Say Your Prayers

People can get things wrong. And people who are quite sure they're right can get things completely wrong. Beware the certainties of dogma. Roger Allam portrays a public atheist who sounds a bit like Richard Dawkins - except that he brings along some unappetising character flaws. Derek Jacobi is Father Enoch, a cleric who has decided that his God wants to suspend one of His own Commandments (number six, concerning homicide as you may recall). The end justifies the means.

Father Enoch has devoted about twenty years to bringing up two brothers who were abandoned when they were small children: Vic (Tom Brooke) and Tim (Harry Melling). Now he has an important assignment for his boys to do (it's the work of the Lord). Vic looks like he's cut out for this sort of thing, but Tim seems to lack the linear moral clarity of an effective fanatic - and maybe he's not very bright. If this is a story about one character, then that character is Tim, a lamb in wolf-world.

They go to work. But small mistakes can have unfortunate consequences. Now it looks as if the assignment is going to be more challenging than originally planned. The police are aware of death threats and are taking the usual precautions to protect Prof Huxley (Allam) at the Ilkley Literature Festival (yes, Ilkley, a town in Yorkshire, really does do these get-togethers for lit-lovers). Two guys of "middle-eastern" appearance have turned up to hear the keynote speaker - better keep an eye on them...

Life can be a muddle of sweet and sweat, pathos and pathetic, cliche and claptrap, hypocrisy and hypothetical, love and lewd. But will all these elements play together nicely to make a movie? Jamie Fraser (writer) and Harry Michell (writer and director) give it their best shot (some very nice touches, and also ingenious twists and turns), and they depend on the audience to not get too fidgety about how they're supposed to feel - is this tragedy, or comedic? We've seen plenty of work-worn cops on the screen (Anna Maxwell Martin on this occasion), but a splendid male choir - now that's different, and it really adds its own dimension of commentary to this film.

Rural Yorkshire, literary festival, two bumbling Christan hitmen, obnoxious snob who happens to be an atheist, innocent victim, foul-mouthed detective, a whole of lot of ingredients that shouldn't mix in together, but somehow do. Quirky, eccentric short flick peppered with a Capella singing, thick accents, dozens of creative turns (some working out, some fail miserably). It is hard not to get taken in by this unexpected dark comedy that doesn't spare anybody. Churchy, hateful fanatics and pompous money grabbing drawing room atheists belong to the same sewer of use and abuse. Dark comedy it is, and it ends on a dark note. Depressing, but fitting.

Here is a film with a dark sense of humor. An atheist writer named Huxley(I get it), is obviously based on the late writer Christopher Hitchens, a notorious critic of religion. God is Not Great is an excellent book, even for us agnostic Catholics out here. Two brothers are sent on a mission to silence the heretical writer and the result is a smart and funny movie. The cast is top notch and I highly recommend Say Your Prayers.

I enjoyed it as the story is quirky with an excellent cast and there is plenty of dry humour as well. The brothers are excellent and with Anna Maxwell Martin, Roger Allam and Derek Jacobi adding weight it's a fine lineup.

What I found intensely annoying was the frequent and incongruous insertion of a male voice choir in a lot of scenes. Totally unnecessary and really detracted from the whole production imo.

Certainly worth watching.

Enjoyed this film, an unusual plot and some great visual twists.

The film was spoiled for me by DCI Brough (Anna Maxwell) and the rather crude, northern lass attitude which seemed to be out of touch with the rest of the film. It became cringingly annoying, which is a shame as the storyline and other roles were spot on. With a different persona from Brough this could have been a better film.