Laikals The greatest movie ever made..!

SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

myspecialparadise Our Fathers should have been titled more accurately as The Sins Of Our Fathers. I found this film to be a big let-down. Honesty would have given a more profound look into the lives that were destroyed, as well as the devastated families of those children that were molested and/or brutally raped. Many of these victims remained silent for decades, riddled with guilt and shame ... knowing that they would not be believed if they told the truth about these stereo-typical God-like figures that have always been held in such high regard for their holiness. Most of those that did tell ... they were thrown to the wolves, never to darken their families doorstep again. Many turned to drugs ... to escape the mental torments ... many died during those desperate escapes from reality. Many turned to suicide ... while others turned to everything but God! How could one turn to a being that would allow such evil to occur within a church ... for thousands of years?! The worse of it is that these "Men of God" preyed upon the weakest of our children ... the already abused ... the emotionally disturbed ... the disabled. They also preyed upon those same children that came to them for help ... because they were being horribly abused by another! Because that is what we were taught ... if you are in trouble ... seek out a policeman, better yet ..... a Priest! OMG ... we were so stupid! Give us a more true to life movie about this subject! Show us how these Men Of God bragged about their conquests ... and offered them to other Priests as well. The public deserves to know the whole truth! not just the tamer versions.

anchorlady I think this is the second film I have bothered to review on IMDb, and I've been a member for years. Partly because I was moved, and partly because I was surprised that it was such a quality production.I can't speak to the accuracy of this film, as I did not follow this story when it was happening in Boston. But I was truly amazed that this film managed to cover the ground that it did without ever dipping into the typical sensationalism of made-for-TV films about child abuse, sex scandals, and other "ripped from the headlines" fare.Every performance is remarkably nuanced - no scenery chewing, yet you deeply care for the majority of the characters. Excellent casting. My only complaint is that there were so many characters, it became hard to keep track, and I wanted to know more about some of them than others (although I imagine some characters were "composites").Difficult topics such as the victimization of children by adult authority figures are rarely done as well as this movie. Law and Order SVU and other crime shows should take a few hints from this film.

Francis A. Breen, Jr., M.D. If only I could write a spoiler. That would imply that the final outcome of this the greatest of all scandals to rock the Catholic Church was known. But it is not, and the filmmakers do not pretend they know. They simply present in an honest, unflinching manner, the struggles of one group of victims in one city as they emerge from their own dark closets to seek justice for the pedophilia inflicted upon them by the men they most deeply trusted, their priests. This was a venture that took great courage. These were blue collar workers who had to first buck the macho culture in which they lived to do what they believed was the right thing to do. That was not easy. They received more mockery than plaudits as they sought understanding and healing. Cardinal Bernard Law is presented in a more compassionate light than I thought he deserved. He after all could have ended it all many years ago had he acted decisively in ferreting out and removing evil men like Geoghan and Shanley. Instead, he moved them around from parish to parish, enabling them to continue their perversions on new and unsuspecting victims. The Cardinal and his lawyers were so powerful in their hierarchical world and held the media so completely under their spell, that initially a disbelieving Boston Globe reporter suggests a spin that the bishop could use to modulate his responsibility into a more acceptable justification. She was anxious to set aside honest reporting for the more important act of helping the Cardinal. I saw superb acting, brilliant direction and hard hitting dialogue, but no vengeful lashing out. This was a fair and balanced presentation, with the viewer left to ponder and decide. The film ripped a hole through the surface of this horror exposing the incredible cover-up for all to see, but still maintained its balance. It is left to others to more fully plumb the depths of this scandal. This is a must see film for all, Catholics and non-Catholics alike, as pedophilia is not the exclusive domain of the Catholic Church.

michaelzstuff My congratulations to Ted Danson, Christopher Plummer, Brian Dennehy, David France and Thomas Michael Donnelly and Dan Curtis for their brave efforts in tackling such a controversial subject. Ten years ago, this film would have never been released.It was so disturbing to watch that I was up all night thinking how excruciatingly painful it was for the parents and the victims. It took many brave souls to take on the Catholic Church on such a horrifying subject as the pedophilia that occurred by the very same Priests to which we entrusted our children. Not to mention the years of cover-up by the Boston diocese! And yet, this cast and crew somehow managed to have this unspeakable subject matter come across so compellingly and tastefully that they deserve a 10 for their efforts. This is truly an award-winning effort. I can almost guarantee that this will be a critically acclaimed film.