Deliver Us From Evil (2006)

It's hard to review a movie like this because it's not entertainment. It is, however, completely captivating -- I felt as though the very least I could do is to watch in sad compassion while just a fraction of the victims of Oliver O'Grady, former parish priest in several California cities, relayed portions of their stories to the camera.

This man is a predator in the scariest sense of the word. He wasn't only a friend, he was a vital part of the household -- more than simply trusted by the families he violated, he had spiritual authority over them. He hurt young bodies and minds and robbed people of their faith -- and yet the church just kept shuffling him on down the road, caring less for the congregants he was raping than for their own reputations.

O'Grady gets more face-time than anyone else here. He tells horrifying stories -- about masturbating young boys or lifting up a little girl's long nightgown while her parents sleep in the next room -- all the time with a half-smile on his face. He seems like someone relating pleasant memories of a particularly relaxing canoe ride...how on earth could families have been expected to see the monster beneath the placidity?

Terrifying stuff. Hatred of the church and, by extension, God is a perfectly reasonable response.

A-