Twist of Faith (2004)
Chain Camera Pictures, HBO

Description

This tells the story of a man who confronts the trauma of past sexual abuse as a boy by a priest only to find his decision shatters relationships with his family community & his faith.

Tags

Oscar nomination, USA, Ohio

Collected reviews and ratings

10 efilmcritic.com | Scott Weinberg

As a sad and sobering case study, this is an excellent documentary. But it also exists as something considerably more important than that: this is a film that just might prevent other children from suffering the way Tony Comes did. And that's a pretty damn impressive feat for one movie to accomplish.
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10 Filmstalker | Richard Brunton

I urge you to watch this documentary. It's one of the most powerful I've seen, and it tells an often sad and painful tale that is happening all too often in our lives today. Yet it does come out with some profound and wonderful moments of human existence, and it shows what a great family the Comes are, and in particular Tony and Wendy.
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9.2 DVD Verdict | Neal Masri

Twist of Faith makes clear that childhood sexual abuse is, above all, an act of theft. Dennis Gray stole Tony's childhood, innocence, and trust. The fact that Tony has turned out to be such a caring and strong family man says a lot about the human spirit and our power to heal. This is not a film that I expected to find inspiring. I'm glad I was wrong.
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9.0 Amazon user reviews

There's no easy way to address a highly charged subject like the sexual abuse of young boys by Catholic priests, but with Twist of Faith, director Kirby Dick has taken a straightforward approach, using neither fanfare nor frills to create an unflinching but highly personal documentary about this disgraceful episode. [...] Grim but compelling, Twist of Faith makes for very sobering viewing.
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8.0 LA Weekly | Robert Abele

In Twist of Faith, Dick — an experienced hand at documentary portraits from his films about masochist Bob Flanagan (Sick) and philosopher Jacques Derrida — shows us in agonizing yet respectful detail just what makes clergy abuse an especially torturous crime.
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7.0 filmcritic.com | Mark Athitakis

When the Catholic Church sex-abuse scandal first came to light in 2002, stories about victims soon blurred together, making it difficult to comprehend the extent of the psychic damage. Kirby Dick’s film is a powerful corrective, then: by providing an intimate portrait of the emotional struggle of a single victim, Twist clarifies just how damaging the abuse is, and how easily it can contaminate others’ lives.
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7.0 Los Angeles Times | Shawn Hubler

It's a demanding film but one filled with important truths about humanity in all its denominations. That alone makes "Twist of Faith" important even as the headlines around it now fade.
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6.7 The Onion A.V. Club | Scott Tobias

... as a picture of the long-term impact of molestation, especially when it's linked to an authority figure of the highest spiritual order, Twist Of Faith reveals the devastation for which the Church has so arrogantly failed to take responsibility.
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