Deliver Us from Evil (2006)

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General		Extras
Category	Documentary	Theatrical Trailer-Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	2006
Running Time	99:05 (Case: 101)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Amy Berg
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Adam Jeff Anderson Case Degroot Jane Degroot Thomas Doyle Mary Gail Frawley-O'Dea Bill Hodgman Anne Jyono Bob Jyono Maria Jyono Frank Keating John Manley Oliver O'Grady
Case	?
RPI	$34.95	Music	Joseph Arthur Mick Harvey

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (384Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

   Deliver Us From Evil is a fascinating and horrifying documentary. We begin by being introduced to the Father and some of his victims, describing him before his crimes came to light, then we follow a timeline as the church covered up his actions and moved him from place to place, denying all of his behaviour without question. Just some of the many families and lives ruined by his abuse are presented, intercut with actual interview footage of Oliver O'Grady, who shows sympathy for what happened but no empathy for his victims at all, as if he has little understanding of what he did. Additional courtroom footage of Cardinal Roger Mahoney, who is presented as being just as much to blame for the crimes as he refused to protect the children and families placed in danger, as well as other members of the Catholic Church who refused to even admit the occurrence of said crimes to protect themselves from controversy. Finally, the film follows some of the victims to Rome, where they want an apology or even some kind of recognition from the Catholic Church as to what happened to them and where they are quickly turned down.

   This film is one of the few to receive a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and it isn't hard to see why - its subject is particularly painful and hard-hitting, and the documentary does it justice, never resorting to shock tactics or gratuitous material; it also avoids discriminating against Catholicism as a religion, presenting a voice of reason in Father Tom Doyle, who follows the victims to Rome to oversee an apology from the church, and then delivers one himself when the Pope refuses. However, it is not perfect, and its imperfections are maddening - the film often seems unfocussed and doesn't always clearly deliver the facts; footage will often be cut up and presented out of sequence, when it would be much more effective to show entire portions of interviews and courtroom scenes and so forth. However, the scenes that are incredibly emotional and impactful work well enough to overcome any issues, and I believe it is an important film to see.

   Deliver Us From Evil is not an easy film to watch, but it is one worth seeing, as a document of how far corruption and human evil can go, unstopped by an institution claiming to be divine.

Video

   The video transfer is good, remaining constantly sharp and detailed, but it is unfortunately often plagued by grain and interlacing. Many scenes have heavy aliasing (3:35) because of this; it appears a lot of the film was transferred from NTSC.

   As there are lots of different video stock used in this documentary, the quality of the transfer often changes from scene to scene, but in general even the low-grade video looks good. There are no film artefacts, and any issues present do not affect the viewing experience.

   There are English subtitles, which are accurate and readable.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

   Even though the 5.1 mix is preferable to the 2.0, there is little usage of a full surround or the subwoofer. The quality of the audio is just a little better in the 5.1, presenting a more engrossing experience, though only a direct comparison will reveal the differences.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Animated Menus with Sound

Theatrical Trailer (2:20)

Forced Trailers Upon Start Up - The US VS. John Lennon, Lucky You, The Reaping

- Commentary by writer-director-producer Amy Berg and editor-producer Matthew Cooke

- 11 deleted scenes

- Alternate ending

- Featurette "Bible vs. Church"

I recommend acquiring an R1 DVD to view this film.

   The video and audio transfers are good, but not spectacular.

   Aside from the theatrical trailer, there are no extras, which is deeply disappointing, especially considering the controversy surrounding this film. I would have very much liked to have seen more about the making of this film.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall