This Hindi movie is a pretty straightforward slice-of-life story that tries to give a modern look at what it's like to be a single, professional gay man. It dives into how he understands who he is, the chances he missed out on, and the personal choices he’s made along the way. The director used three parallel timelines to tell the story, which honestly didn't make much sense to me. While the core idea was actually pretty interesting, I really feel like this would have worked way better as a short film considering the point it was trying to make. Still, it wasn't a bad watch. The plot centers on Rachit, a city professional, and his friend Shikhar as they hang out for an evening. Rachit is a polished, urban guy, while Shikhar has more of a "small-town" rustic vibe, and you can really see the contrast between them when they talk. As the night goes on, Rachit starts thinking back to some old memories from a long time ago. He remembers being an intern after college in ...
Most of the documentary focuses on the lawyer and the one survivor Rod MacLeod going through deliberations and how they want to have the church pay for what they did. They are both aware of plenty other situations where the church did out of court settlements but Rod wanted none of it. The doc takes us through the journey of the lawyer preparing the case and the case actually happening. We are, of course, not taken inside the courtroom. For Rod, the trial isn’t about getting revenge on his deceased abuser or even about the money. It’s about public accountability, something that the Catholic Church has strenuously sought to avoid through protection of abusers, delusions of faith, and a well oiled PR machine. They bring in some of the other victims of Father and paint a clear picture of what really perspired. In a historic win, the court order the church to pay 2.5M dollars.
Most vivid here is an archival testimony of the perpetrator, the late Hodgson Marshall, on the witness stand in 2012, calmly acknowledging his long history of abusing boys, with the bizarre explanation that such things weren’t taken so seriously back then. It was also chocking to see the fathe, who was the media representative of the church, who describes his friend, Hodson Marshall, as a good man suffering from pedophilia, a rationalization that manages to compound bad science with bad faith. Sadly, there are priests today who are still doing this. There are priests being investigated now. There are enablers covering this up. The Catholic Church has been taken to task for their crimes and cover-ups before, but Prey might be the first film to illustrate exactly how one goes about prosecuting such a wealthy and powerful entity and the bravery needed to bring such well protected abusers to justice. (6.5/10)
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