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AN IRISH/US film on child abuse by a Catholic priest in an American school for the deaf has been selected for the Oscar nomination shortlist.
The documentary film, Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God was directed by Oscar winning director Alex Gibney (Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room), with funding from Bord Scannán na hÉireann/ the Irish Film Board (IFB).
It was produced by Jigsaw Productions, Wider Film Projects and Trevor Birney and Ruth O’Reilly of Below the Radar Films. The film will be shown on HBO in the US in January 2013, and released in Irish cinemas in 2013.
It has been shortlisted for an Academy Award® nomination in the Best Documentary Feature category.
Clerical abuse
Filmed in Ireland, the US, and Italy and shot by Lisa Rinzler and Irish documentary filmmaker Ross McDonnell (Colony), Mea Maximum Culpa: Silence in the House of God explores the issue of abuse within the Catholic Church, following a trail from the first known protest against clerical abuse in the United States and all way to the Vatican.
(tiff./YouTube)
The film has already picked up the Grierson Award for Best Documentary at the BFI London Film Festival in October, along with its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.
The Irish members of the team included Eimhear O’Neill of Below the Radar productions, which was co-founded by the film’s producers Birney and O’Reilly. O’Neill worked as associate producer on the film. “The team are very proud and honoured to be among the 15 films shortlisted, all of which are tremendous documentaries,” she told TheJournal.ie. “We’re hoping for the best.”
She said they were proud of the four men in the film “who courageously spoke out for the first time.” They were responsible for launching the first public attempt to expose clerical sex abuse in the USA, and their stories are told in the film. They were abused by Father Lawrence Murphy at a school for the deaf from the 1950s.
O’Neill said that the team remained balanced and objective when telling the men’s story. “In no way it is an attack on religion,” she said of the film. “The story is about crime, and about an abuse of power.”
The relationship between Below the Radar and Gibney developed a number of years ago, and was further strengthened when O’Neill won a place on the Alex Gibney Training Programme, during which she worked with his team in New York. “It has been a pleasure and delight working with him. It was a dream come true for me to work with someone like Alex,” said O’Neill.
Filming
After the Irish Film Board provided some funding, Below the Radar came on board as a co-producer. The film is mainly set in Milwaukee and Wisconsin, where the abuse occurred, but they also filmed in Ireland and Italy.
The film explores Ireland’s history with the Catholic Church and the abuse scandals that occurred here, using archive footage to show how the abuse stories emerged in Ireland, at a similar time to when they were emerging in the US.
“”It’s through [the men's] story that we follow the cover up from America to Ireland, to the highest office in the Vatican,” explained O’Neill. “I think people are quite surprised that this was happening at the same time at different parts of the globe.”
A still from the film
With its focus on religion, there may be fears that the film could attract criticism. “There’s always going to be some people who are critical,” said O’Neill. “We did extensive research. As Alex says, it is not an attack on religion at all, it is a crime story.”
There are no subtitles in the film – the men use sign language and an actor speaks their words, which O’Neill said adds to their depiction of their traumatic experiences.
The shortlisting for an Oscar nomination has made the team behind the film happy, but O’Neill said they are proud “that four brave men and their stories are finally being heard and listened to for the first time” as word spreads about the film.
We just hope we do a good job for those men.
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Isn’t a well known public figure who abused for years getting their sentence reduced down to 2 years for “good character and behaviour” (insert Judge feel good lingo here)
It needs to be said, we do not punish abusers in Ireland, there is no deterrence. It needs to change.
Also a conversation on consent needs to be amped up further in schools. Things need to change.
@TheFreeSpeechParty: well said. Rape should mean a life sentence.
@TheFreeSpeechParty: I agree , well said. Respect and consent , and relationships in general should be discussed in schools
@James Wormold: Chemical castration would be a more economic and effective option.
@Carla Killeen: raping women would be anathema to the vast majority of men with a high sex drive. Rape is about much more than male hormones and sex, it’s about control and violating another person. Chemical castration might reduce recidivism rates but there is no evidence to suggest it acts as a deterrent in the first place. Teaching children about respect, body autonomy and consent from a young age might prevent some from ever thinking it’s okay to violate another person.
You won’t see Leo tackling this problem, you won’t see any kind of judicial reform regards to sentences. I am convinced the judges always try to side with the perpetrator, if you have a good character, if you plead guilty, if you have a job. Anything at all that can be used to reduce a sentence the judge will try his best, oh he was cooperative, that’s another few months off. Then of course in the case of a rape, the judge doesn’t sentence for each crime committed within the rape, the violence, the threats etc it is all bundled into one and the mandatory suspension part of the sentence.
And yet in the other news report today we have people insisting abortion services are a “lifestyle choice” and not required in Ireland.
The perpetrators get full benefit of certain circumstances while the victim gets violated over and over .. Throw away the keys .
In a society where the media and entertainment industry place heavy emphasis on sexual consumption and instant gratification as elements of the Good Life, it is not surprising that predatory men see women and girls as objects of their desires.
@Garreth Byrne: so rape didn’t exist before TV?
@EillieEs: Rape is as old as the hills. The sex saturation of the media and mass entertainment tends to emphasise eros rather than conjugal love as a key element of the Good Life. Women’s bodies are graphically projected more than their minds and personal qualities. As sex objects they are targeted for male gratification.
If you use a gun as a weapon it’s taken from you…….chemical castration
@John O Reilly: Agreed, it would be the best deterrent.
@John O Reilly: how to stop that person ever using it as a weapon in the first place?
@EillieEs: nothing….some people are animals
How can you be a good person if you rape someone should get life imprisonment
@Margaret Kane: This question needs to be asked, this is a really good question that should be put to judges.
If 34.3% of the enquiries to the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre are from other parts of the country is this a funding issue?
It’s not really a great place at all, especially if the privileged have hurt you. Pigs and sheep, people, pigs and sheep.
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