Aime et fais ce que tu veux

This is a very effective, very positive and yet oddly disturbing movie about the fitful coming out of a 40ish gay priest in Poland. His name is Adam, and he looks nothing like a priest except while on duty. He's always known he's gay, but he's serious about his vocation and has stayed closeted in order to keep his vows of celibacy.

He has a special gift for helping troubled teenage boys, which his superiors value greatly. His homosexuality has never led to anything remotely inappropriate with a boy (or with a man, for that matter), but he is periodically transferred in order to keep even rumors from interfering with his very valuable ministry. Most recently he was moved from Warsaw to an isolated rural parish with a small work-home for boys on furlough from reformatories.

This is a complex movie, and trying to summarize its plot would be a disservice. It is not predictable, not typical of gay movies, of priest movies, or of any other sort of movies I can think of. It's not the story of a type of man but of THIS man. So, like any real human being, Adam is more complicated than a normal movie character, and the director does not try to make him easy to understand.

In part because it's NOT predictable, this movie is fascinating to watch, and the end is especially satisfying. The movie is disturbing not because of anything that happens, but because everyone and everything in it looks dirty.

I know that sounds superficial, but sometimes the most superficial things in life are the most distressing. Even after bathing, the characters look grimy, everything indoors is dingy, and outdoors is nothing but dust. I don't know if rural Poland really is as miserable as this movie makes it appear, or if the director was intentionally creating a disturbing ambiance for the movie.

Although it's disturbing, that ambiance adds to the complexity of the movie and enhances its effectiveness. I watched it twice; it was richer and even more satisfying the second time.

it can be beautiful, strange or ambiguous. courageous or to close by blasphemy. in fact, it is only impressive. cold and bitter, gray and strange, it is not exactly a love story but image of a self definition fight. the theme makes difference not for the story itself but for the status of ingredient in a Polish movie. and the most important virtue , in this case, is the performance who sustain not only the story but the intentions of director. it is not easy to say if it is a good or bad film. because, after its end, important remains only the feeling. a kind of emotion who makes the film to be part of your memories. and image of an isle in which nothing can be clear, nothing has solution or roots. a film about solitude of choices. and that is all.

Andrej Chyra (Father Adam), Mateusz Koskiukiewicz (the tongue-tied Lukasz) and Tomas Schuchard (the streetwise Blondie)are superb. But this is writer/director Malgorzata Szumowski's film and it is original, fresh. It proves once again the power of art to make sympathetic a character you wouldn't have believed was worthy of consideration based on the facts alone. I mean the conscience-tormented Father Adam who is enveloped in a haze of homoeroticism generated by the late-teenage youths at a Polish reformatory camp. Given the emotional and affectional undernourishment among both the adults and the youths it is unsurprising that desire emerges here and there. But Father Adam is no predator pedophile exploiting altar boys. He is a sincere man devoted to the well-being of his wards and his temptations come in the form of youths past the age of consent played by actors well-past that age.

To say the least. The movie will not leave you completely after watching it. Whatever reaction it does create, it will stay with you. It's not an easy or light theme it takes on. Therefor it had to be careful. But it is not too careful. You have scenes that are explicit in its sexual nature (even if not completely graphic).

But it is the overall feeling this movie might leave you with and the moral choices the characters are taking. It is not easy to watch at all and you might understand the characters or you might start to hate some of them too. But I can't imagine anyone watching this, feeling nothing (even if its just disgust). The acting is really good and you get the feeling as if this is really happening (some might argue that it is close to some truth, which wouldn't be wrong I reckon). Tough but maybe still rewarding watch

The film is a bit slow, with less action and even less dialogue ... However, it is a great film because it manages to evoke the maximum frustration that a Catholic priest has to face, leaving aside the work he does, unfolds is also a MAN and that every man needs to love and feel loved, to hug and be hugged in turn, to communicate about his joys, needs, feelings and pains ... From what I understand, life is a nightmare for these Catholic priests, because they are forbidden to lead a normal life.