Sacred Silence: Amazon.ca: Gaetano Amato, Fabrizio Bentivoglio, Flavio Brunetti, Rosaria De Cicco, Emanuele Gargiulo, Beppe Gatta, Livia Imparato, Manuela Martinelli, Vincenzo Pirozzi, Teresa Saponangelo, Tonino Taiuti, Carlo Triola, Antonio Baldoni, Antonio Capuano, Giogi� Franchini, Gianni Minervini: DVD

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In the tradition of PRIEST and THE BOYS OF ST VINCENT. When a parish priest battles violence and corruption in present-day Naples, the local Mafia takes revenge by exposing his relationship with a 13 year old altar boy named Pianese Nunzio.

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2.6 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A moody, experimental film, Mar 17 2003

By

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Sacred Silence (DVD)

SACRED SILENCE, an Italian film set in Naples, dares to share the thoughts and words behind the silences that have sequestered the subject of the role of the Catholic Church in cities under the strangle hold of gang viloence. The mood is set as soon as the film opens, showing the credits and title of the film superimposed on a fence/wall that is suggestive of a prison wall overlooking the city. Claustrophobia sets in and is rarely diminished throughout the story. Father Lorenzo is a young, handsome priest in a neighborhood that is beseiged by brutal gang violence at the hands of the Camorra. Almost incidental to the film is the priest's nurturing young men by giving sanctuary to drug addicts and to Nunzio who finds his only safe bond (in the presence of broken homes, miserable living conditions, fear) to be with Father Lorenzo. Yes, he is underaged and yes, it is suggested that the priest and the boy have an intamacy forbidden by the church and the macho community/mob. But the beauty of this relationship overshadows the horrors outside the church doors until the mob attempts to manipulate the priest by the threat of exposing his private life. The manner in which this is told includes momentary face-front-to-camera vignettes of each of the characters tellings us who they are, where they live, and a bit of their position in the story. This "police lineup" method of storytelling is effective and creates a tension that is only relieved by the music and moments between Father Lorenzo and Nunzio.

While this film may not be for everyone, for those who seek more insight into the current Church scandals this story and the sensitivity of its telling will surely flesh out perspective.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A Priest's Sexual Craving for an Handsome and Talented Teenage Boy Destroys His Efforts towards Urban Reform, Feb 27 2011

By

C-P Parker "Jerry Parker" (r�gion de l'Abitibi, QC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sacred Silence (DVD)

I saw this film, "Nunzio Pianese, 14 anni a maggio" (marketed in English as titled "Sacred Silence") when it came out or close to that, at an international gay film festival (Images + Nations) which takes place yearly in Montréal. The memory of this film, so broodingly intimate and mysteriously full of tension between the homey and spacious interior of the presbytery (priest's residence) and the outside world of crime, sacred and secular singing, and the Italian music industry industry, is very striking.

There is constant suspence about what finally just begins to happen by the long-anticipated ending of the film, when disaster is about to befall the brave priest, compromisingly tainted by his ephebophile sexual proclivity, and the boy, Nunzio Pianese, whose whole situation will change as the film progresses as he attains pop music star status as a celebrity "boy singer", something which his very pleasing adolescent beauty facilitates as much as it had provoked the priest's illicit love for him.

The boy, who, essentially, is developping heterosexually despite his abnormal situation, accedes to the priest's sexual desires from respect and friendship for the adult man rather than from youthful passion or from any incipient homosexual or bisexual orientation on young Nunzio's own part. The city's corrupt criminal forces, and the local government authorities who are in collusion with their undertakings, ensnare the priest, having learned of his scandalous sexual activites, in order to end his reforming efforts against their joint municipal turpitude, and on the boy, who is manoeuvred into betraying the priest who loves him and who had taken such an interest in furthering his musical attainments.

The film ends as the forces against the priest are closing in on him unawares. While some have found the slow development of the motion picture's action tiresome, my perception is that this gradual working out of the plight of the priest and of Nunzio, and of the depiction of the violence and corruption that surrounds them, make the film's foreboding conclusion all the more effective.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Provoking, but ultimately confusing, July 1 2004

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"rousaswgnr" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sacred Silence (DVD)

The film is a very slow, very skitzophrenic look at the relationship between at gay priest and a 13 year old parishioner. There are several lines of action and plot running through the film that erupt from no where and adruptly end with the final credits.

1) The Camorra/Mafia vs. the Priest.
The priest, as any man of the cloth should, begins to refuse to give mass for murderers and other misc. people who've died in the line of crime. He's had enough with them tearing apart the neighborhood. Unfortunately, this leads to the expose in the following:

2) The pedophiliac relationship.
The priest seems to be struggling emotionally with his very physical relationship with the 13 year old boy, Nunzio. He attempts to formulate spiritual-Biblical reasons for allowing the illicit relationship to continue - perhaps even basing it upon a homoeroticism of Christ. Things just aren't very clear in the film.

3) Expose.
The camorra/mafia seek revenge on the priest by sicking the police on him for the affair with Nunzio. Why not just kill him? It seems like a very thin plot-device to use to complicate the relationship between Nunzio and Father Lorenzo. Furthermore, the priest is seen in a compassionate, friendly light - despite the very serious, very wrong issue of the pedophiliac relationship. The film almost excuses the relationship as 'holy' or 'beautiful'. It glosses over the fact that Nunzio was pressed by internal struggling and the need for comfort into a sexual relationship when it should have remained platonic or familiar.

All in all, the film leaves the viewer confused as to the point. Hopefully, others can see it and find some enjoyment. It is a subject that needs to be dealt with more seriously and with more depth. Sacred Silence is not a good portrayal or examination of the priest/altar boy sex scandals.

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Most recent customer reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars A thought-provoking look at a highly topical problem
This film presents to the viewer all the evidence of the fight of a priest in Naples against the Camorra and the way the Camorra fight back by exposing and attempting to destroy... Read more

Published on Jun 2 2002 by Malcolm Gain

1.0 out of 5 stars ora pro nobis (the viewers, that is)
You'd think a film dealing with the Church, the Mafia and a Gay priest (bedding an underage altar boy, no less) would make for a crackerjack spellbinder. Well, not here. Read more

Published on Feb 10 2001