Film Forum

Nominated for the Academy Award® for Best International Feature Film: a modern drama of mistaken identity, fraud, and possible beatification. When a 20-year-old juvenile delinquent, recently released from detention, comes to a small village, he is mistaken for their new priest. His passion, charisma, and wildly unconventional methods help heal traumatized residents. A sincere man of God, a con artist, or a redeemed criminal atoning for his past? Inspired by true events, a magnetic performance by Bartosz Bielenia in the lead keeps us guessing – in this breakthrough for Polish director Jan Komasa.

POLAND   2019   116 MINS.   IN POLISH WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES   FILM MOVEMENT

Reviews

“Often moving but also disquieting. A spiritual parable that is uniquely Polish but accessible to all. Bartosz Bielenia, an actor with burning blue eyes and an ability to be so still it’s as if he can freeze the frame by himself. The blue-toned cinematography enhances the rapturous air and enhances a smartly written, unsettling work of realism.”
– Leslie Felperin, The Guardian (UK)

“Stunning. Quietly subversive. [An] intriguingly nuanced script on an actual case… [featuring] Bielenia’s remarkable performance… All of this makes for compelling dramatic conflict.”
– Peter Debruge, Variety

“A loose yet surprisingly deft take on a real-life phenomenon in Poland… This is a movie that doesn’t want to coddle an audience so much as challenge it. It wants you to think about what redemption really means… There are moments of deadpan humor spread throughout… blessed (sorry) with a hell of a charismatic lead in Bielenia, a blue-eyed actor with matinee-idol good looks. He’s your new Hot Priest, Eastern European Division.”
– David Fear, Rolling Stone

“Intense, nearly operatic drama.”
– Mike D’Angelo, AV Club