Deliver Us from Evil
by Amy Berg (II)
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Case Degroot, Frank Keating, Jane Degroot, Maria Jyono, Thomas DoyleDirector: Amy Berg (II)
Brand: Lions Gate
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language)
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 101 minutes
Published: 2007-05-01
DVD Release Date: 2007-05-08
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Lions Gate
Product features:
- Actors: Oliver O'Grady, Thomas Doyle, Adam, Jeff Anderson, Pope Benedict XVI.
- Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC.
- Language: English. Subtitles: Spanish.
- Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only).
- Rated NR. Run Time: 101 minutes.
Movie Reviews of Deliver Us from Evil
Movie Review: Emotionally Wrenching, A Powerful Indictment of the American Catholic Church
Summary: 5 Stars
Amy Berg's documentary DELIVER US FROM EVIL presents a devastating and unnerving indictment of the American Catholic Church's persistent refusal to deal aggressively with child sexual abuse by some of its priests. Berg's story focuses not on the widely reported problems of the Boston area archdiocese but rather that of Los Angeles, and her central figure is Father Oliver O'Grady. From the opening scenes where Berg intentionally avoids showing her subject's face, O'Grady slowly emerges as a serial predator and child rapist who utterly fails to accept personal responsibility of his actions or acknowledge their horrific effects on his victims. At his seemingly most reflective moment, the best he can muster is an affectless, third person statement that, "It should not have happened."
DELIVER US FROM EVIL presents its case through the eyes of three victims: Ann Jyono and her parents Bob and Maria, Nancy Sloan, and a young man ironically named Adam. We meet Ann and Nancy as adult women, Ann living in Chicago unmarried and childless as an apparent consequence of the assaults propogated by Father Ollie as the kids knew him. Their stories not only build the case against the wayward parish priest, they also enable us to view at first-hand the terrible after-effects of these events on the victims and their families. Further explanation and background comes from O'Grady's former pastor Case Degroot, as well as from Father Tom Doyle, a priest who lobbies ceaselessly on behalf of victims of priests' sexual abuse, Mary Gail Frawley-O'Dea, a clergy abuse psychologist, and John Manly, attorney for yet another victim who chose not to appear on film. Berg mixes these individuals effectively, intercutting their commentary with the victims' stories and interviews of Father O'Doyle, now living free and unrestricted in Ireland.
As the film progresses, Father O'Grady actually evolves into something of a sympathetic figure. He clearly has deep-seated psychological problems that led him to disassociate himself from his actions; he was a man who needed help and never got it. Not surprisingly given her journalistic background, Ms. Berg reserves her venom for the Catholic hierarchy in the Los Angeles diocese, especially its now-Cardinal Roger Mahony. It is this group who become the film's true evildoers, failing to manage Father O'Grady, sweeping his behavior under the rug, transferring him from one diocese to unsuspecting others, obstructing police investigations, and suffering convenient memory lapses under subpoened testimony.
Berg builds her case against Father O'Grady and the Los Angeles diocese a step at a time, bringing her story's emotional level to an emotional climax through Ann Jyono and her parents. A follow-on trip to the Vatican by the Jyonos, Nancy Sloan, and Adam to deliver a letter to the Pope adds a further sense of unresolved conflict but proves to be far less than the cathartic experience its organizer, Father Doyle, had hoped it to be.
DELIVER US FROM EVIL gains its greatest emotional impact from the jarring disparity between Father O'Grady's casual passivity and the heart-wrenching recollections of his victims. Still, Director Berg saves her three most devastating revelations for the end of her story. One of the three can be revealed here: that President George W. Bush, at the Vatican's request, has granted immunity from prosecution to the current Pope, Benedict, with regard to clergy sexual abuse cases in the U.S. The other two surprises - one concerning Father O'Grady and the other concerning the Los Angeles diocese under Cardinal Mahony's watch - will be left for the viewer to discover in this moving and immensely powerful documentary film.
Summary of Deliver Us from Evil
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