Oliver O'Grady, Thomas Doyle

Moving from one parish to another in Northern California during the 1970s, Father Oliver O'Grady quickly won each congregation's trust and respect. Unbeknownst to them, O'Grady was a dangerously activ...( read more  read more... )e pedophile that Church hierarchy, aware of his predilection, had harbored for more than 30 years, allowing him to abuse countless children.

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76% liked it

14,564 ratings

Critics

100% liked it

68 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 41 min.

Directed by: Amy Berg

Release Date: October 13, 2006

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DVD Release Date: May 8, 2007

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Flixster Reviews (899)


  • November 1, 2009
    Kinda fucked up! but educational
  • January 26, 2009
    A powerful and thought provoking piece of work that tackles the hypocrisy of not religion, but organised religion. It is disturbing and will stay with any viewer long after they have seen it. The films real success comes in Oliver O'Grady who talks about his crimes in such a matt...( read more)er of fact tone, that it is clear to see he in no way is capable of understanding the repercussions of his actions.The protection he has been offered has been to protect the Catholic Church and not it's followers. The victims and their families testimonies are truly emotional. It is informative, fascinating and very bleak. A rare film that simply had to be made.
  • November 6, 2008
    not a film i could recommand because of the subject matter.This is a shocking and well made docu and open up my eyes.Very unpleasant in places not in any graphic form just the descipions used by the victims and really make you sorry to see these victims come to teams with what as...( read more) happened to them over the years!!!!
  • April 5, 2008
    A must see. Simply heartbreaking and mind boggling what this man got away with.
  • July 14, 2007
    This is a very, very powerful and unsettling documentary about the molestation of children by Catholic clergy, focusing mainly on Oliver O'Grady, who throughout his tenure as a priest molested and raped dozens of children by gaining the trust of their families and then betraying ...( read more)it in the worst possible way, and how the Catholic church refused to take any disciplinary action against him or attempt to tackle his problem, instead moving him from parish to parish, thus allowing him to continue ruining the lives of several families. The documentary is extremely well made, and it was most effective because it focuses primarily on O'Grady and his victims for most of the running time, instead of being too ambitious and trying to tackle the larger issue the entire time. It does take on the larger issue by association, though, and directly in the last quarter of the film. It show the immense courage of the victims, and of certain members of the church like Thomas Doyle to attempt to tackle the issue, which has been covered up and ignored for so long, by people as high as the Pope. This an eye-opening, powerful, must-see documentary for everyone, including catholics.
  • November 22, 2009
    A perfect example about collaboration between criminal and power that resulted in long term sexual abuse to children. The strength of this documentary is in showing us about violence by exploring testimony from victims and the priest - who had been the perpetrator in that case.
    ...( read more)So horrible. A must see documentary film...!
  • November 16, 2009
    Clearly outlines the hypocrisy of a priest claiming the moral high-ground while balls deep in a choir boy.
  • November 2, 2009
    Guys,girls,a movie for all who wish to be entertained is moreover a movie of actual consequences and tragedies.Religion is a defiantly vague topic in society's progress,by accusing who's guilty is easy,what happens behind the curtains is what matters.If I were any president,I'd l...( read more)egislate pedophilia as a death sentence.Add rape on that,it is painfully relevant to this documentary.Oh to hell with it,just see it...
  • October 26, 2009
    "I made up my mind. There is no God. I do not believe in a God, all right? All these rules, everything... they're made up by man, you know?"

    Deliver Us From Evil (2006)


    Director: Amy Berg
    Country: United States of America
    Ge...( read more)nre: Documentary / Crime
    Length: 101 minutes

    Deliver Us From Evil,Oliver O'Grady


    Deliver Us From Evil is a documentary that portrays the story of a Catholic priest named Oliver O'Grady who was relocated to several parishes by the Catholic Church in an attempt to cover up his rape of dozens of children in the United States during the 70's. The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary, Features, unfairly losing against An Inconvenient Truth (2006). However, justice will be served someday...

    It's a literally impossible task to watch and subsequently review a documentary without letting one's personal feelings to be either totally or partially involved. This documentary does not provide mere entertaining. It essentially looks for a reaction from the audience, regardless of their religion or their atheistic beliefs. However, Amy Berg's approach to both the attrocities committed by O'Grady through the blasphemous actions of the Catholic Church leaves several things clear, facts that I will list through the following paragraphs.

    First of all, Berg's treatment of the subject matter does not support the scandalous acts of Father O'Grady nor tries to relate it to the Catholic religion. I, as a very strong Catholic and believer of God and what He represents, am repulsed by the human organization the Catholic religion has been subject to. This is a very brief and modest glimpse of the reality behind the Catholic Church. Ultimately, a very obvious consequence is to blame God and Catholicism for the actions of men. After all, knowing whom to put the blame is rather easy; besides, that's not the primary point. What really matters are the motives and the promotors behind the events. Call them excuses, call them reasons, call them "inevitable precursors", but Deliver Us From Evil congregates audiences for recognizing one single moral and overall perspective: this man is a disguised demon, and the Church is its monstrous mother.

    Another endless topic irremediably arises: if God exists, couldn't he prevent this from happening? Explaining the reasons of why God exists and why he could actually prevented this from happening to an atheist is like asking a snail to run. There's an interesting, yet pointless discussion board on IMDB regarding the same question. The first thing the user stated is "and don't tell me he gave us free will". To say such an idiotic thing is to hear what you want to hear and to be afraid of the fact that a person does NOT control his/her own life, but God does. To lack such control leads to the person's psychology to be utterly frustrated and lost in perdition. The truth is we are not the judge of the world and we do not have the capacity to decide what things should happen and what events should be prevented. There are bigger reasons seen by God in this matter that we, as humans, cannot see. Consequently, everything carries a pattern of chain reaction. Are you asking for one proof? This documentary proves it and has been nearly successfully distributed to the masses, and people are reviewing it, myself included.

    Another fact is that the courage of the people is a remarkable thing to enlighten. An unstoppable consequence is the human's easily corruptible religion, in this case, the Faith in God. However, it makes you wonder why the relatives of the victims agreed to dictate their testimony and why the church refused to give an interview. It's almost insulting the noticeable way the people featured in the archive footage of this documentary is not even expert at lying! If you feel like laughing at those sequences, do NOT feel ashamed. It is the human hipocrisy and their lame attempts to cover the truth what is so ashaming... so ashaming it makes you laugh.

    The final result is an eye-opener documentary masterpiece. To bring to the big screen such controversial thematic material is a rather difficult job, not to mention audacious. If this is not available in your country, try abroad. It is a story that needs to be told and disseminated. Do not let totalitarian control influence what you see, cancel censorship, accept the fact that the world is the most insane and insecure place to live in. Man has rotten it. Twisted f#cks walk freely through the streets like if nothing had happened. Share this documentary; it's a filmmaking piece worth of some hours of analysis and discussion.

    94/100
  • October 22, 2009
    Every "Christian" should see this.

Critic Reviews


November 10, 2006
Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times

Watching Amy Berg's powerful documentary Deliver Us from Evil is a wrenching experience; her subjects reveal to the camera almost unbearable levels of anguish, and its audience walks away feeling both... full review

November 9, 2006
Colin Covert, The Minneapolis Star Tribune

No report I have seen takes us so disturbingly inside the mind of the abuser as Amy Berg's Deliver Us From Evil. full review

October 13, 2006
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal

A literally stunning documentary. full review

October 13, 2006
Ty Burr, Boston Globe

Grander statements aren't needed when the specific indictments are so plentiful and so horrifying. full review

October 13, 2006
Kurt Loder, MTV

Deliver Us From Evil is an explosive documentary about a depravity so gross, it leaves you appalled and infuriated that the men who enabled it have never been called to account. full review

October 12, 2006
A.O. Scott, The New York Times

Neither sensationalistic nor sentimental, Ms. Berg's film is clear-sighted, tough-minded and devastating, a portrait of individual criminality and institutional indifference, a study in the betrayal o...

October 12, 2006
Claudia Puig, USA Today

Deliver Us From Evil will shake you to your marrow. It should be seen by people of all faiths and by anyone concerned about the wellbeing of children. full review

View more Deliver Us From Evil reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments


  • freakmebaby209
    February 9, 2008
    OMG I couldnt even finish watching the movie when it mentioned the cities it took place in. One being the town i've lived in most of my life!! Whooooaaa it hit too close to home! Thank god i'm not Catholic! lol

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