Verfehlung

Verfehlung (English: Culpable) is the story of a young, beloved and successful German Catholic Priest accused of sexual child abuse - from the viewpoint of his best friend. It tracks very well to the history of such claims and illuminates the reaction of the church and the parents of the children. It is a very well crafted film that captures the events with a spectrum 5 times greater than I have seen it done previously. Well crafted handling of "the poisoning of the well".

The film action occurs in the present. The critical question posed to me is whether the Church (as Mother} is more important than the members that make it up. In the parallel case of a real mother in danger to her life because of an at-risk pregnancy, the church sides with the infant to the detriment of the mother.

This burning subject was also treated in a French MTV work "Le Silence Des Eglises" starring Robin Renucci ,a few years back.

Three priests ,three friends who do a lot of sport together:the three musketeers...One day ,one of them (Dominik) is accused of sexually abusing a teenager;whereas Jacob tries to investigate ,Oliver's priority is to hush a scandalous rumor.

"I've known him for years!" says a desperate Jacob;and however,he KNOWS,perhaps more than he tells us;here comes the tragic problem of the seal of confession: this is certainly this buried secret who reminds Jacob of Christ's parable :"you see the mote in your brother's eye ,but not the beam in your own".Actually,if the affair is kept quiet,other children might be raped and he would be responsible...

.....just as the bishop in the French " Silence Des Eglises" (=the silence of the churches)who knew the priest's behavior and did not want his church to lose any credibility;that's exactly what Olivier says after his friend meets the bishop ,who ,cowardly,speaks of mercy and forgiving ,and is more interested in the ordination ceremony.

"I was in love ! it was not a rape! you know who I am !" screams a distraught Dominik;"No,I haven't got any idea of who you are " his mate answers .Even the purest friendship can be called into question,so can the religious authorities.

A movie which should not be missed ,"Verfehlung" is as convincing a statement as "Le silence Des Eglises";the ARTE channel screened both films.It's not a true story,but we have all heard of affairs such as this one.