This is How Movies Should Be Made

Disappointment for a huge fan!

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

I have absolutely never seen anything like this movie before. You have to see this movie.

This is a disjointed, uninteresting moving. Scenes that should only last a minute go on for what seem like hours. Oh, it is so avant garde to have Adam walking along a country road for hours (!) carrying a monstrance with rock and roll sound track over. Really? Could have been so much more effective if done with less footage. Episodes occur that just don't seem to connect, and yet we know where everything is going, but there is so much superfluous crap along the way, that any intelligent viewer's attention is quickly lost. And every now and then a Polish cow lows in the distance or background off camera. What? Who are some of the earlier characters that appear in Adam's excursion to .... to .... to .... what? And how the hell does this movie end? He what? Who is that lurking in the near off-frame? Oh, yeah. But WHY? There is no connection to what went before really. The ending has no reason for why it is as it is. I found this one of the worst movies I have ever watched. Is this Polish gay cinema now? Snore!

This is a very effective, very positive and yet oddly disturbing movie about the fitful coming out of a 40ish gay priest in Poland. His name is Adam, and he looks nothing like a priest except while on duty. He's always known he's gay, but he's serious about his vocation and has stayed closeted in order to keep his vows of celibacy.He has a special gift for helping troubled teenage boys, which his superiors value greatly. His homosexuality has never led to anything remotely inappropriate with a boy (or with a man, for that matter), but he is periodically transferred in order to keep even rumors from interfering with his very valuable ministry. Most recently he was moved from Warsaw to an isolated rural parish with a small work-home for boys on furlough from reformatories.This is a complex movie, and trying to summarize its plot would be a disservice. It is not predictable, not typical of gay movies, of priest movies, or of any other sort of movies I can think of. It's not the story of a type of man but of THIS man. So, like any real human being, Adam is more complicated than a normal movie character, and the director does not try to make him easy to understand.In part because it's NOT predictable, this movie is fascinating to watch, and the end is especially satisfying. The movie is disturbing not because of anything that happens, but because everyone and everything in it looks dirty.I know that sounds superficial, but sometimes the most superficial things in life are the most distressing. Even after bathing, the characters look grimy, everything indoors is dingy, and outdoors is nothing but dust. I don't know if rural Poland really is as miserable as this movie makes it appear, or if the director was intentionally creating a disturbing ambiance for the movie.Although it's disturbing, that ambiance adds to the complexity of the movie and enhances its effectiveness. I watched it twice; it was richer and even more satisfying the second time.

Polish director Malgorzata Szumowska accomplishes an outstandingly effective, brave examination of Catholic priesthood with all the inherent difficulties both within the life of being a celibate priest in a time when the world's eye is focused on the abuses within the Church. She wrote the screenplay with Michal Englert who also is the cinematographer. The film succeeds not only because of the sensitivity of the script but also because of the extraordinary acting by several of the members of the cast. Adam (the brilliant actor Andrzej Chyra) is a Jesuit Catholic priest who discovered his calling as a servant of God at the relatively late age of 21 and has been transferred to many different parishes – the reasons are not completely clear. He is a kind, warm, caring and committed priest who truly cares of this flock. He now lives in a village in rural Poland where he works with teenagers with behavioral problems who fight and yell abuse. He declines the advances of a young brunette named Ewa (Maja Ostaszewska) saying he is already spoken for: Ewa is the love reason Adam's associate teacher Michal (Lukasz Simlat) left the seminary and never became a priest. But celibacy is not the only reason for his rejection. Adam knows that he desires men and that his embrace of the priesthood has been a flight from his own sexuality. When he meets Lukasz (Mateusz Kosciukiewicz, the director's husband), the strange and tongue-tied son of a simple rural family, Adam's self-imposed abstinence becomes a heavy burden. He hears the confession of a teen who has had a same sex encounter elsewhere and when a new addition to the camp Adrian/Blondie (Tomasz Schuchardt), the lad is seduced by Blondie and the result is the lad's suicide by hanging. Lukasz sustains a beating and seeks Adam's solace and healing at night, and that innocent tender encounter is observed by Michal. The Bishop is alerted and Adam must leave for yet another assignment. He is followed by Lukasz and at last Adam's quandary is at least for the moment resolved.The film is rich in metaphorical scenes – a Skype call between Adam and his Toronto based sister shares Adam's desperate need to have someone to hug, Adam turns to drinking and in his altered state he drunkenly dances with a photograph of the Pope – his only allowed passion, a funeral scene for the fallen lad, and a mesmerizingly beautiful religious celebration parade full of overtones. The film may for some be too huge in character depth and audiences more attuned to action based movies it might be too slow and deep and fragmented. Were it not for the brilliance of Andrzej Chyra's Adam the film may even offend some. But the total experience of the film is deeply moving.

I must say I am impressed with this deep showcase of thought provoking Polish cinema, more so that considering the topic of the story, it was co-written and directed by a women filmmaker Malgorzata Szumowska. This meditative drama won Teddy Award for Best Feature Film at the 63rd Berlin Film Festival in 2013 which is quite impressive in itself. The story evolves around a Jesuit priest Adam (Andrzej Chyra) who runs a place in a village in rural Poland for teenagers with behavioral problems that need a strong Catholic guidance. He himself seems like a good honest man, yet we can sense that under the mask of control he hides deep seated loneliness and longing for human contact. As the film progresses it is getting clearer that father Adam hides from the world that in fact he is gay and the reason why he became a priest at age 21 in is to hide this fact from himself and others. To extend predictably he gets emotionally involved with one of the boys which eventually has it's consequences. Homosexuality or pedophilia in Catholic Church is very sensitive subject therefor it is an interesting fact that it took a female director to look at the story with enough distance and taste to not make it scandalous or obscene. In fact the way the story is told resembles every other heterosexual romantic story and that is exactly were the dramatic straight of this film is. Watching "In the name..." (Polish title W imie...) another movie with a similar subject comes to mind called "Priest" (1994) though this British drama was much more graphic and less tasteful. There is a huge character depth here and the fact is that for audience who are more use to action based movies it might be too slow and deep. However if you enjoy powerful subtly acted character driven dramas this might be a movie that you will enjoy. Me having a brother who is a high ranking Catholic priest back in Poland I always admired the sacrifice the 'man of God' go through in their celibacy. Inability to feel human touch and intimacy always made me admire them for the straight of their character to give up on our most natural impulses. On the other hand the repression of does impulses creates a longing that often ends in perpetual loneliness and heavy depression. In a nutshell this is what "In the name of..." is about, choosing the homoerotic angle as a form of narration and to some extent pointing to priesthood as an escape of homosexual man who can not face their own desires and choose a path of a moral dogmas Catholic faith provides. It is a slow film but beautifully shot by also co-writer of the script Michal Englert and superbly, subtly acted by by Polish actors Andrzej Chyra, Mateusz Kosciukiewicz, Lukasz Simlat and Polish actress Maja Ostaszewska among others. The music composition by great instrumental score from composers Pawel Mykietyn and Adam Walicki is also a big part of the experience concentrating purposefully on many violin solos to enhance the emotional narration that pushes the film forward. All in all despite of it's sensitive and controversial topic this film got to offer a lot of intellectual feedback that might stay with you long after it's ending.For more of my reviews please go to: www.facebook.com/JanuszMadejTechnique