Today's Review: In the Name Of

I did this review of a Polish movie (original title: W Imie...) for MovieScene last week:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/155980/in_the_name_of_-_recensie

I found it a fairly decent arthouse flick, which revealed more novel information about the relation between religion and (homo)sexuality in Poland specifically than in general, as this theme has been explored (not to mention parodied) before. The main component in its favour was the strong and thoroughly compelling performance of its main actor, Andrzej Chyra, who delivered a veritable tour-de-force in his role as a talented country priest torn by his devout Roman-Catholic beliefs and his natural, human yearning for love. It wasn't even about him being gay, that was rather secondary to be honest. Of course, if he was interested in female companionship it would have been even less innovative, as that topic has been addressed in cinema hundreds of times before. The homosexual aspect was important mostly for showing just how ordinary gay people are to the general Polish audience, as yet not so convinced of that fact I hear. For a Dutch audience, that element of the film was hardly an eye opening notion. However, the premise of a homosexually frustrated priest working with underage boys in the countryside without deteriorating into sensational stories of sexual abuse in church circles is a refreshing one. Not every homosexual priest is a child molester, ya know. Thanks for informing and comforting us on that front, Malgorzata Szumowska.