison, a convicted sex offender struggles to regain the life he lost, while grappling with the terrible prospect of his own reawakened demons.  Screenplay by Nicole Kassell & Steven Fechter; directed by Nicole Kassell.  Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick, Eve, Mos Def, David Alan Grier, Benjamin Bratt.

La Mala Educación  (“Bad Education”) (2004). The hero is a transvestite with yet another secret identity you find out about at the end. As a child in a boy’s school, he was sexually abused by a priest. The plot turns on who wrote a story about  the childhood rape, and about the filmmaker who wants to direct it as a film. What is it about people who want to write or make films about priest and criminal sexuality?  The twists and turns of the plot keep the viewer guessing and surprised at the end. This film is slighty slimy in the way Noir genre films are supposed to be. The film is less about sexuality than criminality, though there is a suggestion about the relation between them. Anything is permitted and nothing is perverse if the world is perverse,  so everything must really be perverse, or something like that. Written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar. Cast: Fele Martínez, Gael Garcia Bernal, Daniel Gimenez Cacho, Lluis Homar, Javier Camara

Mysterious Skin (2005).  Joseph Gordon-Levitt.