twist of faith

"Oscar-nominated [Twist of Faith] puts a face to the media stories about allegations of sex abuse by Catholic priests. The face belongs to Tony Comes, a firefighter of Toledo, Ohio. The film reveals with devastating intimacy the mental anguish of a person struggling to come to terms with crimes committed against him 20 years before.
"One's immediate reaction to this subject is to that of old news. Kirby Dick, a veteran maker of documentaries on difficult subjects ([Sick] MIFF 96, [Derrida] MIFF 01), knows this so the focus is on one individual ordeal. A painful yet invaluable examination of a problem that extends beyond the church." - The Hollywood Reporter
This is a touching, complicated film with some utterly heart-wrenching moments: Comes telling his six-year-old daughter about his abuse before she sees it on TV; the discovery of an obscure canon law under which priests can lie "to protect the Church's interests". When Tony discovers that the priest that raped him has moved in five houses away, the pain of years comes to a head.
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D Kirby Dick P Eddie Schmidt WS Eddie Schmidt TD 16mm/col/ 2004/87mins