A sprawling MTV work which looks like a pilot for an imaginary miniseries ; a catholic priest having an affair with a nun is only an outline :there is material for three or four movies ;I don't think it will satisfy the Catholics (graphic detail of the relationship ) or the anticlericals ( the depiction of a bishop who smokes cigar and drink champagne, an ending which verges on pure leniency ,devoid of irony).
The priest's mother is a hypocrit , a pharisee ,who speaks smugly about her dynasty in the drug industry , she humiliates the nun , because she could ruin her offspring's good prospects (one day he shall be pope !);her contribution to parish costs recalls the indulgenses ,so blamed by the Protestant Reformed religion ; when she's blackmailed ,no problem : let's write a check for the restoration of the church of a priest whose morality is questionable ,just the same!
The scrupulous priest blames his brother ,who manages the drug industry for dismissing much of his staff (that's robotics,he says to his virtuous sibling);no problem, for the local bishop, sipping fine liquors and savoring rare meats , puts God on his side ;the frames of mind of the priest whose fight for the underprivileged should be de rigueur is only skimmed over ...
For his is bound to win ,mama told him so : Charles frequently appears on TV , he is in charge of organizing the world youth day (and he's a tremendous leader for his scouts ),he writes books that are best-sellers he signs for his readers ;he's prepared to be at the top of the ladder (one can wonder whether the Protestants are not right when they do not have any hierarchy).
As I wrote above ,the affair between a handsome priest and a lovely nun is only a detail in a dense screenplay :it's really love at first sight , the nun lets her hair down and presto ,they act .One must note that the marriage for catholic priests (the protestant ministers do ,I personally attended a baptism held but a female minister )is hardly brought up ,which is amazing all the same (although pope François is modern,there are many conservatives among the cardinals ,one hears ....)
In direct contrast with this bourgeois religious people , we have Frederico ,the black priest:he's the only one who does what the Gospels told us a long time ago; he denounces the sad fate of Brazilian's peasants where 1% of the population owns almost half of the land ;he comes to the rescue of the emigrants cooped in like animals in Calais ,waiting to head for England (not in a hurry to welcome them);he shares their food ,not the high and mighty's miniature pastries ,and their straw mattress.He is good friends with Charles whose family likes him too ,although he's too leftist .But the viewer sides with him :
Temporary stricken with remorse , Charles who did not lift a finger to help his fellow men,too busy with his broadcasts,his scouts ,his books ,the receptions his love affair ; he wants to confess him to his devoted friend .And that' s it.Nothing will stop him on his way to the bishop's palace ....
Marion Sarraut ,the seasoned director (who has done a lot of work for TV) , does not take sides ;it seems that she approves of the mother's obnoxious behavior ; the ending fails totally to convince .
I was brought up a catholic and I went to Sunday school for long years;now I stand aloof from this religion ; if all the priests were like Frederico,the good Samaritan......
