Conspiracy of Silence (2003)

Director:

John Deery

Writer:

John Deery (writer)

Release Date:

20 January 2006 (Mexico)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Sex. Lies. Murder... All In The Name Of God...

Plot:

A can of worms is opened within the Irish Catholic Church following two controversial incidents, the suicide of Frank Sweeney...

Awards:

2 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Jonathan Forbes	...	Daniel McLaughlin
Hugh Bonneville	...	Fr. Jack Dowling
Brenda Fricker	...	Annie McLaughlin
Sean McGinley	...	Rector Cathal
Hugh Quarshie	...	Fr. Joseph Ennis
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jason Barry	...	David Foley
Paudge Behan	...	Niall
Sean Boru	...	Father Murphy
Olivia Caffrey	...	Liz Foley
Tommy Carey	...	Sean
Patrick Casey	...	Father Sweeney
Carmel Cryan	...	Mrs. McDermott
Catherine Cusack	...	Mary McLaughlin
Patrick Doyle	...	Senior Umpire #1
Patrick Duggan	...	Micky
Christopher Dunne	...	Fr. Martin Hennessy
Jim Dunne	...	Senior Umpire #2
James Ellis	...	Jim O'Brien
Anna Rose Fullen	...	Martha
Jim Howlin	...	Team Manager
Jason Kavanagh	...	Liam
Sinead Keenan	...	Majella
John Lynch	...	Fr. Matthew Francis
Edward MacLiam	...	Fitzpatrick
Owen McDonnell	...	Noel
Fintan McKeown	...	Monsignor Thomas
Kevin McMahon	...	Donal
Brendan McNamara	...	Declan
Justine Mitchell	...	Assistant Floor Manager
Ciaran Murtagh	...	Michael
Jim Norton	...	Bishop Michael Quinn
Niall O'Brien	...	John
Christopher O'Dowd	...	James
Aidan O'Hara	...	Paul
Aidan O'Hare	...	Pual
Lillian Patton	...	Molly
Sid Rainey	...	Joe
Phil Roache	...	Supporter
Fergal Spelman	...	TV Director
Elaine Symons	...	Marie
Harry Towb	...	Father Doherty
Catherine Walker	...	Sinead
Nuala Walsh	...	Mrs. McGlynn

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Filming Locations:

Cornwall, England, UK

Company:

Flick Features

Trivia:

Last cinema film of Harry Towb.

Goofs:

Continuity: The scene on the Bus shows an old man gazing out of the window - this extra is also the priest at the very end of the line of priests shown in the opening scene in the Vatican.

A Very Fine, Fascinating Film That Seems to be Unfinished

CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE is a moody, dark, probing inquiry into the concept of celibacy of priests in the Catholic Church in Ireland and all the way to the Vatican. The concept, story and script by Writer/Director John Deery are tight, arrow sharp in aim, but ultimately unresolved issues cloud the success of what could have been a pungent movie.

Set in a seminary in Ireland for preparing young men for the priesthood, we are introduced to some warmly human characters such as Daniel McLaughlin (Jonathan Forbes), a squeaky clean lad who gave up a girlfriend Sinead (Catherine Walker) to follow his (and his family's) life ambition to become a priest. Naive, warm, loving, athletic and bright, he is the seminary poster boy - until one evening after hours he innocently visits a fellow seminarian's room and is the focus of seduction by the student who kindly says 'we're all only human and have our needs'. Daniel gently declines the advances, leaves the student's room but is observed by an old priest with demons of his own. The priest reports the incident and Daniel is abruptly thrown out of the seminary by the evil Rector Cathal (Sean McGinley) for being homosexual - a charge that couldn't be farther from the truth.

At the same time in another part of the seminary the fine Father Sweeney dresses in all his priestly regalia and commits suicide is a gruesome way. His suicide is threatening to the staff of the seminary and a cover-up is immediately put in place. It seems Father Sweeney some four years ago had stirred controversy in the Vatican by publicly exposing his HIV status, alerting the Church and the world that HIV was rampant in the world wide Church. His partner left the priesthood, disillusioned, but following FR Sweeney to the seminary in Ireland.

An earnest reporter David Foley (Jason Barry) begins the investigation of the suicide and in doing so finds the reason for Daniel's expulsion as well as the myriad dark secrets being covered by the Church - all to do with the concept of celibacy and the inevitable sequelae of sensual deprivation on priests. One Father Jack Dowling (Hugh Bonneville) supports David and Daniel and is disenchanted with the behavior of the Church against its own priests. Then, without resolving any of these fascinating strings of thought the movie ends, leaving many questions unanswered - as though there are no answers.

The acting is uniformly strong (including the likes of Brenda Fricker as Daniel's mother et al), for once giving a spectrum of the priesthood that is not favoring bad or good. These characters are men with convictions and none can be faulted for their stances. The setting in Ireland is magnificently captured by cinematographer Jason Lehel, and Francis Haines and Stephen W. Parsons provide a hauntingly beautiful musical score. As far as it takes us this is a fine film. Perhaps Deery is planning Part II to finish this story! Grady Harp