Berlinale 2019: The Hypocrisy Of The Catholic Church And A Cropped Tongue

The sexual assault accusations in an ultraconservertive Catholic church diocese in Lyon is the topic of Francois Ozon‘s new movie “Grace A Dieu”. It portrays a current criminal conviction that is still being negotiated and where a verdict, at least one of many, will possibly be announced in March of this year. But a pastor who used to molest and torment little boys from the late 80s to the early 90s, is still working with young children in the shelter of the church.

That’s when a few men, one of them himself a true believer in God who raises his kids in the name of the bible, start to take action against their former patron. More and more men are beginning to speak out, they even register a club and soon, more than 60 people have joined. Ozon shows how sanctimonious and pathetic the church is trying to hide and trivialize when at the same time, dozens of men in their 40s overcome their shame and pain and go public and yet have to realize that the institution of the church is probably too powerful. Hopefully not. At least some things have changed after this case. By the way this isn’t the only such case in that pitiful church so don’t think this is a movie about an individual case. It is actually a plea for resigning from the Catholic church (which I fortunately did many years ago) and showcases how antiquated and redundant that instiution is.

Speaking of torture. Another movie based on a true story is Fatih Akin‘s “Der Goldene Handschuh”, named after a shabby speakeasy in early 70s Hamburg-St. Pauli where a serial murder is keeping his mischief. 23-year old Jonas Dassler portrays Fritz Honka brilliantly, with a cogent swagger and abysmally ugly trait.

“Der Boden Unter Den Füßen” (“The Ground Beneath My Feet”) by Marie Kreutzer is the story about a career-oriented workaholic and her mentally ill sister. Valerie Pachner, who plays Lola with much aplomb at first, begins to show signs of dichotomy during the story and makes you wonder what you would do in a situation like hers. The answer seems clear to me, but Kreutzer manages to come up with alternatives that I thought wouldn’t be possible.