Well-directed and well-acted, but ultimately melodramatic, unconvincing, and morally repugnant, "Boze Cialo" is the story of a criminal, charlatan, and hypocrite who seemingly finds redemption in a small town that is also redeemed by him.
Daniel, a convicted criminal, leaves juvie and through a series of small (and largely selfish) but significant decisions ends up impersonating a priest in a small, grief-stricken Polish town as the town's vicar goes away on sick leave. The movie goes to great pains to show us how Daniel sweeps the townsfolk off their feet with his vim, verve, and youthful energy, his improvised and unorthodox sermons and spiritual reflections. Broken by a tragedy, he guides the residents through physical grief processing, which involves vibrant arm movements and shouting to process the pain and offers them words of wisdom and soothing. The movie has moments of dramatic power, but also of cliche and falseness, its central premise ultimately tending to the melodramatic and unbelievable.
As he settles into the role of town guide, the movie cannot obscure the fact that he fully embraces and is congnizant of the power he wields in the town - power that stems partly from the role of the Catholic church in Poland and the deeply-rooted tradition of deference to it and partly from the profound grief the townsfolk want to escape so badly they'll listen to anyone who will provide solace.
"Boze Cialo" attempts to tell a complex tale of redemption, but ultimately betrays one of exploitation made easy by the hero's hubris, by tradition, and by inconsolable loss. The hero's interventions in the town's life, both to reconcile its residents and to hold certain powerful individuals to account (e.g. the mayor) ring false and hypocritical because it is not clear the hero himself ever fully comes to terms with his own guilt and his crimes. Given the political situation in Poland, with the church loudly supporting the anti-democratic regime in power, the town's embrace of a more modernist priest seems aspirational rather than true, particularly in a small rural town. Particularly problematic is his deliberate involvement in a conflict between the residents with roots so painful and deep that his attempts at resolution come off not only as egotistical (he's only a tourist in the town with no real sense of its trauma) but also morally perverse (he's a criminal himself with no right to a moral high-ground).
In the end, the movie reminds us that escaping one's past is not possible - and it deserves credit for its conclusion, which I won't spoil here. However, while there is no doubt that Daniel's encounters with the various parishioners transform him, their transformation by him is less palatable, as is the account of how both occur. This is a well-made movie about wishful thinking rather than an account of faith.
Daniel, a convicted criminal, leaves juvie and through a series of small (and largely selfish) but significant decisions ends up impersonating a priest in a small, grief-stricken Polish town as the town's vicar goes away on sick leave. The movie goes to great pains to show us how Daniel sweeps the townsfolk off their feet with his vim, verve, and youthful energy, his improvised and unorthodox sermons and spiritual reflections. Broken by a tragedy, he guides the residents through physical grief processing, which involves vibrant arm movements and shouting to process the pain and offers them words of wisdom and soothing. The movie has moments of dramatic power, but also of cliche and falseness, its central premise ultimately tending to the melodramatic and unbelievable.
As he settles into the role of town guide, the movie cannot obscure the fact that he fully embraces and is congnizant of the power he wields in the town - power that stems partly from the role of the Catholic church in Poland and the deeply-rooted tradition of deference to it and partly from the profound grief the townsfolk want to escape so badly they'll listen to anyone who will provide solace.
"Boze Cialo" attempts to tell a complex tale of redemption, but ultimately betrays one of exploitation made easy by the hero's hubris, by tradition, and by inconsolable loss. The hero's interventions in the town's life, both to reconcile its residents and to hold certain powerful individuals to account (e.g. the mayor) ring false and hypocritical because it is not clear the hero himself ever fully comes to terms with his own guilt and his crimes. Given the political situation in Poland, with the church loudly supporting the anti-democratic regime in power, the town's embrace of a more modernist priest seems aspirational rather than true, particularly in a small rural town. Particularly problematic is his deliberate involvement in a conflict between the residents with roots so painful and deep that his attempts at resolution come off not only as egotistical (he's only a tourist in the town with no real sense of its trauma) but also morally perverse (he's a criminal himself with no right to a moral high-ground).
In the end, the movie reminds us that escaping one's past is not possible - and it deserves credit for its conclusion, which I won't spoil here. However, while there is no doubt that Daniel's encounters with the various parishioners transform him, their transformation by him is less palatable, as is the account of how both occur. This is a well-made movie about wishful thinking rather than an account of faith.