The club. But unlike any club that any of us is ever likely to be a member of. And certainly not a club that any of us would want to be a member of. Unless you would like to be sent to live among “disgraced priests and nuns, suspected of crimes ranging from child abuse to baby-snatching from unwed mothers.”
So: Is it based on a true story? I don’t know. The character’s accounts here are said to be fictional but they are also said to be based on the sort of actual flesh and blood miscreants that most of us are now familiar with given the scandals that have unfolded in North America as well.
As punishment for transgressions go, they could do worse. They have all the creature comforts of home. And they spend much of their time training a greyhound that they enter into races. They bless the dog with holy water and then when he wins, glance up into the Heavens in order to properly thank God.
But then that [as they say] is all on the surface.
In large part the film revolves around Catholicism and the vows of chastity the ecclesiastics are required to embody. In other words, it explores the consequences of repressing that which nature demands of all its creatures: that they be fruitful and multiply.
And then the part about rationalizing the things that we do. You don’t need to be a Catholic priest in order to avidly pursue this of course but with God factored in – the institutionalized God in particular – it can get all that more convoluted.
As for the “meaning” behind the film, one reviewer described it thusly: "This is truly a bizarre, bleak, dark, and depressing film. This film is clearly a brutal attack on the church, the priesthood, and mankind in general.
Of course that might offend some. Or be embraced triumphantly by others.
Another take on it: variety.com/2015/film/reviews/be … 201428580/
On the other hand, some will react to it as an exercise in “religion for intellectuals”. A way in which to explore God and religion in a world of words. Heads talking to each other. The actual behaviors themselves being but more grist for the mill. The mill scholastic sorts crave.
Note: some might find the dialogue disturbing. It is sexually explicit.
at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Club_(2015_film
trailer: youtu.be/e8c2DYoF7lA
THE CLUB [2015]
Written in part and directed by Pablo Larraín
[b]Title card: God saw that the light was good and he separated the light from the darkness. Genesis 1:4
…
Father: With the last race we totaled 470,000 pesos. Not bad.
Sister Monica: That money is a blessing.
Father: I would split it.
Sister Monica: What do you need money for?
Father: For expenses. We need more dogs. One greyhound is not enough.
…
Priest [from the Vatican]: Perhaps some of you have met him already. But let me introduce Father Matias Lozcano. From now on, he will join you in your home…in this community of yours.
Sister Monica: Father Matias. Let me introduce Father Vidal, Father Ortega, Father Silva and Father Ramirez. I’m Sister Monica. We’re very happy to have you here. Welcome.
Priest: This house is very important to the church. A shelter, a house of prayer.
Father: Is anybody else coming, Father?
Priest: No, not that I’m aware of.
…
Sister Monica: It’s absolutely forbidden to communicate with any person outside of this house. Also forbidden is any activity involving self-flagellation… or self-pleasuring. You are not allowed to handle money or cell phones.
Matias: Excuse me, Sister, but I don’t know why I should have to be subjected to the same rules as those men. Maybe you don’t know why I’m here. I didn’t commit any crime, any sin. I’m not a queer. I had a bit of trouble…but it was resolved.[/b]
Not quite…
[b]Sandokan [outside the house]: I saw you arrive in a black car. Why don’t you come out and talk with me? Why don’t you come talk with me? Why don’t you come talk with me, Father Matias Lozcano? When the priests came to get us…when they would come to get us at the children’s home to introduce us to the word of God they would recite the sermon of Jesus from the Bible when the priests brought us in. When I had to serve them as altar boy and we had to serve the chalice to them. And there were a bunch of priests that would touch their genitals. There must have been like three priests who touched their genitals. Then they would proceed to masturbation, self-masturbation that they would perform by moving their foreskin. You could see very clearly how the foreskin went back and forth, back and forth until the ejaculation came. Then they would molest us. They would penetrate us anally and come on our faces. I know you’re in there, Father Matias Lozcano.
Father: Is that one of your kids?
Sandokan: Remember coming on our faces?
Father: Is that one of your kids, degenerate? Go talk to him!
Sandokan: You’d make me pray and then you’d say “That’s not oral sex, fucking orphan. This is oral sex!” And you’d stick your penis in my mouth. It was a big penis, like this. And since I was a child, sometimes the corners of my mouth would hurt. As a child, my mouth couldn’t open wide enough for a priest’s penis but he’d do it to me anyway. And sometimes, the semen would make me vomit. The semen would make me vomit. Later, the priest would give me breath mints. That way, the semen wouldn’t feel so dirty.
…
Father [putting a gun on the windowsill]: Go to the window! Look at him! Don’t you recognize him? He recognizes you! You take care of this!
Sandokan: Father Matias, listen to me!
Father: Scare him, you hear? You’re a degenerate! Go outside!
Father Matias: I don’t know him.
Father: Go outside! Don’t play dumb!
Sandokan: They’d take us to the bathroom and we would suck their penises. We’d make love again. We’d come back from McDonalds with a Happy Meal.[/b]
Father Matias goes outside with the gun. He approaches the man and he raises the gun. Then he shoots…shoots himself in the head. Problem solved? The other priests think so.
[b]Policeman: You’re saying this is a-
Sister Monica: A retreat for priests… who can no longer work and must leave their parishes.
…
Father [to policeman]: He was very sad, very worried. He didn’t want to eat or drink. Nothing. Not even tea…We were sitting at the table watching a reality show when he suddenly got upset about something. He went downstairs and came back with a gun. We got scared and hid in the bathroom. After a while, we heard a gunshot.[/b]
And then it is time to pray. To ask God for forgiveness.
Priest [from the Vatican]: Father Matias suffered from heart attack symptoms some time ago. He was under medical supervision. They performed many tests on him. And no one ever mentioned any symptoms of depression. I am very surprised he had a gun in his possession. I asked Father Garcia to come with me. He is a spiritual director and has a lot of experience dealing with crisis situations. He has been on assignment in many countries. He also received a degree in psychology in Spain and studied in Geneva. He is very prepared and a beautiful man.
Father Garcia is a Jesuit.
[b]Father: You can just see Father Garcia is a guilty rich guy. But guilty of what? Besides, if there were no more poor people, there would be no more saints and that would be a terrible thing. There have always been poor people. They want to change the church. Over 2,000 years old and it’s still here and I like it the way it is. There is only one church of God.
Father: Amen.
…
Sister Monica: Father, we have a good life here. It’s a nice life. The brothers are okay. They are healthy and clean of heart, I promise you. They glow. If you had met them before, you wouldn’t believe the difference. We get up, stick to a schedule, sing. We lead a holy life. It’s very nice. Really, very nice.
Father Garcia [who sees right through her]: Sister, we both know why the brothers are here. What I need to know is if they’re aware of why they’re here. This house is not a spa.
Sister Monica: No.
Father Garcia: It isn’t a retreat either. It’s a center for prayer and penance. It’s a place of repentance.
Sister Monica: You’re one of those new priests.
Father Garcia: What I want is a new church. And I want you to help me.
…
Father Garcia: Have you made money on that dog? Do you place bets?
Father: He’s a greyhound, Father, the only dog mentioned in the Bible.
…
Father [to the others]: I went through his bag. He has your file, and yours and mine. And the files of priests at other homes. He has credit cards. American Express. What happened with Lozcano sped things up but Father Garcia was coming anyway. He’s on a mission. He’s closing down the homes all over Chile.
…
Father Garcia: It’s one thing to fall in love with a man but a completely different one to fall in love with a child.
Father: Because the sickness of falling in love with a child can be cured, repressed. I know a lot of men and women who think about children but would be incapable of doing anything. But that bishop accused me of defending pedophilia, and it isn’t true. I was defending restraint. And I know what I’m saying. I know what I’m talking about, since I’m a master of restraint.
Father Garcia: Do you still think about men?
Father: You’re horribly vile. It’s just that you took a vow of chastity many years ago and have spent all this time thinking about obscenities instead of praying. You haven’t made love to anyone. You haven’t fornicated. So you don’t know what it feels like. You don’t know the sickness of the mind can be cured when the body explodes. Because you and I are condemned to be dishonest bodies.
…
Father Garcia: The bishop told me you had a notebook.
Father: Yes. I wrote down everything the soldiers confessed.
Father Garcia: What did you write down?
Father: Secret burial grounds, theft of money. Secret torture houses, murders. Everything. Then I burnt it.
Father Garcia: Why?
Father: Because a colonel threatened to kill me. It didn’t matter, I memorized it. A lot of soldiers repented. But those left-wing civilians wanted to resolve a spiritual matter in a secular court. They realized it was their only chance at revenge because God would forgive all of them in Heaven. Even the murderers.
…
Father Garcia: You studied for years to become a priest. You gave your life to our Lord Jesus Christ but that doesn’t make you a messenger of God. So set aside your arrogance and lead the life you have to lead the life of an accomplice. They put you in this house to keep you quiet.
Father: I won’t claim to be innocent, but please do not try to manipulate a cunning fox who during his long life as a priest has touched more communion bread than you have touched your own member.
…
Father Garcia: What’s going on with Father Ramirez? There’s no information about him. There are no files. I called Santiago, and they can’t help either.
Sister Monica: I was told he arrived here in the late '60s but beyond that nobody knows, and he doesn’t remember.
…
Father Garcia: From now on, the consumption of alcohol is forbidden in this house. More prayer, less outings.
Father: Forbidden? No.
Father Garcia: More penance, less dog. More vegetables, less chicken.
Father [mockingly]: More vegetables, less…
Father Garcia [angrily]: What’s wrong?! There are no doors or keys in this house, so you can leave whenever you please. But as long as you live under the church’s roof, you’ll follow its rules. And right now, for you, I am the church!
Father: I am the church!
Father Garcia: No.
Father: How many years of priesthood are there between all of us? Shit!
Father Garcia: Sister, take him to his room. Take him immediately.
…
Father Garcia: When I was a missionary in Africa, we would give a goat to each family. That goat would produce milk, meat and cheese. It would allow them to grow. That goat gave them life. When the goat got old they would offer it as a sacrifice to our Lord Jesus Christ. Father.
What does this dog offer this house?
Father: Affection.
Father Garcia: Avarice. You have to get rid of the dog.
Father: No.
Father Garcia: If I let you keep that dog, you will keep on betting and I cannot allow that. Get a cat.
Father: I don’t like cats.
Father Garcia: Look at yourself. A cat would suit you better.
…
Father Garcia: The commissions.
Father: The commissions?
Father Garcia: The commissions. How much did you make?
Father: Not as much as you. You are a Vatican bureaucrat who travels in first class and stays at five-star hotels. I can smell your perfume from here, Carolina Herrera for Men. You buy it at duty-free shops. Am I wrong? How long has it been since you were in a parish? With people, suffering people. With women who cannot bear children. With girls who don’t want their children and want to throw them in the trash? Why? Why such injustice? So God gave me a mission—to save lives. To bring happiness to those couples
that cannot have children, Father.
Father Garcia: Father, we’re talking about the kidnapping of live children who are given to other mothers that are not their own. And after a funeral with an empty coffin…
Father: What else could I do? With a 17-year-old mother in tears. Those girls didn’t want to have those children! It’s a question of social class. You understand that, don’t you? Of your social class. They couldn’t have them, they didn’t want to have them. They rejected them! They wanted to throw them in the trash! I only saved lives, sir. Now there are blondes in the slums. And dark-skinned kids in the upper-class neighborhoods with families that love them and take care of them.[/b]
Conflicting goods. No getting around them, is there?
[b]Father Garcia: Why were you sent here?
Sister Monica: During Pope John Paul’s visit… something terrible happened to me. I had to quit college, ended up in a convent and became a nun. First in Brazil and then in Boston, some time ago. But then I went to Africa. Black Africa. I adopted a girl and brought her here with me. After a while, they took her away from me because they said I beat her and gave her to another family. But I never laid a hand on her. It was my mother who said I beat the girl because she didn’t want a black granddaughter.
…
Father Garcia: We’re going to have to close down this house.
Sister Monica: That’s not necessary.
Father Garcia: Why not?
Sister Monica: No one else will die here.
…
Father: I’m celibate. Of my own free will, I decided not to have a wife, children.
Sandokan: So you’re celibate because you haven’t been with a woman but you have been with men? Have they penetrated you anally? Have you sucked a penis, foreskin? Are you homosexual?
Father: Homosexuality has broadened my concept of sexuality. Between a man and a woman, it’s just a matter of procreation. Whereas, between homosexuals, it’s something much deeper.
Sandokan: The priest used to tell me that if I wanted to be a virgin when I got married I should just have anal sex. He would penetrate me anally… so I could be a virgin when I got married.
Father: Well, you are a son of God as well. Your homosexuality humanizes me.
Sandokan: You gotta be kidding me. Don’t call me a homosexual. Don’t go around saying that.
…
Father: What did they tell you?
Father Garcia: Well, everything. Now we just need your version to finish up and close this house permanently.
Father: I got here about four centuries ago. Back then, they said that the devil had created our kind. Now they say God created us 'to love our fellow man because it’s dirty. We love those who have dirty sex, those who laugh at themselves or humiliate themselves, those who smoke in the bathroom, those who have to endure idiotic questions from people like you who think they know more than we do because they sleep with women. But make no mistake, I know more than you. I know something you don’t. I know more than you, I do. Because in that abject and deep sex I’ve seen the most loving light of our Lord.
…
Father: Do you know what I think happened to Father Matias? He got here to this shitty house that smells like shit and saw these fucking geezers. Silva’s face. Vidal’s face. He saw me too. All this shit. He thought, “I’ll have to spend the rest of my days in this shit!” And he shot himself.
Father Garcia: You are in a privileged place. God is here, Father. Look around you. Nature, the sea.
Father: God is not here, Father. This is a jail. With fucking criminals!
…
Sister Monica [to Father Garcia]: That lunatic came after the poor priest to kill him, I don’t know. He screamed as if he was being stabbed. So we took out a small gun that we keep in case of burglaries and we gave it to the priest so he could shoot a warning shot.
But he was so distressed that he shot himself.[/b]
With each adjustment the lie gets closer to the truth.
[b]Sister Monica: Want to close down this house?
Father Garcia: What do you think?
Sister Monica: Want to send us to another house?
Father Garcia: People are coming after these priests.
Sister Monica: That’s why it’s not advisable. If they asked me, I would be declared an accessory and so would my accessory as well as the accessory of my accessory. All the way up, until they got to I don’t know who. You.
Father Garcia: Why talk now if you haven’t talked before?
Sister Monica: No, I don’t want to talk. The last thing I want is to talk. But if you kick me out, I’ll have nothing to lose.
Father Garcia: You’re an employee. You have to answer.
Sister Monica: If you kick us out, I’ll call the press and tell them everything.
…
Sandokan [to Father Garcia]: Let me tell you something. Matias Lozcano was my first man. He was the first one I made love with. The first man I loved deeply and madly to the farthest reaches of love. It was with Father Matias Lozcano. And he’s no longer with me. The priest was the first person I had sex with, both anally…The first time, I sucked his penis… and he showed me the grace of the Lord. He would say that if I swallowed the semen I would go directly to heaven because any man of God carries the holy semen because it comes from the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is life. Because the Virgin Mary…Ultimately, God also created her from semen.
[pause]
Sandokan: When was the last time you ejaculated? Have you had sex with children? Have you penetrated them anally? That’s nice. But I’m not a homosexual. I lead a normal life. I have sex with women. Sometimes I feel I’m sinning with the prostitutes and all that. But when I was with the priests I never felt I was sinning because they are men of God and all the fluids that come out of them are the Lord’s, right? Praise be to God. You know what? I know some children. They’re smaller than me. Would you like to have sex with the children I know?
…
Sister Monica [after killing the Father’s dog]: Only God knows. He knows. We’re girls, that’s why we don’t understand. But he’s the Father. He’s the only one who knows.
[pause]
Sister Monica: Are you going to kill me?
Father: No. I can’t.
Sister Monica: Will you forgive me?
Father: No. No, bitch. No.
…
Father: He could stay here.
Father: What? Where?
Father: In my room. Until he gets better.
Father: He can’t stay here.
Father: Why not?
Father: First I’d like to talk this over between ourselves.
Father Garcia: And I’d like to see all of you in jail.
Father: Then call the press.
Father Garcia: No. I love the church and don’t want to hurt it.
Father: What are you doing here then?
Father Garcia: If you give this man a bed, I’ll forget all about you.
Father: For how long?
Father Garcia: Forever.
Sister Monica: Any objections?
Father: Objections to what?
Father Garcia: To doing penance, Father.
…
Sandokan: I wanted to tell you, Father, if I’m gonna stay in this home in order to maintain my menial balance and not to go psycho I need some drugs. For that, I need a supply of phenobarbital as well as alcohol, propyphenazone, Rohypnol, Optalidon, Lipenan, aripiprazole, phenobarbital, green, red and yellow amphetamine capsules, Prodrin, Sirin, Ritalin, Cipropol…to get high, to relax, to stay level. And you can find all those things in Dr. Hoffman’s drugstore. He has the whole supply. And another very important thing is that, at any given time, if suddenly, by accident… you have access to any of my pills please, don’t consume them. And if you do, don’t mix them with alcohol or you will be fucked. All of you. That’s what I wanted to say.[/b]