I notice that I received many thumbs down. The movie was recommended by longtime tradcat who told me about movie.
Well, the movie ends with what is effectively the Gates of Hell triumphing over the Catholic Church.
I don't think that's fair. The movie ends showing on abbot evoking the countenance of spiritual desolation -- but that's not "the Church."
The Gates of hell AT THAT TIME were triumphing over the soul of the Abbot, but that's just one man. They were not triumphing over the monks there in that monastery.
The heretical priest orders the monks - the last orthodox Catholic clerics on earth - to stop offering the Latin Mass and to deny the dogma of the Real Presence. The Father Abbot, who has lost his faith, falsely places the virtue of obedience above the virtue of Faith and obeys the order to apostatize, and orders the monks to do likewise.
In the end, defense of the Catholic Faith is shown to be pointless and irrelevant, blind obedience is portrayed as virtuous and despairing existential terror wins the day.
So, while it might be a superficially attractive film for trads because it shows the NO in a bad light, the film does not follow that premise through by arguing on behalf of Catholic tradition. I'm not sure what it's arguing on behalf of, other than despair and agnosticism.
It seems to me if you watch the film looking for what it "argues for" you're going to be disappointed, because it is more suited for a kind of dramatic docuмentary, for it shows the visit of a Roman visitor in the person of an apparently American priest who has been sent by Rome to extinguish the TLM in this remote corner of Ireland.
Some parts are doubtful and appear to be depicting poetic license in movie-making. But if you can look past that and take it "with a grain of salt," you should be able to enjoy the movie for the short moments of lucid Irish character acting, and the beautiful Irish scenery, in between the moments of derision and contempt for everything holy, much of which is drippingly displayed in the acting of Martin Sheen, whose face I really don't want to see ANYWHERE, but here he's tolerable because there is likely a nice Irish face nearby, somewhere.
I think it's an enjoyable movie, but it's not for children. I would rate it "R" for being disrespectful of the Canonized Latin Mass.
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