In The Black Guelph, John Connors is said to be the first filmmaker from an ethnic cultural group called the Irish Traveller who dramatized The scourge of childhood sexual abuse, imagine a dense tapestry of hurt in which a boy is hurt by a priest transformed into decades of crime, addiction, and anger enough to devastate a small community. Interesting characters and elements of crime fiction keep this film from being a dull one, but not much hope is found here, especially for those who will never be able to share them with an angry public due to the reticence of returns and court orders victims of trauma.
Commercial prospects may be affected by the film’s unnecessarily obscure title, which mentions 14 centuries of Italian history will be lost for most viewers unless they have access to the producer’s notes (which also explains the meaning of drawing the character names from DanteInferno ). The (apparently unintentional) implication is that such a comparison is needed to underscore the intense and well-known suffering of Catholic priesthood victims. But the film’s actions convey exactly what it’s about, requiring no literary or historical references.
Black Guelph
Bottom line Effective and tightly woven.
Place: Oldenburg Film Festival
Throwing: Graham Early, Paul Rowe, Tony Doyle, Dennis McCormack, Laura Larkin, John Connors, Kevin Green, Kathy Walsh
Director: John Kang Nas
Screenwriters: John Connors, Tiernan Williams
2 hours 5 minutes
Graham Earley as Kanto, a squad of drug dealers in an unknown seaside town. Being estranged from his wife for the reasons you’d expect, he’s really heartbroken — especially being turned away by his young daughter — but can’t resolve the personal mess that got him kicked out.
Meanwhile, Kanto’s father Dan (Paul Roy) stumbles around town (probably just out of prison) and starts crouching in an abandoned orphanage. We’ll know this was his childhood home; he’s here to end the shame he’s endured during this time. He befriends Virgil (Tony Doyle), a college astrophysics student, who travels into the dark to take a closer look with his telescope. The young man takes him to the boat he calls home, and his mother Beatrice (Dennis McCormack, who plays a drug addict trying to stay clean) provides all the hospitality she has to offer.
But Bea is a regular customer of Dan’s son. And she’s about to suffer for it: Kanto owes a powerful local thug (played by the director) who will soon go around bullying those who owe him money. (The encounter with another trash dad, who abused his wife and neglected his kids when Kanto came to collect, sparked a rare moment of sobriety in the gangster, showing him all that the movie was trying to convey to us. )
Dan also returns to town to settle legal matters arising from the abuse. A very ugly courtroom scene shows the defense trying to discredit him, using his criminal record as evidence that he cannot be trusted. Needless to say, Roe (a soulful standout in a unified, strong cast) shows how this encounter with a deceptive authority briefly left Dan as helpless and ashamed as he was as a child.
Knowing about things Knowing yourself is not the same as being able to put knowledge into action. Dan’s efforts to reconcile with his son and bond with loving strangers look doomed. Too much time has passed for this type man, his son has learned the lesson of neglect ,Can not change. Does making the details of every crime public and holding every agency accountable to the criminals they protect help these people, or the countless real victims they represent? At this point, true justice is impossible. But in Dan’s actions, the film wants to see the hope that we can at least stop the damage from spreading to the next generation. As unsatisfactory as this may be, it’s far better than what we’ve gotten from secret cash settlements and quiet impunity.
Full credits
Venue: Oldenburg Film Festival Producer: Cluster Fox Films Cast: Graham Early, Paul Rowe, Tony Doyle, Dennis McCormack, Laura Larkin, John Connors, Kevin Green, Casey Walsh 50 Director: John Connors Screenwriters: John Connors, Tiernan Williams
Producers: Tiernan Williams, Maria O’Neill
Executive Producers: Kevin Green, Criona O’Sullivan, Dylan Stagno
Director of Photography: Carl Quinn50 Edited by: Tiernan Williams Composer: Daniel Doherty
Casting Director: Maureen Hughes
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