The film True Confessions (1981)
centers around a priest who is the heir-apparent and assistant of the cardinal of
the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, California. Even though the priest is a precise
bureaucrat and liturgist, I contend that he lapses in what can be said to be
the true mission of a Christian priest, and thus in the essence of
Christianity. Moreover, the film is deficient in not making this point explicit.
The priest, Des Spellacy, enjoys
a cordial yet emotionally distant relationship with is brother Tom, who is a homicide
detective. Tom is working on the murder of a prostitute who was sent to a porn-maker
by Jack Amsterdam, who has profited from several commercial real-estate deals
with the archdiocese. Although Tom knows that Jack did not kill the prostitute,
the homicide detective hates Jack and wants to pin the crime on him anyway.
That Jack has profited in his dealings with the Church even while engaging with
prostitutes offends Tom, given the hypocrisy. Indeed, the Cardinal and Des are
in the midst of cancelling an upcoming deal with Jack. But Des does not go
after his brother for intending to arrest Jack even though Tom admits in the
confessional to Des that Jack may be innocent of the crime. Using the confessional
to talk with his brother, Tom says that he is about to arrest Jack. “Did he do it,”
Des asks repeatedly. “I don’t care if he did it or not,” Tom replies. Des says
nothing.
I contend that Des, a monsieur in
the Roman Catholic Church, misses an opportunity to hold his brother to Jesus’
command to love one’s enemies. At the very least, Des could go after Tom’s
abuse of police power as being antipodal to Jesus’ example and teaching. Vengeance
is mine, sayeth the Lord. Des does not even mention the word vengeance to
his brother. As a priest, Des is called to resist even brotherly attachment to
proclaim Jesus’ commands; being a priest is not merely knowing how to perform
rituals.
At the end of the movie, when Tom
and Des are old men, Des tells his brother that he has finally come to understand
the mission of a priest. I demure. Being a quiet, peaceful person is not the
mission. In fact, just as Jesus goes after the Jewish hypocrites, including the
money-changers in the Temple, priests should stand up to seemingly pious hypocrites.
No priest should be a punching-bag in the face of hypocrisy. I submit that Tom’s
hypocrisy is much more egregious than is Des’ own ‘worldly ambition” to become
a bishop and ultimately a cardinal.
I contend that the film would evince the Christian message were Des to urge Tom to let go of his hatred of Jack, for we are all flawed, as well as the urge to abuse police power, and to go even further in helping Jack by befriending him while not shying away from calling Jack on his hypocrisy (while Tom admits his own to Jack). Two struggling men both in touch with their respective depravities in the context of Tom the Christian helping Jack as a friend (without enabling the hypocrisy) is what the filmmaker could have shown were the film to esteem the specifically (and uniquely) Christian ideal. Having Des relegated to a parish in the desert for a silly reason pales in comparison to depicted why he falls short of the mission of a priest.
