Diary Of A Country Priest Details

[Highly rated reviewer]

FATHER TED; INTELLECTUAL BY COMPARRISON

From; SILVER HARP Edinburgh

Diary of a Country Priest

Here’s a nugget of ‘wisdom’ from the curate at the centre of this story; “Blessed is sin if it teaches us shame”. Wow! Obviously a member of the Holy Order of Standing Logic & Sense on its Head. You go for it Father, you’ve just found the perfect excuse for having a great time at everybody else’s expense. And of course you’ll want to hone that shame to perfection … try murder.

The frightening thing is the priest depicted here has most of the characteristics typical of those singled-out for canonization (being made into a saint). He intentionally neglects himself; thus pandering to the idea that spirituality can only be achieved at the expense of material considerations such as food, shelter and decent clothing (which doesn’t, by the way, say a lot for recent Popes given their generous girths and luxurious life-styles).

He’s also given to putting a religious spin on just about everything. If you or I starved ourselves (and for the benefit of any young people reading, I don’t mean just not going to Mc Donalds for a month) we’d know that having “visions” was a natural consequence of lack of nutrients to the brain and not a visitation from “the other side”. And the fact that such “visions” took a religious form is only because the brain is delving into its nearest available store of imagery – within the brain itself. If you’re obsessed by farm machinery (and who isn’t?) you’d probably have a vision of a combine harvester.

There might ought to be a warning issued with this film, to ex-Catholics in particular, that its level of accuracy is suffice to promote nightmares of bad days past (for them at least, if not for current victims of superstitious, and make-it-up-as-you-go-along nonsense that passes for religion in less intellectual communities - TV Baptists, Taliban, Vatican etc.).

And finally, as with most people who present as pathetic on the surface but have managed nevertheless to gain a position of power in the community, our friend here proves a lot less deserving of our sympathies than we might at first have imagined. “God will break you”, he rants at the Countess because she dares to reject his idea of God following the death of her only son. Nice!

For those happy, intelligent, sensible, sociable, skilful, loving and generous people out there, this film about severely dour people whose lives are the exact opposite will provide all the reassurance necessary that they are “on the right path” and closer to God than any of the self-righteous, pompous, judgemental and self-deluded clerics portrayed here.

None eventful

Although this film is a brave attempt to view the inner struggles of a man gorwing alienated from the world, it is slightly thin on content and over states certain points. Although a worthwhile view, especially if you enjoy drama should be a low priority.