Darlings, Even In The Heat Of Florida, Or Louisiana, Where It Is Supposed To Be Set, Blythe's Hair Remains Perfect!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                  How does she do it, girls?  I have been trying to find out, for years!

                                                  I vaguely recall when this film was first aired on HBO, back in 1990, but I had never seen it till recently.  Before "The Boys Of St. Vincent," in 1991, "Primal Fear," in 1996, and "Spotlight," in 2015, this film tackled sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, early on.  And it is, even for this time, disturbing and creepy.

                                                   Blythe and Keith Carradine are a nice Catholic couple, Peter and Emmeline Guitry, with three children, Robbie (Michael Faustino), Justine (TONY Winner Daisy Eagan, from "The Secret Garden," and Sabine (Crystal McKellar).

                                                   When I saw Bob Gunton, ten years after "Evita," was cast as Monsignor Beauvais, I thought he would be the villain of the piece.  But that turns out to be Father Frank Aubert, played disturbingly by the gifted actor David Stratharin.

                                                       The drama is fierce, with Blythe fiercely protective, her husband in doubt until he is certain, and Stratharin just creeping along.  And how young, almost 30 years now, they all seemed, then!!!!!!!!!!  Guess we all did, dears!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                         What this film does best is lay out the dynamics for church child abuse. It shows how these sickos go after the victims, and how parents, fearful for their children, should watch out for such specifics to avoid the Guitrys' situation.

                                                            Michael Faustino, as Robbie, plays the perfect victim, sensitive, withdrawn, vulnerable, and with an inordinate desire to please everyone--school, his parents, his siblings, etc.  The film opens with his First Communion, but then when Father Auber shows up, and announces to the family he wants to train Robbie to be an altar boy, I said "Uh-oh!"  And I was right!
Robbie may not be the brightest; unlike the others, he is slow to catch on, and gets bullied for it.  Aubert champions him, asking the Guitrys permission to take Robbie and the boys on a camping trip, and to have him stay over Saturday nights at the rectory before Mass.  Say, what?  I would question this right away, but the Guitrys are portrayed as Catholics with no reason to distrust this priest, and the Church.  They have no reason not to--at this point.

                                                               But the audience sees what is going on.  In a disturbingly shadow light sequence on the camping trip, Aubert is shown consoling a sleepless Robbie by getting into bed with him--but he undresses first.  The creepiest scene, for me, was in the confessional, when the priest asks Robbie to come into his section--unheard of.  Were I that kid, I would have asked "Why?"  Believe me, it is not part of the sacrament.  And with that open door, hand beckoning, and a vulnerable Robbie walking in, the point is made.

                                                                Things get more graphic when Robbie experiences rectal bleeding, which is attributed to a tear from diet.  Really?  The first person Robbie blurts out his secret to is Justine--he talks about the priest playing with his "pee pee."  The Guitrys are made aware, but don't know what to think,  Then other families come forward, with similar claims by their boys.  But where one might think there is unity, there is derision.  The other families are bought off by a sum of $200K each from the Church, and the Guitrys fight it, becoming outcasts and mavericks.  I rooted for them!

                                                                   In an impressive performance, veteran Jack Warden plays attorney Claude Fortier, who defends Robbie.  But there is a grueling scene where he gives the boy an idea of cross examination, and he breaks down, especially when  stating how the priest, in the child's words, forced him into oral and anal sex.

                                                                      I found the movie's end uncertain.  Gunton, as the Monsignor, comes around, and has Aubert gone and arrested.  Robbie takes the stand to tell the truth, and the film blacks out, but I still doubted whether he had enough strength to tell the truth.

                                                                         So, the outcome I did not find quite satisfactory.  There is also the question of Dylan Baker's character of Father Delambre--good actor, fine performance--who definitely had a history of abusing boys, and may have done so in tandem with Aubert, as he is seen burning pictures of he and Aubert together.  So, he is still on the premises, so where does that leave this church?  And why wasn't he dealt with?????????????

                                                                             But this was probably a pioneering production for its time, on dealing with this issue alone, and, in terms of its time,  it succeeded.

                                                                              The sunnier days of "Going My Way," and "The Bells Of St. Mary" are gone forever.  But I don't think it was this film, good as it is, that signaled the death knell.

                                                                                It was a little film, back in 1973, that also caused a big fuss.

                                                                                 It was called "The Exorcist!"