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Chilean director Pablo Larrain made "The Club" after he
realized some pedophile priests had collaborated with the
dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet or were ordinary criminals, and
had never paid for their misdeeds.
"The Catholic Church for decades really has been spiriting away
those priests, hiding them, shielding them from the public
sphere," he told a news conference on Monday to loud applause.
"That's how we came up with this 'club', the idea of a club of
lost priests."
The film focuses on four priests living in a fishing village
whose cozy lifestyle is shattered by the arrival of a priest
trailed by a tramp who proclaims from the street that the cleric
had forced him to have sex with him.
The accused priest commits suicide with a gun another house
resident gives him to scare away the intruder. This leads to a
visit from Father Garcia, a Jesuit interrogator, who wants to
know what happened and threatens to close down the retreat.
The film is cleverly plotted, with lots of dark humor, and shows
the Church still protects its own.
"The judiciary has not been able to act, it is as drastic as I
say," said Alfredo Castro, who plays one of the priests. "I
think all of the world wishes that people in this situation be
judged on a par with anybody else in civil courts."
"Ixcanul" - "Volcano" in English - shows a Kaqchikel Mayan
family living under the shadow of a volcano. The only child
Maria (Maria Mercedes Coroy) is set to marry the wealthy Ignacio
but loves farm worker Pepe, with whom she plans to elope to the
United States.
When Pepe jilts her and leaves her pregnant, the family must
deal with the unwanted pregnancy as well as a plague of snakes
that makes their farm unusable.
“It is a story of a woman that could happen anywhere, but this
one is set in Guatemala, in a very particular Mayan culture,"
director Jayro Bustamente said.
"And it is a good thing that the story of this culture and its
people gets to be known better worldwide," he added.
"Ixcanul" and "The Club" are among 19 films vying for the
festival's top Golden Bear honor.
(Editing by Tom Heneghan)
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