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15 out of 17 people found the following comment useful :-
an individual family's struggle with a global problem, 29 June 2005
7/10
Author: Dfredsparks from Dallas, TX

I found this documentary to be well done, saddening, but also in the end inspirational. It seemed at least that this family committed to working things out even though things were difficult. I also found it to be a stinging indictment of the conduct of church officials, conduct unfortunately not limited to this particular circumstance. In my opinion, the Church as a body has not done nearly enough to express its sorrow and regret at the wholesale lack of action taken against known child abusers. I think that the RICO statutes should be used to prosecute many church leaders who took part in these cover-ups. The Church in Rome basically acts like none of this happened and still wants to hold itself out as some sort of moral authority. I don't buy it.

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9 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
Wow...This one will stick for a while, 8 August 2005
9/10
Author: metzgert from United States

As someone who was raised Catholic in Toledo, I found this very well-done, low-budget film to be incredibly compelling and real. While I personally never experienced abuse, many of my classmates and I had very strong relationships with the priests that worked in our parishes and schools. Watching on film the Archbishop (who was present at my Confirmation) so badly handle the revelation of the abuse was hard. But this film helped me understand the full ramifications of the abuse scandal. I liked that the film never allows itself to overly dramatize what is an incredibly painful and divisive situation. It simply shows the real impact of sexual abuse on a single man and his family. I just read another comment for this film, and it was less about the film and more about a particular viewer's political views on Church abuse. That anyone could watch this film and question the motivation of Comes is really difficult to imagine and sad. But of course -- as the film shows -- many people find it easier to further persecute victims of abuse than face the truth about the leaders of their faith.

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10 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
Soul destroying, 27 February 2006
10/10
Author: dosanjh1 from London, England

Please read the comments by Roger Brunton in this forum to receive an eloquent view of this film. I quote from him:- "This subject matter shouldn't even exist for it to be brought to people to understand through film" How to describe the devastation of acts of evil committed to another Being? This documentary lets a victim demonstrate the results, the summation of his life-abused into 90 minutes.

Tony Comes starts this diary as a macho Fireman assured of himself. During the film he doubts what is most precious to him. His Sexuality, his marriage, his role as a father and ultimately his religion.

The viewer is a voyeur in what happens 20 years after acts of depravity. Tony cannot hold his marriage together, he is forced into explaining extreme and unfathomable situations to his young children, he is unable to communicate with his son in the way a father should because HE IS A VICTIM, his faith in God is questioned, he is scared of being labelled a "fag" or a "queer."

There are a enough problems in his life that would make him want to quit the course that he is now taking. He is acutely aware to challenge the Catholic Church is a process that will take years and much heartache but a sense of right drives him forward.

There are no happy endings in this film only disgust and resolutions to be vigilant with one's children.

To go back to the quote at the beginning of this review, this difficult piece should not be considered a film, or even a documentary.

It is news.

Our much vaulted media (print and vision) should bring stories like this to our attention so we as people can demonstrate our anger. When "they" talk about it they are more interested in the salacious details. There are more interested in the monster who committed the acts. The people affected are often shifted to the background as "supporting cast." Twist of Faith firmly puts them to the forefront. Not just the victim but his partner, their children and the effect on the wider community.

I believe this film was nominated for an Oscar. Congratulations to the Academy for promoting this film.

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10 out of 13 people found the following comment useful :-
An adult Ohio firefighter confronts the Priest who abused him as a child., 4 July 2005
Author: perlix from United States

A great, moving movie! Kirby Dick's films have always shown not only a light touch but an unerring impulse for the right emotional detail, revealing gesture and sense of when to pull back. In "Twist of Faith" he lets the points make themselves: the Church condones child abuse, they cover their tracks and lie about it. Dick's use of church music is especially telling, as is his judicious implementation of his "chain camera" technique: giving subjects their own video-cams to record their thoughts, document outward aspects of their lives and make occasional but heartbreaking confession. If only Art could make Change! Now THAT would be a Twist.

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8 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
Painful and traumatic, but an amazing documentary that should be seen, 30 July 2005
10/10
Author: Richard Brunton (imdb-update@brunton.org.uk) from Edinburgh, Scotland

This is probably one of the hardest documentaries I've ever watched, it really does hit you like a punch in the face from the outset. I can honestly say this film had me deep in thought, uneasy, laughing and crying, and that's what a movie should do. Unfortunately this subject matter shouldn't even exist for it to be brought to people to understand through film.

This is an intimate journey alongside the family and friends of a man who has been subject to years of sexual abuse by the locally trusted Catholic Priest. It shows his attempts to come to terms with what has happened and how it affects him in later years, and not just him but his wife, his children, his family and friends, and even the others who have been abused in the past. It's one of the most powerful movies I've seen in recent years.

I've noticed something different in this documentary that doesn't seem to carry with others I've seen to date, and that's in its determination to keep track of the focus of the story, Tony Comes, and yet it manages extremely well to show the effect to so many around him. The stories, attitude and confusion of so many other people are brought clearly into the film without taking away from his story, or dropping the focus from the pain and torment that is going through his life. It does manage to present a startling picture of how so many are affected by the sexual abuse of a person, and how the memory follows someone through their life all the while eating away at them at every single moment and through every single thought.

It doesn't preach, or seem to angle towards illiciting an effect from the audience for some social change or promotion of anger against the Church. What it does do, clear and simply, is show the Comes family story.

The movie is superbly edited. To imagine that the makers had so much footage and edited it down to a manageable amount that could keep Comes story focused and strong despite breaking off to tell the tales of his friends and family, and still retain the close feeling of intimacy of the whole piece, is remarkable work.

So many times documentary films can become something else, lose sight of what they were meant to be about or just dilute their message with cinema, whereas this film has exploited the medium to the utmost. It has successfully presented Comes story in such a way as to grab the audience and ask them why this has been allowed to happen, taking you to the window of these peoples lives and letting you look inside to see what harm has come to these real people.

For me, this is what this movie is about. It takes you into the heart of the Comes family and forces you to face things that you would not normally want to see. You don't want to know that people are abused, especially by those that some hold so sacred, and you don't want to see the pain and suffering that travels throughout the families affected.

During the scenes in Comes truck or at his home, when the camera was simply with him, I would forget that I was and really feel as though I was sitting in that cab with him. By the end I held a sense of knowing Comes and his Wife, not in the sense of a friend, but in that they are real genuine people, and their warmth and compassion came through so easily on screen, something I found incredibly emotional to watch at times.

There are a few truly hard scenes, of which I won't go into. Yes, it is painful, very upsetting and it will make you cry, but there is a lot of good to be had out of this film.

For one there is the amazing quality of faith found in humans. For me this was the hardest part, how Tony could contemplate anything to do with the Church after these events is beyond me, I even shouted at the screen for him to "wise up"! Not being a believer of Church or any organised religions, I found this particularly hard, but I saw the positive affects on the family and the strength it gave them. This was something unique and quite amazing.

Another moment, and something that the film showed me about myself, was when Tony's young daughter has gone to bed and he walks in to settle with her and hold her for comfort. My thoughts were uncomfortable and nervous, and yet this was a moment like any other between a Father and Daughter. A particularly powerful moment for me that demonstrates what Tony himself says when he talks about when and how often the memories of the past affect him.

Above all, it showed that you should not keep quiet about events in the past, and you shouldn't stand by when others commit crimes against people and cover them up for anyones sake. If this film tells us anything, it's that the act of silence in itself is a crime and that those who knew the priest was responsible should have stood up, taken responsibility and acted. Instead the burden was left with this poor young boy who has grown to be a strong but troubled man. Regardless of this movie, I applaud him and his family for where they are today, and I wish them all the peace in the world.

I urge you to watch this documentary. It's one of the most powerful I've seen, and it tells an often sad and painful tale that is happening all too often in our lives today. Yet it does come out with some profound and wonderful moments of human existence, and it shows what a great family the Comes are, and in particular Tony and Wendy.

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7 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
Deceived and betrayed by their faith in role models, 3 August 2005
8/10
Author: jotix100 from New York

It's shocking to learn the amount of abuse inflicted by a lot of Catholic priests in the past. There's not a day when one hears about a new case as the abused come forward to accuse what criminal men did to them years ago. Kerby Dick, a brave film maker, takes his camera to a group of people that were the victims of one priest when they were teen agers.

The documentary concentrates on Tony Comes, who finally had the courage to go on record to denounce his abuse. He had plenty of company, or so it seems. In fact, their bishop, who should have taken care in dealing with the corrupt priest, didn't do anything to prevent. In fact, this man chose the easy way out by ignoring the accusations.

Wendy Comes, Tony's wife, is deeply affected when she learns the extent of what her husband suffered in the past. In fact, Wendy was wounded when she discovered the truth. In fact, she had converted to Catholicism when she married Tony. In spite of their trauma, we watch as the Comes' young daughter making her first communion, accompanied by her parents.

Kirby Dick deserves to be congratulated for showing us how the actions of some evil individuals ruined lives by what they did to children who trusted them and saw in them role models.

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7 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
The powerful intimacy of truth, 4 July 2005
10/10
Author: dan-710 from United States

Brilliant film! My wife and I watched it and were riveted. What a powerful subject and innovative use of "chain camera." The level of intimacy with the main subjects in the documentary is astonishing. In this case, the camera doesn't lie. Thanks to the filmmakers' original approach, we as viewers are lucky to observe this attractive, level-headed family with this degree of emotional depth. You can't help but like these people.

Insight like this is helping to make the world a better place. Front page in the 6/ 30/05 L.A. Times just announced a $45.6 million settlement by the Catholic church here in California. We think this film deserves a big credit. Bravo.

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4 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
Re:, 20 August 2005
10/10
Author: puppi818 from United States

I thought the documentary was excellent. But to reply to the person who stated that the documentary "hurt the people telling the story" I have a question for you. Have you yourself ever been a victim of abuse? If you had you would find yourself facing a cornucopia of emotions ranging from anger to shame and guilt. Victims of this type of abuse are typically reluctant to come forward. Tony Comes himself states that he didn't know what it meant. Did he mean that he was gay? You cannot sit there and judge these people for not coming forward earlier. It is not a black or white situation and I hope that no one in your family ever experiences something like this. If they did they would have to steer clear of you... God bless Tony and his family...

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5 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
an excellent taut documentary, 8 November 2005
9/10
Author: cyrilwill2 from United States

This was an exceptional movie that gets into the heart of the entire abuse crisis. Abuse of any kind demoralizes the victim and makes "getting out" extremely difficult. Abuse by an authority figure, relative or priest is just that much more difficult. This movie authenticates the dehumanizing aspect of abuse and the terrible denial that only serves to demean the victim further. The main character, Tony Comes,does a good job of tracing his history and the circumstances that preceded the abuse. The unfolding helps the viewer to understand what the abuse has meant not only to him, his parents, wife and family but also his friends and drinking buddies. They aren't sure of its effects. It is easy to see just how hard it would be to come forward about the abuse. The church's various responses is criminal and at the heart of the story. The very source of comfort is in effect the source of the abuse and the continuing of the abuse.

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1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
Thumbs Up, 23 November 2006
10/10
Author: cholli403 from Washington State, US

This was a great documentary.

A story of child abuse.

The aftermath of sexual abuse usually exposes itself once the victim is in a safe relationship with their spouse, as an adult. The next thing you know, everything falls apart. Thank goodness they had each other and God.

I felt close to the families journey of self discovery. The marital confusion on Tony's quick descent to rock bottom. The strain on their marriage. The impact on their family and community. All of these gripping emotions were clearly portrayed in the film.

I am proud of this family for spreading their message. It was a truly profound step in their recovery.

Prayer Honors God. God Honors Prayer.

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