By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Amy Berg
Country: united_states
Year: 2006
Running time: 101
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0814075/reference
Michael says: “I’m quite disappointed that Amy Berg’s powerful documentary DELIVER US FROM EVIL received such an abbreviated release this year (in Boston anyway) so that most of us didn’t get to see it. In her first feature film, Berg tackles corruption in the Catholic church in California regarding sexual abuse. Those of us from Boston know what the Catholic church in Boston went through a few years ago, but this tale following the twisted life and career in the priesthood of Father Oliver O’Grady is maddening and infuriating to the extreme. I found myself shaking my head in disbelief many times thinking how thoroughly corrupt the elders of the Catholic church truly are.
“Throughout his career, from the late 60’s through out the 70’s and early 80’s, Father Oliver O’Grady cut a horrific swatch
through catholic families in Central California committing acts of rape and pedophilia on dozens of victims, mostly children. Berg was working on a news story on O’Grady, and was stunned to learn that he agreed to be interviewed in Ireland where he is currently living in ‘exile.’ Berg spent three-days filming O’Grady and interviewing him where the true depths of his mental illness is on display. O’Grady is thoroughly aware of the atrocities he has committed, and he knows intellectually that his actions were ‘wrong.’ Yet he is so disassociated from his past actions that he talks about them with such a lack of passion or conscience that is chilling.
“As Berg begins recounting O’Grady’s actions during the early part of his career, the viewer immediately tags the ‘evil’ of
the film’s title on O’Grady. As a young, Irish priest, O’Grady’s charisma won him the hearts and homes of many families. One family in particular, an Irish woman married to a Japanese man, with a young daughter, befriended O’Grady and enjoyed his presence as a house guest for nearly a dozen years, even going so far to defend him when allegations of pedophilia began to arise, until they discovered that he had been raping their daughter for years. The raw pain and shame over both O’Grady’s
actions, and their inability to recognize what was going on is heartbreaking. This type of story is repeated several times (in one family, O’Grady even raped the mother to get to the teenaged son.)
“The true evil of the film title is soon revealed to be the Catholic church. A string of bishops and other officials were aware of O’Grady’s crimes, and rather than do anything to truly stop them, they would simply move him to a new parish 50 miles away. This happened several times, until local authorities traced the string of crimes back to the Catholic church. While they finally took more decisive action by sending O’Grady to exile in Ireland (where he lives in complete and total freedom) they were able to deny truly knowing about the crimes, despite evidence to the contrary.
“At one point, someone brings up the mafia in comparison to the Catholic church, and I have to admit that the mafia is downright noble in comparison. Had someone in the mob been behaving as O’Grady, they would no doubt just kill them. The Catholic church, who value patriarchy and wealth far more than the lives of innocent children and the faithful, simply move the problem, maybe hope that it will go away. As a former practicing catholic, you can’t imagine how sickened I am thinking about these old, white men. Some of this corruption is even linked directly to our current Pope.
“This is truly a disturbing and powerful film. I applaud Berg for carefully and dispassionately painting a portrait of a sick, serial rapist; a corrupt, powerful, and thoroughly evil organization; and the good people who were abused countless times in the most cruel way. This film should definitely be seen by everyone. 4.5 cats.”
Hilary says: “It’s a devastating but compelling watch. I also highly recommend it.
“I saw it back-to-back with JESUS CAMP — what a Sunday afternoon that was!”