John Michael McDonagh says that Calvary is the second in a trilogy starring Brendan Gleeson as an embodiment of contemporary Ireland, which is delightful for me, because the first two have each been my favorite films in their year of release. The earlier The Guard was a perfectly realized tragicomedy, hilarious and full of grace amidst horror. Calvary, like the priest at its center, has the courage of its convictions – rooting itself in the gorgeous and character-building space of the coast near Sligo, asking how to serve the common good when it might get you killed. Like The Guard, it understands Irishness, its discontents, and its gifts. McDonagh is a poet of the Celtic soul, Gleeson is the face of the nation, and Calvary is an icon through which the kind of light can shine that illuminates life itself. Its final scene resonates with Greek myth, and the comparison is earned, for this is a film about a genuinely universal question: how forgiveness is not only possible, but necessary, and maybe even inevitable. — Gareth Higgins (Sojourners) (2014)
- Directed by: John Michael McDonagh
- Produced by: Chris Clark James Flynn
- Written by: John Michael McDonagh
- Music by: Patrick Cassidy
- Cinematography by: Larry Smith
- Editing by: Chris Gill
- Release Date: 2014
- Running Time: 102
- Language: English
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2020 Top 100 — #72