According to New York Post film critic, Thelma Adams, the movie “Julien Donkey-Boy” features “masturbating nuns,” a man who wears “a large image of Christ around his neck while he rubs himself during an erotic phone chat with his sister” and other “blasphemous” elements. Also included are “incest, insanity, murder, sexual abuse and circus side-show freaks.” The movie opened September 29 at Lincoln Center as part of the New York Film Festival.
Our comment to the press was as follows:
“As we get close to the new millennium, the Catholic bashers are coming out of the woodwork. It is appropriate that they do so: hiding in the closet does no one any good and that is why the Catholic League, while deploring the bigotry, welcomes the outing. The pus is now coming to the surface, a sure sign that Catholicism will triumph in the long run.
“‘Donkey-Boy,’ according to Thelma Adams, ‘joins a lengthening list of profane and sacrilegious art testing First Amendment rights, including the Brooklyn Museum’s ‘Sensational’ [sic] art exhibit and the forthcoming festival film ‘Dogma.’
“Adams forgot to add that the entire list is targeted at Roman Catholicism (not that it would matter to her.) ‘John Cardinal O’Connor is going to be very busy this fall,’ she says with glee. ‘So much to protest. So little time.’ No doubt many film critics feel the same way; it’s just that Adams isn’t afraid to advertise her bigotry.
‘Donkey-Boy,’ Adams readily admits, ‘surely will play to sold-out crowds at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall….’ On that we can agree.
