As a Pole I can say that what you will see is quite possible to happen every day in Poland. However, if you will watch this movie carefully you will see that not all priests are bad, just like not every human being is bad. Most of Polish reviews criticize this movie for "witch hunting" of priests in Poland. I think those people saw a wrong movie because it clearly shows two sides of a coin. Watch open minded, I am sure you will see a value in it.
13 Reviews
WARNING, this is not comedy. Great film however.
davidcarden223 October 2018
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.
Sins of the Catholic Church
neofita29 September 2018
Warning: Spoilers
A film famous ahead of its release and obviously judged as well.
In Poland, there are 2 main extreme ways we are forced to think of this film: either as a direct, unjustified and blunt attack of satan worshippers on the Catholic Church in Poland or as a just and the only true image of what is hidden from secular eyes, and oh boy it is a satan worshippers organization. Where, to my mind, after just watching this in a theatre, neither of above is true.
Knowing Smarzowski's (the director) old films I was expecting more pessimistic and negatively shaped image of the Polish clergy. Of course, the film shows lots of sins of the priests but it also tries to understand the background of the situation. All of our priests-protagonists are built like humans who make errors but also are often tangled in the strings of the system that is a way stronger than them (apart from sexual abuse, this I cannot blame on anyone else than the offenders themselves). Often they show the will to do good deeds, but not always the intentions turn as they would wish. Some of the events seem a bit made up (the way the archibishop speaks his "true mind" is a bit cartoonish) and also implies that the higher we get in hierarchy, the worse the priests are. Which to me seems a little bit oversimplified.
To the things I could complain about I would add the fact that this film also lacks a really developed female characters (the part of Joanna Kulig is rather small, and yet being important character for the plot, she is barely present on the screen). Please, stop thinking I am some crazy SJW. I just think a woman perspective (for example a protagonist nun character) would also help to show the state of the Polish Clergy which I believe was the aim of the filmmakers.
An important note to add is that the film doesn't touch the topic of God/faith/religious matters. It is not about that. It shows the sins of the Catholic Church by showing its people, their stories and their method of coping with the fact that the system is far from being good. Also, sexual abuse in and out the clergy is thrown here as the subtopic but of course it takes the prominence due to its weight.
The films is well made (except for some live-footage bits which are a bit out of place) and actors work is superb. I highly recommend this film. It has its problems (oversimplification as in every other Smarzowski's film) but it is a very important voice in the discussion that, I believe, is aimed to heal the Polish Church, not to destroy it.
In Poland, there are 2 main extreme ways we are forced to think of this film: either as a direct, unjustified and blunt attack of satan worshippers on the Catholic Church in Poland or as a just and the only true image of what is hidden from secular eyes, and oh boy it is a satan worshippers organization. Where, to my mind, after just watching this in a theatre, neither of above is true.
Knowing Smarzowski's (the director) old films I was expecting more pessimistic and negatively shaped image of the Polish clergy. Of course, the film shows lots of sins of the priests but it also tries to understand the background of the situation. All of our priests-protagonists are built like humans who make errors but also are often tangled in the strings of the system that is a way stronger than them (apart from sexual abuse, this I cannot blame on anyone else than the offenders themselves). Often they show the will to do good deeds, but not always the intentions turn as they would wish. Some of the events seem a bit made up (the way the archibishop speaks his "true mind" is a bit cartoonish) and also implies that the higher we get in hierarchy, the worse the priests are. Which to me seems a little bit oversimplified.
To the things I could complain about I would add the fact that this film also lacks a really developed female characters (the part of Joanna Kulig is rather small, and yet being important character for the plot, she is barely present on the screen). Please, stop thinking I am some crazy SJW. I just think a woman perspective (for example a protagonist nun character) would also help to show the state of the Polish Clergy which I believe was the aim of the filmmakers.
An important note to add is that the film doesn't touch the topic of God/faith/religious matters. It is not about that. It shows the sins of the Catholic Church by showing its people, their stories and their method of coping with the fact that the system is far from being good. Also, sexual abuse in and out the clergy is thrown here as the subtopic but of course it takes the prominence due to its weight.
The films is well made (except for some live-footage bits which are a bit out of place) and actors work is superb. I highly recommend this film. It has its problems (oversimplification as in every other Smarzowski's film) but it is a very important voice in the discussion that, I believe, is aimed to heal the Polish Church, not to destroy it.
Stirring movie
greed141015 October 2018
If movie can bring me both to tears and to laugh it is a great movie.
Also I judged character wrongly until the end - movie is also surprising.
Only drawback is too many swears- it could have been expressed similar level withouth them.
Also I judged character wrongly until the end - movie is also surprising.
Only drawback is too many swears- it could have been expressed similar level withouth them.
Very Heavy, Extremely Serious And Deeply Tragic Movie
denis8885 January 2020
Wojciech Smarzowski is a very brave and decent filmmaker - it was him who made a very tragic but hugely excellent war film Wolyn in 2016, and now, in 2018, he made another very bold move, and shot an epic movie called Kler (Polish for The Clergy), touching upon a very delicate, fragile and controversial topic as crimes in Catholic Church. This is a topic equal to those of Holocaust or Hitler's crimes in the USSR. This is a topic which not every filmmaker will ever think about. Wojciech Smarzowski took a very heavy toll and yet he managed to produce a huge, often overwhelming, very heavy, deeply tragic, extremely sad movie which displays a very bleak, dark and almost unbearable picture of modern-day situation with sex crimes in Church in Poland.
Here we see three Polish Catholic priests - Jacek Braciak who plays Leszek Lisowski, Arkadiusz Jakubik who plays Andrzej Kukula and Robert Wieckiewicz who plays Tadeusz Trybus - we see them in various locations, different serious challenges and very dark moments of their lives. I am not to disclose details, this is a must-see movie, even though it is 2 hours long and is very unsettling at times, since the very topic is so unpleasant.
I warn you, before watching - be prepared for a very tragic and oftentimes almost heartbreaking scenes, but the movie never lets you doubt that everything shown here is a sad truth.
Sin is crouching at your door
highnemonkey9 November 2020
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)
So true
sreeragmeppadath20 June 2019
True and true
blauregenbogen26 December 2018
Yes the movie shows ,the God thing is on the last row in the Church. All the bad things,the money ,the sexual abuse of little boys . They are not better,than us . I can say they are worse . Am glad it shows the true face of church and how they cover up
The best Polish movie to the date
tomaszwj13 February 2019
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.
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.
A gem of new Polish cinema.
velvet_zoo23 September 2019
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.
Dissaponting
tomaszsm20 February 2019
Spot on
rzurzlinho16 February 2019
I was afraid it is only about controversy it will (and did) stir in Poland, "cheap publicity" if you will, however to be quite honest I am impressed with the quality of both writing and production. Acting is great too, I recommend this movie to everyone (over 18, that is).
Denne teksty
pojebac14 April 2021
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