Movie: John Michael McDonagh Carves His Own Niche With ‘Calvary’

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Cara Buckley
Brendan Gleeson as a beleaguered Irish priest
HOLLYWOOD---John Michael McDonagh is no altar boy, at least not anymore. But when he was 11, this future screenwriter and director could be found most Sundays carrying processional crosses and ringing Sanctus bells while his little brother, Martin, now a playwright and filmmaker, sang in the choir. Now 47, John Michael McDonagh is revisiting Catholicism in force with his new film, “Calvary,” the second installment in what he has taken to calling his “glorified suicide trilogy.” Opening Friday, the film stars Brendan Gleeson as a beleaguered Irish priest who receives a death threat from a local man who was raped in childhood by another clergyman. [link]

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I wanted to reflect on the movie "Calvary" that I saw last night. The movie critic focused on the film director's term "glorified suicide" but what I experienced was less about suicide and more about forgiveness and sacrifice, and these are not the same. As I left the movie theatre last night, all I could think about were Jesus' last words on the cross, "Forgive them for they know not what they do," and he left an example for those left behind to do the same.