User reviews

This film could easily slide into an anecdote about a disguise that causes real change. However, it is a perfectly told film that asks important questions about the place of spirituality in a person's life, and about the chance to make amends. Contrary to being embedded in the reality of the Catholic Church in Poland, it is a universal challenge for viewers who are not afraid to check whether a bad person can do good things and what is the value of spiritual transformation committed for low motives. Greatly played by a couple of young, yet experienced actors Eliza Rycembel and Bartosz Bielenia, while the rest of the cast creates a perfect background for the small-town world, which, although on the outskirts, is not a province.

This is the kind of movie that captivated me from start to finish. The story itself unbelievable as it may seem is actually based on a real story of young man from the Masovian voivodeship. I will not spoil any of it and will just say that 'Corpus Christi' touches on important matters and values and it's main message translates to 'love thy neighbor'. Amazing performance by the main actor and I loved the camera work. Highly recommended by a non-practitioning catholic.

I finally got the chance to see Corpus Christi, the Oscar nominated movie from Poland for best international feature film, and it did come up to my expectations, so beautiful and very well made. First, the story (which is a true story) is so interesting and captivating, keeps you fully involved the whole time and tackles many values like spirituality and sins. It triggers your thinking on so many levels mainly about the good that could come from a bad person and vice versa. In addition to the story, the movie is so decently made. The cinematography is amazing with many stunning frames and so is the directing. The screenplay is brilliantly beautiful. And the main actor's performance is so solid and superb and so is everyone else. Also, the cast, the locations, the town all are great for the theme and mood of the movie. Corpus Christi is easily one of the best foreign language films and one of the best movies ever. I can't recommend it enough. Thanks to the Oscar nom that made me see this film and fall in love with it, much love to the European cinema in general from Lebanon- Middle East.

The Polish film Boze Cialo was shown in the U.S. with the title Corpus Christi (2019). Jan Komasa directed this movie.

Bartosz Bielenia portrays Daniel, who is in juvenile detention in Warsaw. He is paroled, and sent to work in a sawmill in a small town. While in detention, Daniel has found God. (Not as a ruse, but in reality.)

When he gets to the lumber mill, he makes a decision to put himself forward as a young priest on pilgrimage. When the village priest gets sick, Daniel takes over.

That's the beginningof the plot, and what follows works itself out in a fascinating, unpredictable way.

Bartosz Bielenia is a superb young actor. The movies succeeds or fails based on his skills. The supporting actors are all competent, but without a brilliant performance by the lead actor, the movie would just be another film about mistaken identity.

We had planned to see Corpus Christi at Rochester's excellent Little Theatre. However, COVID-19 prevented that, so we saw it on DVD. It worked well on the small screen.

The movie has an excellent IMDb rating of 7.6. I thought it was even better than that, and rated it 9.

P.S. We bought the Film Movement DVD, which contains an earlier short film, Fajnie, ze jestes (2004), shown in the U.S. with the title Nice to See You. It was written and directed by Komasa. It has earned a tepid 7.0 from the 41 people who bothered to rate it. I didn't think it was that good, and rated it 6.

It is a captivating and raw history. Very universal. It is a story about starting over,about redemption and repressed feelings. Young actors give a phenomenal performance.

I watched this last night, courtesy of a Polish film organization. I can't stop thinking about it. First, the star Bartosz Bielenia is amazing, with pale blue eyes and a face that reveal more in ten seconds than other actors do in ten minutes. The plot is a bit unpredictable, showinf ups and downs to the actor's situation, so it keeps your interest. And the morality tale comes in with a simple plot but complex questions and answers. What is forgiveness? Why do people hate and love? What is religion's role in helping cope with tragedy? Does a person who sinned (and who is definitely not an angel) have the perspective to comfort people who are grieving but have also sinned? The ending is ambiguous, so not a pat "boy gets girl and rides off into the sunset." So it leaves us thinking and wondering, the mark of a truly great film...

This film which is about a young convict who pretends to be priest in a local Parish whilst on parole, touches on many sides of us as people really. Although it prods on feelings such as greed, anger, hatred. The one subject it really dwells into is; opening our hearts and forgiveness. The power of love, despite the person or situation.

Of course there is another side to this movie where its a bit more controversial: Do we really have to follow all the rules set by whomever, even if its by the Pope himself or a priest?

The acting of Bartosz Bielenia really deserves a lot of praise, as it is truly fervent.

The false minister is a recurrent feature of the cinema :the most famous is Robert Mitchum in Laughton 's masterpiece "night of the hunter" ,but there's also Humphrey Bogart in "the left hand of God",to name but two .

"Boze Cialo " is a horse of a different color ; although he is a false priest, Daniel does believe he's become a true one. His story is hardly believable, but it's based on true events .It's one of the best Christian movies of all time.

The actor's commitment to his role is extraordinary ;and he's proof positive that you do not have to study for a long time in a seminar to comprehend Christ's philosophy ; it's a return to basics , Daniel is a simple young man,so his words are humble,primitive ,but go straight to our hearts ; he seems to reinvent a new faith;whereas the people who lost a dear one cannot forgive the culprit and wouldn't even think of burying him in a consecrated ground, he remembers the merciful Jesus who once said:" forgive the offender not three times, or seven times, but seventy times seven." Jesus rejected the teaching of the religious leaders. As Luther rejected the indulgences and the luxury of the Church .As Daniel rejects the attitude of his parishioners and of his hierarchy.

And last but not least , the director introduces some humor in this deeply moving story ;the scene in which the so-called priest "learns" how to confess his flock with his mobile is a wonderful comic relief. .

Some may think the ending is harsh ,but remember Jesus' fate.

Summary

Notable film by the Polish Jan Komasa (director of the later Hater) about a false priest, in a story that knows how to question us about vocation, opportunism and salvation in a way that is sometimes sad and painful but always moving.

Review

Daniel is a convict who is paroled from a youth correctional facility in Warsaw to be sent to work in a sawmill on the other side of Poland. But instead, almost by accident, he ends up officiating as vicar of the parish priest of the town that is located next to that sawmill. These cases of false priests are frequent in Poland, a country in which decades of communism could not with its pure Catholicism.

We don't know much about Daniel at the start of the movie; for example, why he is detained. But we are shown that he is the assistant to the priest at the detention center and that he wants to get into the seminary.

This remarkable film by Jan Komasa has the intelligence not to limit itself to exploiting the misunderstanding about Daniel's imposture and the tensions arising from his eventual unmasking. He seems determined to take his role seriously and it doesn't take long for him to become aware of a tragedy that recently affected the town and to commit himself to a position (if it wants to be Christian) that may even be detrimental to him. And it is this conflict and the behavior of the false priest that questions us about whether his is a legitimate pastoral and religious vocation or opportunism to escape from a proletarian destiny, or why not both? Is he trying a path of redemption and reparation that transcends the personal? As in the later and notable film Hater, by the same director, Corpus Christie presents a protagonist who hides his origins and seeks to transcend them. He also hides his past as Reverend Toller of The Salvation Church.

The Polish town where the film takes place, with its pure Catholicism, could perfectly be a Spanish, Irish or Latin American town.

Komasa establishes a successful and deliberate contrast between the scenes that take place in the correctional facility and those that take place in the town. The staging is sober and the performances tight, with a magnetic Bartosz Bielenia (Prime Time) standing out as a Daniel who with his huge eyes reminds us, not coincidentally, of Dreyer's Jeanne D'Arc, in a story (perhaps a Christian parable?) that knows pose their questions in a way that is sometimes sad , painful and always moving.

This film was such an intense build up. The way the story flows as the situation begins to unravel is so masterfully executed. How the main underlying theme is so exceptionally presented is truly unique. The scenery, the acting, the story, and the style couldn't be more perfect. My only subtle issue was the wrap up but other than that it was truly magnificent overall.

Movie shows that sometimes random thug from juvie has more of God in him than "the most religious and believing" people.

That's what's frustrating about religion. It was created to unite people with the same beliefs but people cannot even remember what they truly believe in and just blindly follow rules. Jesus has the heart to forgive every your sin, but you don't have heart to forgive even your closest people.

It shows how easy it is to lose true values, and at the same time gives hope for redemption, even for those who seem to be on the margins of society. It is surprising because it does not idealize the characters, but shows their internal struggles and contradictions. It is a film that encourages deep reflection on what true faith really is and how often we, as people, distort its message.

I wholeheartedly recommend this movie.

This film is a brilliant display of cinematic sophistication. Its use of silence to create intensity, the stark landscape and impoverished village backdrop to create mood and a sense of exposure of a sham need no other explanation. As a constant portal into the intensity of the situation he finds himself in, the use of the perfecy chiselled face of Daniel is the medium into the story of the self appointed priest as he reveals an inner awakening, hope and a sense of purpose maybe for the first time in his life. We're invited into the mounting menace of the exposure of his charade told suspensfully through the smoky cinematography, sombre and painfully bereft living conditions in the village, a constant overlay of harsh conditions and villagers religiosity. The redemptive theme is beautifully handled and provides examples of what could happen without the shackles of outdated prescriptive liturgy, and local feudal history. The acting is Oscar worthy, the direction is restrained and brave. This is not an easy film for audiences because the film confronts, uplifts and disturbs throughout.

I very much loved everything about this film. Going to the cinema, I expected something entirely different though. Based on brief annotations, it looked like a dark comedy. Instead I got quite a dark plot based on real life events, but the way it was filmed - simply a pleasure to watch. I was chuckling most of the time. Sometimes Daniel was a heretic, sometimes he was very out of place, sometimes he was just the funniest. But all in all, extremely enjoyable. I'm glad I chose it for an ugly Sunday afternoon instead of Tenet. I can recommend it with pleasure.

Not a film about so-called spirituality but one about moral choices that just happen to be the middle-man that religion represents. Better though to go straight to the moral choices and cut out the middle-man but communities brought up on religion have trouble with that.

Here, the religious are shown to be more hypocritical than others without religion by holding to strictures of religion in appearance while not doing so.

A ridiculous summary of the film presented by IMDB: "Daniel experiences a spiritual transformation in a detention center. Although his criminal record prevents him from applying to the seminary, he has no intention of giving up his dream and decides to minister a small-town parish."

This is not how the film goes at all. How the character gets to where he does is accident. The perfect comparison to religion itself: there is no intention or control to events, just accident.

A film about the complexity of human nature: embracing a so-called religion of forgiveness and doing precisely the opposite, and about how someone can have a vocation.

This movie was great in the sense that it touched home for me. Made me analyse my life and daily decisions. It's a clever movie and worth a watch. The ending leaves you asking questions but the whole movie had me on the edge of my seat. Wanting the best for the main character, but also watching his journey to uncover his truth. It leaves me either questioning the film, or questioning myself and what to take from it. I enjoyed every minute none the less.

I watched the film with little expectation. But i was rewarded with a surprisingly good story. The film has a great script, the main actor fits like a fist. I can't imagine that the american remake, which is planned, can even approach this intensity of the topic and the great performance of the actors, great film, great actors, great praise to hollywood made in poland. 9 stars for the crew, the film team and the actors. A one-time stroke of luck i think. Ps: the end is a little too open to me, but you can then speculate more 8)

I think this is my favourite film of the year so far. If you're after something that taps into fundamental questions about how human beings deal with morality and existence, do yourself and everyone you know a favour and go see this film.

'Corpus Christi' reminded me a lot of John Micheal Mcdonagh's 'Calvary'. Not just because it's about a priest (or a pretend one I should say) but mostly because it really dives into the contemporary dilemma the church faces in maintaining its influence in a changing world. Modernity had stripped is of so many valuable virtues, which have left so many of us aimless and hopeless. The raw consequences of this are well and truly depicted in this film.

In a simplistic sense, it is ultimately about seeking and promoting redemption and forgiveness in a world littered with judgement and short-sightedness. Like only a handful of films before it, it manages ti tell the story of a person who is, on paper alone, the definition of pure deviance, but manages to get the full confronting and difficult story across.

This is a powerful prejudice-shattering piece of art that shook me and threw into a new state of mind. It is cinema at its best.