Deliver Us From Evil
Deliver Us From Evil is a documentary film that was released in 2006 and was dirceted by Amy J. Berg. It tells the true story of Oliver O'Grady, a Catholic priest that was found to have sexually abused approximately 25 children between the 1970s and 90s. The film features trial documents, videotapes and interviews with a number of people all relating to the incident. The film documents the years that O'Grady spent as a priest in Northern California. When O'Grady was convicted of child molestation, he was sentenced to seven years in prison.Once released, he was deported back to Ireland where Berg interviewed him on his indescretions. Lawyers suggest that the Church was fully aware of O'Grady's actions, yet they took careful steps in order to conceal it from the media and from the families of those involved. O'Grady suggests that the Church was far more concerned with the image of their religious institution to care about those who he had hurt and were therefore willing to shield O'Grady's perpetrations in order to maintain their image. The documentary comes as an informant of an incident that has already been wide-spread among the public. This means that the documentary will be addressing public interest as people are already fully aware of what has happened.
This is important to my documentary as it shall need to be released when the topic of interest is at its peak and will therefore recieve higher viewing numbers.
Analysis of the opening of Deliver Us From Evil
The documentary opens on a black screen where a quote from Jesus Christ then fades onto the screen reading "If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you." This quote emphasises the process of confessing your sins to make you a better person, which is completely contradictory of what the documentary is about. Daunting music plays in the background to build an eerie atmosphere and create suspense amongst the audience. The quote then fades out to black and the screen opens on an panning image of a church, reinforcing the religious nature of the documentary that the title has already intended. A voiceover of O'Grady then begins to play where he begins to confess to his sins. We do not see the face of O'Grady throughout the whole of this extract which suggests a privacy to his confession and an almost criminal perspective of him as a person. The confession makes O'Grady appear regreattable for his actions, although the audience will not feel sympathy for him. The camera then scales up the crucifix and rests on the head of Jesus Christ, where the title of the documentary fades in.
The documentary then opens on an interview of Bob and Maria Jyono whose daughter, Ann was sexually abused by O'Grady. They tell of how they accepted O'Grady so easily into their lives and their home, completely unaware of the abuse that he was inflicting on their child. While the couple talk of their family life, pictures and collages pan across the screen so the audience gain a full visual insight into their lives before Oliver came along. It also helps to make the audience feel as though they are part of this family and that they are being introduced to every little aspect of this families life. It helps each member of the audience to relate to the Jyono's and therefore makes the rest of the documentary seem more shocking. Maria expresses her devotion to her Catholic religion and how this then impacted on Ann's life and led her to meet the priest.
The camera once again return to images of an empty church, which haunting music that would be seen fit in a church setting plays over the top. Here, we are then introduced to "Father Ollie". We still do not gain an insight into what O'Grady looks like, his appearance is kept very much to a minimum. All we have gained about him so far from the documentary is the sound of his voice in the voiceover which continues to narrate throughout the whole documentary. Other priests described O'Grady as a 'people person' which he claims, helped him to decide to become a priest. The camera fades into a close up of O'Grady's eyes as he continues to tell his story, allowing the audience to become a little more intimate with him as a person. He begins to describe his passion for children as he see's a little of himself in them.
We then return back to the Jyono's who continue to tell their story of how they met O'Grady.
The beginning of the documentary does not give much away as to Oliver O'Grady as a person. If a member of the audience was unaware as to who he was or what he has done, they would be none the wiser as to what the documentary was about. Drip feeding the audience information is a clever way of keeping them involved and interested in the programme, although maybe the opening to this documentary is a little slow paced.
The way that Berg hides the identity of O'Grady for such a long period of time is effective in suspense building. People want to come face-to-face with the man himself but Berg attempts to drag this out for as long as possible. This could be effective in my documentary when talking to victims of alcohol abuse that do not wish to be identified. This would protect them from being recognised by the audience but would also want to make them watch on and see what they have to say.
Release Dates:
USA:
24th June 2006 (Los Angeles Film Festival)
Australia:
26th June 2006 (Melbourn International Film Festival)
Canada:
7th September 2006 (Toronto International Film Festival)
USA:
5th October 2006 (HATCHfest Film Festival)
USA:
13th October 2006 (limited)
USA:
9th November 2006 (High Falls Film Festival)
Germany:
8th February 2007 (European Film Market)
Netherlands:
22nd February 2007
Ireland:
30th March 2007
Australia:
17th May 2007
France:
20th May 2007 (Cannes Film Festival)
UK:
10th July 2007 (Cambridge Film Festival)
New Zealand:
19th July 2007 (New Zealand International Film Festival)
Iceland:
15th August 2007 (Green Light Film Festival)
France:
2nd April 2008
Spain:
25th July 2008
Sweden:
9th March 2009 (TV premiere)
Japan:
21st February 2010 (TV premiere)
