Good story, Not enough for a whole film

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

This is the very timely story of the relationship between a priest and a teen who wants to be one in modern day Naples. It is portrayed as a pure, honest, innocent relationship on the part of both.While most of the people close to either of them are aware of the relationship after Nunzio moves into the church, it is refreshing to see how they treat it in an almost matter-of-fact manner. There is some minor ribbing by some acquaintances but nothing like the mean-spirited harsh torture a boy in modern America who willingly participated would be subjected to.When Fr. Borelli refuses to compromise his morals and silence his campaign against the camorristas (mafia), a campaign is launched to have the boy denounce him.This is one of the most sympathetic portrayals (better than L.I.E., up there with Man Without a Face) ever shown on screen, and is also commendable as showing how social workers and those in one's environment can pressure youths into denouncing even those seen as close friends. An important film in its genre. 9 Caution: explicit scenes but no full frontal nudity.DATE: 2002-07-18 " - ricrisci

For Gods sake, The priest is not a child molester! Why does everyone keep saying that? When two people have consensual sex, morality does not come into it. I don't get this whole new hatred and paranoia if two inter-generational lover decide to express their desires sexually? All love is the same, emotional blackmail, games and little tiffs are always involved, whether one partner is 13 or 33, does not in the end matter so much. Upon seeing this film I felt that the priest had some admirable traits and was basically a good Samaritan caught up in a web of politics and mafia. When his enemies chance upon his sexual preference (and the fact that he as a catholic priest had sex)they use it as a tool to sideline and destroy his reputation. I felt that the film, far from being some moral conundrum is actually a good attempt at showing the hypocrisy of the times we live in. One thing though, the acting (having been done by obvious non-pros) is about average.

While most of the above comments pretty much describe the film, I saw one thing though, that I don't agree with. I didn't see the priest as molesting the very handsome Nunzio. They seemed to have a mutually consensual relationship. The boy went to the priests room, and is seen "flirting" with the priest at dinner. While Nunzio had a young girl friend, and spoke with friends about girls, he also seemed to care for the priest, and never tried to turn down the advances. The fact that he was not ready to cooperate with the investigation on the priest also shows me his concern for their relationship. The city street scenes and music I thought all lent to the validity of the time and place in the film. Even if the subject matter is not to ones liking, it is still an interesting film for the scenes, music, and other personalities in the film.

Sacret Silence is shoot in an unique way as many of the characters talk directly to the viewer. It almost seems that as if nothing else is happening around them – and it is only you they want to share their troughs with. This method adds a documentary atmosphere to the movie, which I believe will be appreciated by everyone who likes the serious European cinema.Sacret Silence is a movie about society and the way it can be blinded by its own perceptions or by people who want the others to see the world through their eyes and refuse to accept that there are other ways to think about an issue than their own.. That is why the priest is fighting with Camorra (the mafia ) – it is just that sometimes in life there is more to loose than to win.Traditional Italian songs are used for the soundtrack of Sacret Silence; most of them are performed by the 13-year-old Nunzio. I come to appreciate this music as it is evident that he feels the music – just look at his facial expression while he is singing.The movie focuses on a whole range of moral issues. The relationship between the priest and Nunzio is only one of them – at first I thought that I can understand the priest – his love for Nunzio, but at the same time his past is flashing through the eyes of the other boy who comes to visit him – and this past seems to be disturbing.Yet another issue is to be able to decide for yourself who is committing the biggest crime in this movie – it is the priest , or the mafia or may be as often happens these days the crime committer is the police itself ?