MOVIE REVIEW: CALVARY (2014)

 

 

"IT'S A STORY ABOUT FORGIVENESS, change and renewal.

In the beginning, yes, Father James meets a series of unrelentingly awful people, all of whom he suspects of wanting to kill him. None of them are worthy of Father James' comfort and he chooses to abandon his vocation.

Except he realises that the millionaire Michael is simply hurting. When Father James recognises Michael's genuine pain and asks for forgiveness from his daughter, he realises again the importance of his life, work and the power of spirituality to bring comfort to those lost and seemingly damaged.

That is why he returns. And that is why Fiona seems ready to open up and at least listen to the murderer of her father.

The film argues that salvation and forgiveness is possible for even those who themselves believe that they have crossed a moral precipice. The murderer thinks that the church is beyond redemption and needs to be destroyed. Father James believed that people are beyond lost and need to be abandoned. The film argues that both views are wrong and it is only through change that we can begin to heal and stop hurting others (and ourselves).” (Sharaz__Jek)

 

 STATEMENT OF INTENTION

 

Sharaz__Jek, in the above Reddit column, provides us with a helpful synopsis of Calvary. And, here, I would only add a couple of points: Early in the movie, Father James Lavelle, a priest in the small town of Easkey in northwest Ireland, receives a parishioner’s confession. We don’t see who it is, but what he says is shocking, detailing how, as a child, he was sexually abused by his parish priest, whose crimes were never exposed. The parishioner has harboured a deep hatred and loathing for the Catholic church and its clergy since that time. Decades later, he yearns for revenge and announces in the confessional that he will kill Father James in one week. His is not a confession, it is a statement of intent. He chose Father James because he is a “good” priest, and his revenge would be more complete, in his eyes, because of that fact. The movie chronicles the last days of Father James’s life.

I CONFESS (no pun intended) that Calvary was a bit of a surprise. I thought I would be seeing the stereotypical Irish priest we are so accustomed to see on film—brusque, a bit of a tippler, having the gift of the gab, acts as a spiritual lighting rod, and is a solver of problems big and small within his parish. Father James, on the other hand, is a recovering alcoholic. He has come to his vocation late in life following the death of his wife. He has an adult daughter, Fiona, herself plagued by a life of bad choices and relationships, and she has recently attempted suicide. The two have been estranged for years, with Father James critical of her lifestyle and her attempts at suicide which, according to church teachings, is a mortal sin. Fiona visits James during this time hoping for a reconciliation between them. At one point she says his alcoholism during her childhood alienated her, as did his later vocation which proved a barrier rather than a bridge between them.

 

IN THE MOVIE, the dialogue is rich and the banter plentiful with humorous asides, quips and witticisms from the townspeople and Father James. But there is an element of malice beneath the words. The dialogues invariably tend toward criticism, veiled and demonstrable, or ridicule, disbelief even anger with, and disparaging assessments of, the Church and Father Jame’s vocation. These last days prove to be his Calvary. I agree with Sharaz when they say Father James has lost his vocation. By this point, he sees his parishioners as irredeemable; they will do what they will with their lives despite his advice, spiritual and otherwise, and there is little he can do to change their ways. His relationship with them has become pro forma, a perfunctory gesture, formulaic, futile. And they know it. Perhaps another way of putting it is that he has lost his love for his fellow man. One example of this is when he visits a deranged murderer in prison who says he wants to confess. After listening to him, Father James tells the killer that to make a genuine confession one must be truly contrite, something he deems lacking in the killer, who he leaves to his madness without performing the Confessional rite. However, it is shortly afterwards that he has a heart-felt talk with Fiona. They reconcile after he asks her to forgive him for not understanding—for not trying to understand—the depths of her despair and for not engaging with her when she needed him most— growing up and as a young adult. In an emotionally charged scene the two express their love for the other and Father James is heartbroken when she returns to Dublin.

The final straw that breaks him is an accusation that he was attempting to ‘groom’ a young girl he met on a walk to the beach. He is undone by this experience and falls into a deepening “dark night of the soul” with his spiritual life and the secular world around him never more at loggerheads. He goes to the village pub and begins drinking. The village doctor, an ardent atheist and perhaps the most “unrelentingly awful” of all the people Father James encounters, tells Father James a horrific tale of a young patient whose prognosis post-treatment is a "living hell". The priest is shattered and asks the doctor why would he tell him such a terrible story. The doctor doesn’t answer but the subtext is clear: What kind of God would make a child suffer so? How can you believe in such a God? There is no God.What say you to that, priest?  Enraged by yet another assault on his vocation and beliefs, Father James nearly attacks the doctor. Instead, he drinks far into the night, shoots-up the bar with a revolver*, and ends battered and bloodied in a brawl with the tavern keeper.

 

FORGIVENESS

   

THE NEXT DAY, he decides he will quit the priesthood and flee from his rendezvous with death. He drives to the regional airport for a flight to Dublin. There he meets the wife of a tourist who’d died in Easkey. Earlier in the week Father James had performed the Last Rites for him as he lay comatose in hospital. Accompanying her late-husband's coffin, she says she is taking her husband “home”. The young widow had a quiet dignity and unwavering faith in God and the Church, and as devastated as she was, nevertheless she says she will “keep going on”. As they talk, the two watch from inside the terminal as her husband’s coffin is loaded by baggage handlers into the plane's cargo hold like..well, baggage. The lack of reverence, of any regard for the transcendent in the modern world, the cold, secular world filled with cynics, skeptics, unbelievers, idolaters, and haters was encapsulated in that quiet scene at the airport.

 

INSPIRED by her faith and her will to persevere, Father James returns to Easkey to resume his pastoral duties. On the morning of his death, he phones Fiona to talk to her one last time. He says there has been too much talk of sin and not enough about virtue. Asked what he thought was the greatest virtue, he replies "forgiveness". Each then forgives the other and Father James leaves the rectory for the last time and walks to his final destination.

As he walks through town he encounters Gerald, the elderly American writer, who asks if he can join him on his walk. Father James says no, given what he is about to face. Gerald takes it as a rebuff and turns to walk away, but Father James asks him if he’s finished his book. Gerald says yes but he wasn’t sure if it was any good. Father James said it will be “extraordinary” and that Gerald was a very fine writer, cheering the old man greatly. As with Fiona, Father James gives solace and affirms the Gerald’s value and sanctity in the world. 

 

HE WALKS TO THE CLIFFS overlooking the wild Atlantic and tosses the gun away; he will go unarmed to meet his executioner. There, he encounters Michael, a wealthy banker who contemplates suicide because life has no meaning for him anymore. Father James consoles him, embracing him, and promises he will come by his home later to talk with him. Another soul is touched, another spirit lifted by the priest who has learned that his greatest goal is to honour others, to understand and accept who they are and to love them unconditionally.

 

FINALLY, he walks to the beach where we see a figure approaching. It is the town butcher, Jack Brennan. Here, I disagree with Sharez__Jek. I think Father James knew all along it was Jack who would come for him. It makes sense of some of the looks, venom, and veiled threats passing between the two in the days leading up to the priest’s murder. Father James tells Jack it’s not too late, that he doesn’t have to kill him. Jack disagrees saying it’s ordained, unstoppable. He's wrong, of course, there are always choices that can be made.The priest looks at Jack, refusing to look away as the butcher raises his revolver. Father James's gaze is open, accepting what will come and, at the same time, accepting Jack unconditionally, loving him even as Jack murders him. Jack cannot meet the priest's gaze and turns away as he pulls the trigger.

The movie ends with short depictions of the people whose lives Father James had touched. Most seem to be living much as before. It is with Fiona, Gerald, Michael, the young altar boy who witnesses the shooting and, perhaps, Jack that moments  of grace are achieved.¹

 

The final scene is of Fiona visiting Jack in prison. She is seated in the glassed-off booth with a phone link prisoners use to talk with their visitors. She is calm, her gaze is tearful, and like her father’s, it is open, accepting. She will listen to him without reservation. Jack is terrified of her, barely able to approach the booth and sit. (I had the image of a devil, brought from the dark depths to the surface, blinded by the light of a world he had long ago abandoned.) What frightens Jack the most, I think, is he knows she will forgive his unforgivable act. And then where will he be? What will he be? The road to redemption is always there even if it can be a difficult and rocky one.

 

MY APOLOGIES for the length of this review. I kept trying to describe the movie (some gorgeous scenery, BTW). I could have simply said it’s a good watch, all-in-all.

 

CHEERS, JAKE.

_____________________________________ 

 

* At the beginning of the movie, Father James drops off some groceries to Gerald Ryan, an elderly American novelist who is writing a book in a cottage near town. He asks Father James for a gun with the unspoken purpose of using it to end his life if he were to become disabled. Father James said he would try to get him one. He does but, instead, keeps the revolver. He clearly means to keep it for self-protection against his would-be assassin.  Which is why he had a gun with him at the pub. 

👉It also reminds the viewer that Father James is on his own spiritual journey. He is human, with all the fralities and faults that entails. On his late night drive back from the airport he accepts the fact that he will face his own Golgotha the next day and he quietly prepares for whatever is to come.

 

1. Not everyone in town is changed by their relationship with Father James. Not everyone accepts or seeks unconditional love or expresses it. Moments of grace the film tells us are few and far between in life; they should be cherished and encouraged whenever they occur.

 

👉For GoT fans: Doctor Frank Harte (a misnomer if ever there ever was one), who believes in the sanctity of no one, is a cold and heartless character. An ending tableau after Father James’s murder has the good doctor standing in an autopsy room. He is smoking a cigarette. There is a stainless-steel bowl on the counter in front of him containing what looks like a human heart and upon which he butts out his cigarette. He is someone you’d like to punch in his stupid face, if truth be told.

But FYI, the actor portraying Dr. Harte played Littlefinger in GoT, also someone you’d like to punch in the face.

 

P.S. I just had an annoying thought: Are we to assume the heart is Father James’s?  Conceivably the priest could have been autospied in Easkey by Dr. Harte who sees human beings as machines that eventually break down, no more, no less. And no matter how he might ‘excavate’ Father James’s body, he will never encounter the priest's soul, nor come to regard his own.

 

 

P.P.S. A nice touch in the film is this landscape shot of Father James's altar boy painting the seascape in the moments before the priest is murdered. While Jack strides along the beach to meet his fate, Father James simply waits. The boy's painting is unfinished, the future is open, the last dab of paint has yet to be applied, if at all. Free will and choice are always at play; nothing is pre-ordained as Jack believes.
 

 

 

RANT: LOAVES AND FISHES? HELL, I WANT A BLT!

   

YOU WOULDN’T BE TOO FAR OFF THE MARK if you thought the accompanying pic was of an audience full of red-eyed devils from hell. Or else it’s this senior demonstrating the extent of his Photoshop skills. Take your pick. For those who are strictly blue-pilled, this is a go-to weekly meeting held in the Pentagon* and led by “Secretary of War”, Pete Hegseth. What sort of meeting? Why, it’s a prayer meeting, a new meet-and-greet policy adopted by Born Again Pete to bring some old-time fire and brimstone back into the armed forces. 

Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth

I GUESS SecWar Hegseth wants to be sure his troops know that God is on their side, no matter what they do and that they're part of God’s earthly army dedicated to raising the third temple on the Mount in Jerusalem, announcing Armageddon, and ushering in the thousand-year reign of Christ on earth. Well, the SecWar may have to update that last part but, hey, it’s a work in progress. 

 

Yesterday, on an earthly plane, during Judge Napolitano’s "Judging Freedom" YouTube  podcast, Judge Nap played a short (thankfully!) clip of Hegseth’s prayer-casting or whatever he was doing Monday morning. [@21:50 to 23:12 of the show] For those of a more secular or agnostic bent, as well as most red-pilled folk, it’s advisable to keep an airsick bag nearby; it may be needed. And while the majority sit enthralled, eyes ablaze with light from a beckoning End Times, not everyone is happy to be there. Some thought coffee and doughnuts would be served before the praying got started. Live and learn, my friends, live and learn. 

👉NOTE: With a red arrow I've pointed out a possible apostate in the crowd. Naturally, he will be confined to the burning lake of fire for all eternity.¹ However, an eternity spent in the fires of hell's dark ovens might be  preferable to listening to SecWar Hegseth's prayerifying.

👉AND THE EXPRESSION on this guy's face  is priceless! You can almost read his mind:

"What.. The fuck.. Is this? I'm going to punch him in his stupid face. Hard. No doughnuts or bagels? I'm outta here!"

 

CHEERS, JAKE.😜 _____________________________________

 

* You can tell the video is from the Pentagon because there’s a “Pentagon” icon at the bottom-right corner. But, if you thought the group looked more like lost souls trapped in a DEI meeting mandated by HR, you’d be excused for misidentifying the group. Folks, it's the Pentagon for Christ's sake! These are the people that shape and flesh-out the Department of War's trillion-dollar budget.² Question is: Do they have their eye on the ball or on a blood-soaked End Times? And if contemplating that doesn’t give you pause or send chills up your withers, nothing will. Just sayin'.

 

^1. Or he may be demoted, or passed over for promotion, or his job could be declared redundant.

 

2. Next year to become a bloated $1.5-trillion. 

 

 

 

 

RANT: OILOILOILOILOILOILOILOILOILOILOIOILOILOILOILOILOILOIOILOILOILOILOIL

   

HERE’S SOMETHING TO CONSIDER: Will the closure of the Hormuz Strait by Iran to countries predominately aligned with American interests really cause serious disruptions for the economies of importing nations? Yes, potentially, as this chart from the JP Morgan banking group shows.👇The hashed circles display the chief importing countries in each region. The dates outlined for the various countries within each circle indicates the date when waterborne deliveries of crude oil will stop, i,e., when all the tankers currently at sea arrive at their destination and discharge their cargo. For example, deliveries from the Persian Gulf to the EU will mostly stop by April 10. China, which imports 5.2-million barrels per day (bpd) of oil will see its source of Persian Gulf crude cease around April 1 [That’s no joke! Ed.]

 

After that, the Chinese will have to use their strategic oil reserves to fuel  their economy or else source oil from other producers, and Russia would be the obvious place for it to pick up any shortfall in imports. Either way China is well-placed to deal with disruptions to its supply lines in the Gulf. It has between 80 to 120 days of reserves, with total inventories of over one-billion barrels to be released into the economy as needed.* SOUTH KOREA is prepared for a shutdown of Persian Gulf oil with its strategic reserves of public and private holdings. It has between 200 to 254 days of crude in its stockpiles. On the other hand, the PHILIPPINES has no formal, strategic oil reserves. It gets 95% of its daily fuel from 'just-in-time' imports, and 25% of those imports coming from the Persian Gulf. It's economy is able to last 4-5 weeks before it runs out of petroleum and distillates. If the Gulf remains closed for an indefinite period of time, the Philippines will have to obtain alternate sources of oil, no doubt more expensive and within a shorter timeframe than, say, China or South Korea. Already, nations are talking about rationing, asking their populations to conserve fuel whenever possible, with further restrictions down the road.

IT WILL BE INTERESTING to see how Japan deals without Gulf oil upon which it depends for 73% of its energy imports (Japan has zilch oil deposits on its territory). Perhaps it will make nice with the Russians and do some business together.

 

Asia, overall, will be hit hard by any disruption of Persian Gulf oil, importing, as it does, 84% of its fuel that's delivered via the Hormuz Strait and 83% of its LNG (Liquified Natural Gas).¹ EVEN IF the war ended today, there would still be repercussions from closing the Straits, and global supply chains in many sectors will be affected. High gasoline prices in America is one indicator, which is why the Trump administration quietly dropped its illegal tariffs on Iranian and Russian oil shipments, in an bid to keep global stocks topped-up with enough crude to keep prices as low as possible. 

IN MARCH, the U.S. released 172-million barrels of crude. In addition, the IEA (International Energy Agency), a 32-member nation organisation that provides analysis, data, policy recommendations and real-world solutions for energy related problems, released 400-million barrels from its emergency reserves, also in March, for the same purpose—to keep oil prices down. How long this can continue is anyone’s guess.

👉BUT, IF YOU HADN’T STARTED THIS FUCKING, STUPID WAR oil would still be in the price range that modern economies can handle, well below one-hundred-dollars per barrel, with adequate flows keeping everybody well lubed, ready and steady!😟

    

CHEERS, JAKE. _____________________________________

 

* If things go pear-shaped, as they well might, then there will not only be delivery problems with oil from the Persian Gulf but also production problems. If attacks are made to Iran’s oil infrastructure, this would almost certainly trigger a proportionate response from Iran against all Gulf countries it is in conflict with, damaging their oil fields, ports, and storage facilities in kind. Note that approximately 25% of global seaborne traffic in oil originates from the Gulf, most of it destined for Asian markets. An attack on Iran’s Kharg Island, which has extensive oil facilities, would almost certainly precipitate a destabilizing tit-for-tat escalation of the conflict.

 

¹ INTERESTING NOTE: A couple of days ago, a China bound oil tanker the Al Salmi was hit by a drone as it was leaving Dubai waters. It was presumably fired on by Iran. Perhaps it was attacked because it was a Kuwaiti-registered vessel and therefore considered property of a hostile nation and a legitimate target for Iran. Or, perhaps the captain of the vessel refused to pay the new transit fee. Or, maybe it was a "false flag" attack designed to throw shade on Iran and escalate the conflict. Who knows; it's "fog of war" time again. 

Iran has begun charging transit fees for all vessels passing through the Straits, a practice that will net them billions annually. So it goes.

 

  

QUOTES: Pete Hegseth, U.S. "Secretary of War"*

 

IN HIS IRAN WAR UPDATE during a March 24 White House press conference, Pete Hegseth, the self-styled “Secretary of War”*, in another of his speechifying fever dreams, proffered this boner:  

 

”We negotiate with bombs.”

 

 

 When will these people learn to shut-up?

 

 CHEERS, 

JAKE.😂 ________________________________________________

 

* As I understand it, the title “Secretary of War” and renaming the Department of Defence as the “Department of War” do not have legal standing. Any change to Cabinet and department titles must be voted on in the American legislature. This was not done. But puffed-up peacocks like Hegseth can’t be bothered by a little thing like the American Constitution. I think Hegseth would make a fetching entrance before the cameras dressed as Darth Vader. "Darth Pete". It has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?💀

 

FUN FACT: “In 2018 Hegseth’s mother, Penelope, sent him an email that said: ‘You are an abuser of women – that is the ugly truth, and I have no respect for any man that belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around, and uses women for his own power and ego. You are that man (and have been for years) and as your mother, it pains me and embarrasses me to say that, but it is the sad, sad truth.’” (Guardian)

👉Me thinks the dear boy has some mommy issues to work through. Perhaps he should return to being a Fox News weekend newscaster. We'd all be the better for it if that happens.😆

 

 

 

 

RANT: THE CONTINENTAL BUMP AND GRIND!

   

A BIT OF GOOD NEWS for a change as West Asia (Middle East) heats up with extended air campaigns from both sides of the Persian Gulf. In addition, U.S. marine contingents are arriving in the region and reservists at home have been notified their services may be required. It looks like a go for some kind of ground invasion, possibly to open the Straits of Hormuz which has been closed to American and allied fleets. We may see American (and Israeli) troops engaging with Iranian troops by the weekend.😖

👉But, what’s the good news, you ask. Well, it’s all about location, location, location. Every realtor’s wet dream. The Persian Gulf is closing permanently with the help of mother nature and her tectonic plates. The Arabian Plate is shifting towards Eurasia and in three-million-years or so it will pinch off the entrance to the gulf, making it an inland sea that will eventually evaporate, leaving both sides on the same side and in peace. Can’t argue with geology. Stay tuned.*

 

 

CHEERS, JAKE.

 ________________________________________

* Here, I must sound the alarm for oil producers and extractors in region. The crashing together of the Arabian and Asian tectonic plates spells the end for the vast petroleum reserves in the Gulf, with excessive heat and pressure the main culprits in degrading the trapped hydrocarbons. So, best get all the oil out before it’s too late! 

 

   

INTERESTING STATISTICS

 

Artist Rendition of orbiting debris and functional satellites 

“Number of rockets launched since the start of the space age in 1957: About 7170 (excluding failures)

Number of satellites these rocket launches have placed into Earth orbit: About 25170

Number of these still in space: About 16910

Number of these still functioning: About 14200

Number of space objects regularly tracked by Space Surveillance Networks and maintained in their catalogue: About 44870

Estimated number of break-ups, explosions, collisions, or anomalous events resulting in fragmentation: More than 650

Total mass of all space objects in Earth orbit: More than 15800 tonnes.

NOT ALL objects are tracked and catalogued. The number of objects estimated based on statistical models to be in orbit:

54000 space objects greater than 10 cm (including approx. 9300 active payloads)
1.2 million space debris objects from greater than 1 cm to 10 cm
140 million space debris objects from greater than 1 mm to 1 cm.”

(European Space Agency)

  

AND SPACEX’S CHIEF BILLIONAIRE-IN-RESIDENCE, Elon Musk, wants to put “one million” StarLink satellites into orbit. That would certainly upgrade our current night skies populated by all those boring, slow-moving stars, with only occasional falling ones to spice things up. More glittering objects in space is just what the doctor ordered! Who needs vast, primordial regions of dark lit by unimaginably distant stars. And concerns that cascading collisions in an over-crowded sky will damage satellites that provide global communications, GPS services and a host of other, vital operations? Those worrys are over-blown aren't they? So, don't worry as the song says. Be happy.

😟1,000,000 StarLink sats? What could possibly go wrong?

 

 

CHEERS, JAKE. ____________________________________________