By William Wolf

THE CLUB  Send This Review to a Friend

The film by writer-director Pablo Larrain, set in Chile, inevitably reminds one of the current “Spotlight.” But whereas “Spotlight” directs its fire at the cover-up by Catholic Church hierarchy bent on concealing the crimes of child abuse, “The Club” works from the inside in examining the immorality of priests themselves, and the result is a hellish look at a group of self-righteous abusers exiled to live together in a house in a remote beachfront village. They are a rotten lot who ignore their wrongdoing and turn the penance they are supposed to be enduring into trying to enjoy life by racing their spirited dog in competitions.

The film plunges us deeply into this eerie atmosphere. An angry justice-seeker interrupts the status quo by staging loud protests in an attempt to avenge the abuse he suffered. The dramatic tension is heightened when an emissary, Father Garcia (Marcelo Alonso), is sent by the Vatican to see what’s going on among the exiles and oversee their behavior. Good Luck.

The household is tended to by Mother Mónica (Antonia Zegers), a former nun who perpetually wears a slight smile on her face, and who, we ultimately learn, has a past as evil as those of the rest. She rises to further wickedness by concocting a nasty, cruel conspiracy.

The cast is excellent, and the film is shot to make the surroundings look as dreary as the immorality of the characters. The overall effect is of a descent into depravity among men and a woman who have committed terrible deeds that have ruined lives, but wallow in their sins without the moral decency to come to terms with what they have wrought.

“The Club,” haunting in its tone, digs deeply into human behavior gone awry under the umbrella of religion and in that sense is more incisive in its way than the investigation of higher-ups, as in the newspaper revelations at the core of “Spotlight,” no matter how important that excellent film may be. A Music Box Films release. Reviewed February 5, 2016.

  

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