quietly crushing. where screams would be more than justified, this says so much by simply starkly and soberly laying all the facts bare, and letting conversations of unimaginable cruelty play out casually - only further underscoring the enormity of this unchecked and inescapable evil.

What to watch when you're finished enjoying CONCLAVE.

2024, best of

Someone needs to find that priest that they called halfway through the movie, and put him in jail. Also, the pope giving the most insincere apology, then asking them to pray for him, followed by a flippant “bye-bye”, was so infuriating to watch, I wanted to vomit. I wish I could hug all these grandmas and grandpas.

A very difficult and important watch. The older I get the harder it is for me to wrap my mind around the human capacity to not just do evil, but to do it mundanely and routinely, without regard for how many lives are ruined for generations.

Sundance 2024

“I felt dirty as Indian all my life at residential school. Residential school taught us shame and guilt. “

Ah, the Catholic Church. Greatest movie villain of all time.

2024 Ranked

Credit @Keith Moser for the (cast only) Bacon number. 
Degrees of Kevin Bacon: 3
1. Pope Francis and Arnold Schwarzenegger in I Am Greta
2. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Vincent D’Onofrio  in Escape Plan
3. Vincent D’Onofrio and Kevin Bacon in J.F.K.

I found out about these episodes when reading Killers of the Flower Moon and deepening my research on the topic. This Catholic school took all the indigenous children to "catechize" them, which in itself was cultural violence. These children were abused and many were killed without a trace. Catholic priests impregnated children and the babies conceived by them were buried or incinerated by the nuns. These child abuses were repeated for several generations. Who was the civilized race anyway?

Stories like this, which have been hidden from history books, need to be brought to light. The documentary presents extremely relevant reports and situations, but it doesn't seem to have enough content to fill its entire duration. Many scenes where nothing happens end up making the pace excessively slow, but it's worth watching anyway.

2025 Oscars | 97th Academy Awards

SUGARCANE is a vital documentary delving into the abuse suffered by indigenous people from residential schools. An upsetting & intimate exploration of generational trauma, featuring rich cinematography & a considerate approach to such heavy material. The only thing holding this back for me was how the information unfolded and the overall pacing. Otherwise, this was highly emotional & disturbing.

"sorry for the ethnic cleansing and abuse. gtg"
—Pope Francis

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What a gut punch of a film that takes place in my own backyard of British Columbia but really the best way to tackle this is to address the terrible damage that has happened and then hopefully we can begin to heal.
This smartly comes at this material from a few angles and let's you really sit with it as we see these faces of burdened elders of the abuse that they have gone through at the hands of the Roman Catholic church as governments let it unfold washing their hands of the situation.
Beautifully shot with a solid solemn score that I wish could say was entertaining but I can at least say it was informative and sensatively presented. Glad I caught up with this one even if it filled me with sorrow.

Poetic and astonishingly powerful in how it rests in the silence, so patient. I was overwhelmed to witness a son walking his father on a journey like this, of ritual and reunion and reckoning. Very special.