Judgment (TV Movie 1990)

Judgment: Directed by Tom Topor. With Keith Carradine, Blythe Danner, Jack Warden, David Strathairn. Fact-based story of a Louisiana priest accused of molesting young parishioners, and of the family of one of his victims, caught between their loyalty to their son and to their Church.

“u0026quot;Judgmentu0026quot; follows the events surrounding the molestation of several young boys by a Catholic priest, including the initial disbelief on the part of the parents, and the desperate attempts of the church establishment to cover up the misdeeds and admit no culpability.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe script pretty much develops the action in the same way you see in many other TV movies of this sort – good story, but few surprises. Fortunately, the film is filled with fine actors. Blythe Danner doesnu0026#39;t quite strike me as a small-town Louisiana woman, but her intensity is welcome, particularly her anger at her husbandu0026#39;s initial unwillingness to confront the Church leaders.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eDavid Strathairn does a wonderful job (no surprise) as the pedophile priest, a man totally in denial about the harm he has done and his own emotional sickness. He has a brief, but telling scene near the end with the Monsignor (played by the reliably oily Bob Gunton) where he defends his behavior as giving the kids u0026quot;all of his and Godu0026#39;s loveu0026quot; and an antidote to parents who probably beat and abuse their kids. Clearly his general accusation does not apply to the families in the film.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eMany people are offended by any kind of sympathetic portrayal of a child molestor, which is easy to understand. But I give u0026quot;Judgmentu0026quot; credit for going beyond the one-dimensional, and giving us a glimpse of a tortured soul behind the horrible behavior.”