La conscience tranquille

A clever use of combining past and present to explain what is happening on screen is used throughout THE LESSER EVIL by director Jack Mackay. The story basically involves men who made a bad mistake in the past and have had their crime affecting their lives ever since. A reunion proposed by one of the men turns into something more than a mere gathering of old friends--and leads to another crime.

This is an independent film without wide distribution and it's little known among fans of the suspense genre. It's worth watching for the more than competent performances from a splendid cast, particularly the adult actors COLM FEORE, TONY GOLDWYN, ARLISS HOWARD and David PAYMER.

It's more a character study of the four friends than a straight thriller, but as the story unwinds--after a beginning narrated by ARLISS HOWARD as a priest giving a graveside sermon on a dead friend--it keeps switching back and forth between past and present to explain what is happening, each aspect of the story made clearer by revealing the past crime concurrently with the present action.

It's an effective way of telling a complex story of guilt and fear brought on by the killing of an individual and the extremes the four went to in an effort to cover up the crime.

The twist at the end comes as a surprise because nothing about the story is predictable. It's a well done independent film and one well worth seeing.

This is an excellent film, and was a very pleasant suprise, to say the least. I'm amazed, however, at the lack of online information for "The Lesser Evil". It's a shame it hasn't gotten much attention, because this is a very well done, totally gripping film, with a twist ending I never saw coming. If you like your movies suspenseful, thought-provoking, and unpredictable, check this one out...you won't be disappointed.

I liked this movie. Yes, the plot twist at the end was awesome--never saw that coming! The actors chosen to play the parts was EXCELLENT!!! Colm Feore is a top-notch actor, and he was the main reason I wanted to watch--anything he acts in is Outstanding! This movie had a Lesson--everything we do in life stays with us--the mistakes of the past, when unresolved, follow us until we do resolve them in some way. The guys, however, choose to keep their past secret and poor Derrick was the..........Nah, you can figure that out when you watch the movie! ;) You know, Why this Movie is titled, The Lesser Evil! :)

"Lesser Evil" is a 1998 film starring Colm Feore, David Paymer, Tony Goldwyn and Arliss Howard. It's very well directed by David Mackay, and the script by Jeremy Levine and Steven Schultze is excellent. The film starts at a funeral presided over by a priest (Howard) who then tells the story in flashback. As teenagers, four buddies - Ivan (the priest, played as a young man by Marc Worden), George (Alan Scott/Paymer), Derek (Jonathan Scarfe/Feore) and Frank (Steven Petrarca/Goldwyn) are being crazed, drunken, out of control lunatics in the woods when George (Adam Scott/Paymer grown up) shoots into a car, gravely injuring the driver. The driver has a shotgun on his lap. He also has something else, which is revealed later in the film. The kids become completely hysterical and, as the man isn't dead but seems close to it, they attempt to rush him to a hospital. Then they change their minds and take him back to the woods, where he dies hours later, helped along by one of them when they see police lights.

Twenty years later, the gun that killed the man has surfaced, and the police question its owner, Derek (Feore), who has called them all together. George has become an attorney, Frank a police officer, Ivan a priest, and Derek's business is failing. He has made a mess of talking to the police and is a wreck. Ivan thinks they should go to the police and tell them what happened all those years ago, though they had all made a pact to protect George and keep quiet. Then they realize that George has been getting everything on tape and that Frank has been keeping a big secret from them all these years.

Fascinating story of the ramifications of guilt even after "getting away" with something and how guilt molded the lives and personalities of each man and changed their relationships with one another. In that way, it's a tiny bit like "Mystic River." With Colm Feore in it, the acting can be nothing less than spectacular. He is one of my favorite actors, having seen in perform at Stratford in Canada several times. The leads are all excellent, and the young men who play them as teens are superb.

There's a twist at the end. You won't want to miss this superlative drama that could only come from an independent filmmaker, as Hollywood is too busy with cartoon characters and blowing up things.

A very talented double cast of characters and excellent use of flashbacks makes for a very good dark drama. Four young friends meet in an abandon quarry and a devious prank turns into an accidental double murder. The four go their separate ways and meet again as adults when the authorities get close to solving the crime by tracing the gun back to one of the four. Now the four turn on each other in order to protect themselves.

The four adult friends are played by David Paymer, Tom Goldwyn, Arlis Howard and Colm Feore. Their younger counterparts are Adam Scott, Jonathan Scarfe, Marc Warden and Steven Petrarca. Both sets of actors were brilliant. Not exactly predictable and enough tension to curl the hair on the back of your neck. One minute you feel sorry for each of these characters and then a few moments later you want to slap a knot on them yourself. Suspense and nail biting galore. You wear yourself out just watching.