Kler

Never ever believe someone who lives by marketing religion.Thats all I have to say.We need humans,not priests

This is listed as a comedic film but quite frankly I have never seen anything less comic. Don't get me wrong it is a fantastic film and very powerful. But please label this correctly to people or I'm afraid this could be an issue.

What was the quality problem with most of the earlier Polish movies? The action-oriented screenplays used to give only a coarse look on characters' inside, so the actors delivered their lines very flat, not showing much connection to the character. That was the reason that Polish cinematography was second-rate in comparison to world's best.

Now, the movie Kler is a game changer. It turns out, we have in Poland great actors who are able to play a character very deeply. Three main characters become entangled in a set of intrigues which cause each of them to show a lot of their personality, including traumatic childhood memories. Moreover, I didn't expect the final outcome, so the plot plays on viewer's feelings triggering the viewer to make false assumptions about the characters as plot progresses, what makes this movie very enjoyable to watch. All of that makes this movie is so worthy to be watched - it is a masterpiece of drama. To me, the world's best movie of 2018.

Many people are asking - is the plot of Kler real? The Roman-Catholic Church in Poland claims that some 90% of Poles are catholic, based on the number of administered baptisms. However as statistics show, less than 40% of Poles regularly attend masses, and only about a half of those observe the Church's conservative teachings. On the other hand, polls show that 70% of Poles are tired of the Church's influence on Poland, being angry about both right- and left-wing politicians colluding with influential bishops for their own good but against the interest of an average Polish citizen. This movie is meant to appeal to those 70%, so it is more important that this is how the majority of the Polish nation see their country's largest church, rather than if the plot itself is real.

Why do some films hit us harder than others? In my experience, it is often dependent on the height from which we fall in the course of the film. As I had no information prior to pressing "Play", the two hours were a shocking ride through a haunted house. The clergy is never glorified yet the flaws its members have change throughout the movie and with it the general tone. For the first act it seemed as quite an amusing comedy: Priests are getting wasted, being called to duty in full booze, getting away from police control, the local construction project turns into a disaster...in short, these guys are nothing else then your normal underachieving losers, the comedic undertone springs from the fact that people still trust in them and they still hold power in society. But how is that comedic? Should it not be terrifying? The film goes on to explore that question and begins a journey downwards into human failure. These things exist, no question. And they are not to be excused. What made me respect this movie a lot and probably made those images hit harder is the fact that they are embedded into the wider universe of the clerical society, with century-old structures that have established perversions, pitfalls and meanders. And generation after generation, the mold within the church survives: Abuse brings new abuse, abstinence brings craving, power brings corruption, charity turns to greed. And in the characters that face their demons and superiors, admit their crimes and turn their back, we find pure human hearts, unaffected by the clergical structure, fighting to overcome societies inherent evil, that does not spare the church but lures in every part of human life: "[...]sin is crouching at your door. It wants to rule you, but you must overcome it." (Gen 4:7)

Three Catholic priests on intertwining paths, covering the whole known spectrum from sexual abuse to lighthearted nonsense. Bribing money in supermarket shopping bags. Funny and heart wrenching. A gem of new Polish cinema.