UNITED STATES
Chicago Sun-Times
Bill Goodykoontz | USA TODAY Network
Chilean writer and director Pablo Larraín moves away from films about the Pinochet regime with “The Club,” in which he takes on the Catholic Church.
It’s an interesting movie, odd and disturbing by design. But it’s also effective.
Four men and a woman share a house in a small coastal village. They train a greyhound and mill around. Over time, we learn why they are there.
They are disgraced priests, sentenced, basically, to the house to keep them both out of trouble and out of the public’s notice. They have committed various offenses against the church, which, as someone notes later in the film, are also crimes. (“Has it ever occurred to you that you’re a criminal?”)
The woman, Mother Monica (Antonia Zegers), looks after the priests, keeps things in order — and has sins of her own.
Another priest arrives, and Mother Monica explains the house rules and curfews to him. It’s a monastic existence, you might say, though the irony is uncomfortable. Lots of prayer and meditation, some TV and not much else, other than working with the dog.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.