Genres

Visitors Review

sol1218 2012-05-19 12:20:00

Absolution

***SPOILERS*** Starting with the 40 day's of Lent on Ash Wednesday aseries of murders occurred in and around this suburban Detroit church,The Holy Redeemer, that has everyone, the public and police, shockedand puzzled to who would do such a thing. Leaving a rosary on thebodies of his victims the killer seems to be sending a message to whathis motives are. Later in the movie he makes himself and is motivesknown during confession to father Robert Koesler, DonaldSutherland.Three years ago his 16 year old daughter was killed and themurderer is holding the church and it's priests and nuns responsiblefor her death and now is exacting vengeance on them.Father Koesler unable, and unwilling, to go to the police in order notto break the church's age old policy of not revealing confession's ofit's members and congregation is now troubled. Feeling that whoever isnow killed by this "Rosery Murderer" will be his responsibility andtries to solve the killings himself by tracking down leads that thekiller gave him.Checking out three year-old newspaper obituaries Father Koesler findsthe name of a Cathy Javison, Jane M. Smith, who died at the age of 16the same age that the killer said his daughter died. Going to theCatholic school that Kathy attended to find out about the circumstancesof her death Father Koesler is shocked to find out that the young girlcommitted suicide! It's seems that her suicide was covered up by heschool since Kathy has a Catholic funeral service at the Saint CamillusChaple and was buried in a Catholic cemetery.Meanwhile back at the Holy Redeemer Church the murders of priest's andnuns continue with Father Koesler trying to find out just where thelate Kathy Javison father, the prime suspect in the killings, is sincethe house that the Javisons used to live at was found abandoned byFather Koesler.Going back to Kathy's school father Koesler get in touch with Kathy'steacher and good friend and confidant Sister Mary,Anna Minot, who afterupholding a three year old vow of silence since Kathy death agrees totell the priest the reason for her killing herself. Sister Mary'srevelations shocks Koesler almost to the point where he has troubleunderstanding what she's telling him! Even though it was as clear as abell to anyone in the audience listening.With the killing reaching a climax with the coming of the end of Lent,Good Friday, is starts to crystallize in Father Kloesler's, as well asthe police, mind that the main object of the Rosary killers obsessionis non other then the presiding priest of The Holy Redeemer Churchhimself Father Ted Nabors, Charles Durning. We later find out, from thekiller Kathy's father Robert Javison ,James Murtaugh, that FatherNabors was the priest to whom he confessed his sins to just before hisdaughter killed herself. Sins that Javison committed that directly leadto his daughters suicide!Somewhat overdone crime drama that has too many side or sub-plots thatmakes it a bit hard to follow. It's when "The Rosary Murders" starts tofocus in on it's main theme and we start to zero on the killer thatit's starts to get interesting. The reason for his murderous rampageagainst those in the church was in helping his daughter Kathy not thatthe killers actions in any way were justified though you can understandhis sick and demented reasoning. He was trying to offset what he did tohis daughter and put the entire blame on the church who's only crime,in regard to Kathy's suicide, was that of omission.

ozthegreatat42330 2012-05-19 01:24:45

BAd script and slow paced but still very watchable

This film is not as bad as some of the comments might have painted it.Nevertheless, it does suffer from a dull script in places. Someone isgoing around murdering priests and nuns, as it later turns out usingthe coincidence of their names matching the ten commandments (sometimeswith a bit of a stretch. Donald Sutherland is a priest faced with adilemma, as he watches these people die. The murderer has confessed tohim, and after a bit of amateur sleuthing he knows who it is. But he isbound by the churches vow of sanctity of the confessional not to breakthe seal of confession. he is even cautioned by his fellow priests thatme may not do so even to save lives. This is not Sutherland's best rolebecause he is not given enough material to work with. Charles Durningon the other hand is right on as the hard nosed conservative priest wholives by the book with no room for compassion. He is abrupt and evendown right tactless when dealing with his parishioners. Joseph Somergives a fine performance as the police detective who knows that FatherKoesler (Sutherland) knows something but also realizes he cannot compelhim to share the knowledge. The clue in the case is a black rosary leftin the hand of each of the victims. Father Koesler wonders if he willbe next.

Michael Neumann 2012-05-11 03:04:19

better than expected

Donald Sutherland is a Detroit priest who hears the confession of aserial killer with a grudge against the clergy, and is later forced bythe ethics of his vocation to (reluctantly) hunt down the murdererhimself, unearthing a spine-chilling string of motivation behind eachnew death. It could have been just another routine shocker, but aclever script and some unusually taciturn direction turns the otherwisefamiliar material into a modest but intriguing whodunit (actually morea 'whydunit') set against the rituals and mysteries of the CatholicChurch, always a reliable source of guilt and intrigue. The steadyaccumulation of clues and evidence is interrupted only by anunsurprising (and unnecessary) romantic subplot, which happilycompromises neither the mystery itself nor Sutherland's oath ofcelibacy.

Tim-177 2012-05-10 13:20:20

This film rises above its major flaw.

The author has relied heavily upon the literary device of COINCIDENCE inconstructing his plot; i.e., he expects you to believe that several peopleliving in the same part of the country would have certain proper names.I'dlove to explain that in detail, but doing so would ruin part of theending.Rent this movie and see if you agree. But this flaw will not diminishyourenjoyment of the film, as there is enough action to keep the murdermysteryfan happy. I was never bored during any of the times I watched this film.I recommend this any day of the week.