Twist of Faith (2004)

I've enjoyed two other of director Kirby Dick's documentaries, the confronting the FCC doc This Film is Not Yet Rated (2006), and the closeted gay but anti-gay Republican congressman film Outrage (2009). Twist of Faith is a film about the Catholic priest sexual abuse saga that came to a head in the early 2000's, but more specifically its a film about one man, and his family's ordeal.


Tony Comes is a decent man, he's 33 years old, married and has two kids. He's a firefighter in Toledo, gives fire safety presentations in elementary schools, and he's an active Catholic, even getting his wife to convert before there marriage. However Tony Comes is a victim of sexual abuse, inflicted on him when he was 14 years old by the religion teacher at his Catholic high school, a priest named Dennis Gray. While Tony had become open with his family about what had happened starting in his 20's, had made a point about telling his wife before there marriage, and was even involved as a 'John Doe' in a class action lawsuit against the archdiocese, things reached a turning point when shortly after moving into a new house with his family, Tony learned that Dennis Gray lived just five doors down.

This event triggers something in Tony, and while Gray is essentially forced to move from his home, an intensity is released in Tony in regards to his childhood abuse like none he'd felt before. He comes out to the public about his abuse, meets with the Bishop of Toledo about his trauma (who apologizes profusely but also lies to Tony's family that he was the only one that Gray ever abused, in fact there were a half dozen or so more), becomes more involved in the lawsuit, joins a victims group for those who have been sexually abused by Catholic clergy, and becomes so obsessed and angry that he threatens the stability of his own marriage.

This is a powerful film, I wasn't sure that it would be because we've all been hearing variations of this for so long, but the personal quality of this story really hits home. We see things through the experience of one man, one victim, who twenty years later is still reeling for his childhood abuse. Director Dick provides Tony and his wife cameras to use on there own at home to record there thoughts and feelings, this combines with Dick following the couple around some, as well as some news clips, and footage of Dennis Gray's deposition for his crime. A moving, surprisingly kinetic film, Twist of Faith is the definition of what a strong, personal documentary can be. Grade: A-