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By and large, Father Morris (Clayton Nemrow) considers himself a devout
servant of the Lord, he believes his faith to be strong and his resolve
unyielding - there's just one thing that he doesn't like about his job,
and that's confession. Sure, he understands and supports the idea behind
it, to forgive sinners who have swayed from the way, but he gets slightly
fed up with hearing the same confessions week after week from the same
people who have no intention of better themselves but expect to be
absolved on a weekly base anyhow, he gets annoyed by the occasional drunk
asking for forgiveness because that might save him from a hangover, and
gets outraged when a terminally ill man (Ken Gamble) admits to all sorts
of crimes without remorse but asks the Father to fix things with God
anyhow. And then one day enter Amber (Jessica Lynn Parsons), a troubled
teenaged girl who's not really into religion and seems to have come more
to challenge Father Morris - in a game of wits the Father is sure he'll
win ... but she's wise beyond her age and before long has managed to look
behind his facade, see the desires the man of God has bottled up for ages,
and get out of him that he's in (unfulfilled) love with one of his
parishioners, Mary (Misty Bialys). But Amber isn't here merely to tease
the Father, she genuinely wants to help, too, and after a time the priest
does see this - it's just that it's less than certain that was she
considers help might not make things only worse ... Surviving
Confession is an extremely interesting little film as it really gets a
lot out of its limited locations and cast by actually underplaying things:
This is not a film that tries to hammer home a message (and never claims
to be pro or anti organized religion even) but tells its story in a subtle
way carried by pointed dialogue (brought to life by a solid cast) rather
than big action, cleverly interrupting the main confrontation priest vs
teenaged girl by the occasional parishioners confessing to not only
lighten up things but also indirectly support the story (to an extent that
will only become clear in the finale), which also helps in the very clever
build-up of the story. And in the end, the film really delivers food for
thought, but in a very entertaining way ...
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