When a TV show called for Bill Donohue to go on the air and discuss the movie, “Deliver Us From Evil,” he declined. He did so because he did not want to give the film free publicity; it opened October 13 in a small number of theaters in a few major cities. When it comes to big movies like “The Da Vinci Code,” we can’t ignore it, but when it comes to a limited-release documentary, we won’t take the bait.
The movie focuses on the predatory behavior of an ex-priest, Oliver O’Grady, who was under the leadership of now Cardinal Roger Mahony; O’Grady, who was one of the most notorious priest pedophiles, was not reined in until it was too late.
The secular media loved it. The New York Times called it “devastating”; Newsday said it was “chilling”; the New York Post labeled it “superb”; the New York Daily News found it “riveting”; USA Today dubbed it “indelible”; the Wall Street Journal branded it “stunning”; the Los Angeles Times said it was “wrenching”; and the Boston Herald called it “skin-crawling.”
We’re not here to defend the indefensible, and we don’t doubt that a movie about a monster molester isn’t moving. But enough of the feigned horror. As we’ve indicated many times before, anyone who is truly interested in protecting kids from sexual abusers needs to start by addressing the out-of-control problem that exists in the public school industry. That’s where the action really is, but don’t expect Amy Berg, who curiously got private financing to fund her little film, to make a movie about that.
