The least of these is a drama-thriller about mysteries, secrets and religion. Without telling too much, this has a story which is like so many others. Still this story as more layers than you'd expect.
A colored priest comes as a teacher to a Catholic boys' school. In fact the same school he attended as a youngster. As he arrives, he gets told that "The first thing a priest learns is how to keep a secret". However, there's more secrets here, and the new priest has some secrets of his own.
This film attacks the secrecy of which we've heard much about around the catholic church for the latter years. This film treats it good, but perhaps not as good as we've seen others have done it. Still it hits the mark well enough to grip you, and to keep your attention.
The film is also packed with good acting from great actors. Maybe from time to time instructed a tiny bit naive, which also adds to the film's lesser credits. Director Nathan Scoggins, also the writer of this script, here made his second feature, after previously being more known as a writer. He uses a slow approach to the storytelling as well as the solving of the mystery. However both Isaiah Washington, as the colored priest, Robert Loggia, Bob Gunton and John Billingsley as the other priests are doing great in their roles. So are many of the teenage boys.
The film was made on a low budget, but production values are good. The marketing budget of course was also too small for this film to get a wide enough distribution, so this film would be considered as a gem by many of those linking this kind of stories. It good enough to be deserved to be watched by a larger audience.
This film thematically resembles films like there, of which not all of them are base on Catholicism or religion, but more also about child abuse. Sleepers, Priest, The Magdalena Sisters, Deliver us from evil, King of Devil's Island, Twist of faith, Troubled waters, Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the house of God, The Boys from St. Vincents, Hands of God, Calvary, Sex crimes of the Vatican and the forthcoming The spotlight team.
