Deliver Us from Evil (2006 film)

Deliver Us from Evil is a 2006 American documentary film that explores the life of Irish Catholic priest Oliver O'Grady, who admitted to having molested and raped approximately 25 children in Northern California from the late 1970s through the early 1990s.[1] The film was written and directed by Amy J. Berg, won the Best Documentary Award at the 2006 Los Angeles Film Festival, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, losing to An Inconvenient Truth.[2] The title refers to a line in the Lord's Prayer.

Deliver Us from Evil
Promotional poster
Directed byAmy J. Berg
Produced byAmy J. Berg
Matthew Cooke
Frank Donner
Hermass Lassalle
Written byAmy J. Berg
StarringThomas P. Doyle
Ann Marie Jyono
Mr and Mrs Bob Jyono
Adam and Becky M
Nancy Sloan
Oliver O'Grady
Dr. Mary Gail Frawley-O'Dea
Music byJoseph Arthur
Mick Harvey
CinematographyJacob Kusk
Jens Schlosser
Edited byMatthew Cooke
Production
company
Disarming Films
Distributed byLionsgate
Release date
  • October 13, 2006 (2006-10-13)
Running time
101 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$327,205

Synopsis

The film chronicles O'Grady's years as a priest in Northern California, where he committed his crimes. After being convicted of child molestation and serving seven years in prison, O'Grady was deported to his native Ireland. Berg interviewed him there in 2005 for the film. Additionally, the film presents trial documents, videotaped depositions, and interviews with activists, theologians, psychologists, and lawyers; it suggests that Church officials were aware of O'Grady's crimes, and they took steps to conceal them to protect him and the church.[3][4]

Reception

The Irish Independent criticized Berg for having filmed children in Ireland without the knowledge of them or their families.[5]

The film was very well received by critics, earning a 100 percent "Fresh" critics rating from Rotten Tomatoes based on 72 reviews, with a weighted average of 8.36/10. The site's consensus reads: "Deliver Us from Evil is a superb documentary and a searing look at an institution protecting its leaders at the expense of its followers. A profoundly disturbing chronicle of a wolf in sheep's clothing, the film builds a clear-eyed case against pedophile priest Oliver O'Grady, and the Catholic bureaucracy that protected him. The recollections of O'Grady's victims are nothing short of shocking and heartbreaking".[6] It is currently ranked 31st among the site's highest rated documentaries of all time.[7]

Aftermath

After the documentary was shown on Dutch national TV in April 2010, members of a parish in Schiedam recognized O'Grady as having been an active volunteer in the parish until January 2010. They had known nothing about his background. He had also been active in the Netherlands as an organizer of children's parties.[8]

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See also

References
  1. Guccione, Jean (2005-05-11). "A Glimpse at the Mind of a Pedophile". Los Angeles Times.
  2. "NY Times: Deliver Us from Evil". NY Times. Retrieved 2008-11-23.
  3. Desson Thomson (2006-11-10). "An Unassuming Face of 'Evil'". Washington Post.
  4. Stein, Ruthe (2006-10-27). "The bitter wake of a pedophile protected by the church". San Francisco Chronicle.
  5. Hickey, Walshe. "Uproar as school footage used in film on pedophile". Archived from the original on 2015-11-05. Retrieved 2006-10-13.
  6. "Deliver Us From Evil".
  7. "Rotten Tomatoes' Best Documentary Movies".
  8. ""Convicted Irish priest active in the Netherlands"". Archived from the original on 2010-04-30. Retrieved 2010-04-27.
  9. Lombardi, Kristen (October 31 – November 6, 2003). "Phil Saviano Founder of the local Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests". Boston Phoenix. Archived from the original on 2015-10-10. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
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