The Club, review by film writer and critic Tremayne Miller

by Film Writer, Tremayne Miller for LifestyleMK

The Club

Directed by Pablo Larrin

In cinemas 25 March 2016 

The Club, the new film by Chilean director Pablo Larrain (No, Post Mortem) questions the whereabouts of the priests who were taken to retirement houses in complete silence, ‘the lost priests’ club.’

Apparently former clergy members, former priests and religious operators provided clues as to what these houses were like, at the same time it was discovered that an international congregation had been founded in the United States called the Servants of the Paraclete.

Writers, Guillermo Calderon and Daniel Villalobos and he were able to create a screenplay of precision that was dangerous and extremely mysterious on the back of already having actors in mind.

This is the fifth of Pablo’s film, Alfredo Castro (Father Vidal) has starred in, and when he is asked how The Club relates to today’s Chile, here’s what he has to say:

‘Chilean society has founded itself on a story of power and submission.. Economical, social, political and religious powers, ..  ..powers that have inflicted great violence in the shelter of silence.’

‘..The Club seems to me like a realistic observation of political, social, and religious contingency, and above all, of justice (or rather, the lack, thereof).Networks of power carry on, hidden in the shadows and sheltered beneath the impunity that certain groups still retain.

Roberto Farias, who plays Sandokan, represents a specific social class and place, and in turn a particular religious experience. He recognizes faith as a functional thing, as opposed to anything either philosophical or spiritual, whereby he was forced to take part in sick pleasures by the priests who were meant to be protecting him.

Sandokan is, in effect, a man who is fed crumbs, then left to fight over them with the pigeons.

Farias approached his character via concrete imagery, which became more vivid as he verbalised the text.

Retired Nun, Antonia Zegers is adamant that the purpose of her character isn’t how she relates to being the only woman in a household of five men but more so, how she uses her set of circumstances to escape from herself. ‘Each rule exempts her from herself, giving her the opportunity of living through others, of avoiding contact.’

A.A. Dowd of A.V. Club describes this drama as bearing no ‘absolution’ or ‘portrait of forgiveness’ for its sinners. Because he believes that Larrain is after something a lot ‘trickier and harder to pin down. He, indeed, asks us ‘to share real estate with these men, ‘whilst offering a ‘few windows into their heads or hearts.’

 A poignant portrait, which leads us to question the sinful acts of individuals – their motives, and if they indeed, hold any remorse for what they’ve done. For me, I will always find a link between The Club and  Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu film, Amores Perros (translation: Love’s A Bitch), where what’s lacking in human emotion is found in the animals featured, and in the case of The Club, in greyhound Ragu, whose trepidant eyes immediately fixate, and fascinate me .

A Writer Contact I was to speak with after the private screening of  The Club told me about the 2012 documentary Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God  by Alex Gibney, which details the first known protest against ‘clerical sex abuse in the United States’ by four deaf men.

I would, therefore, like to take this opportunity to provide you with a brief précis, having now seen in:

Actors Jamey Sheridan, Chris Cooper, Ethan Hawke and John Slattery provide vocal translation of the deaf interviewees.

The title derives from the Latin  "mea maxima culpa", taken from the Confiteor.. It translates to English as "My most grievous fault".

The film follows Alex Gibney as he examines the abuse of power in the Catholic Church but through the stories of the four deaf men — Terry Kohut, Gary Smith, Pat Kuehn and Arthur Budzinski. All of whom set out to expose the priest who abused them during the mid-1960s. Each brought forth the first ever known case of public protest against clerical sex abuse, which later developed into the sex scandal case known as the Lawrence Murphy case. Their case manages to make its way through Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to the churches in Ireland, and to the highest office of the Vatican.

The film premiered at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival, on September 9, 2012, with a later release date of November 16^th, and a worldwide premier on HBO on February 4, 2013.

Film Writer and Critic, Tremayne Miller writes for Hey U Guys http://www.heyuguys.com/, and you can hear her review feature this Saturday on LifestyleMK, 12 - 2 on Secklow Sounds.