Best Movie Priests

What I am looking for here is a strong performance, within a quality movie, that captures some dimension of the Mystery of the Catholic priesthood. 

The Best

Hands down the standout is the Xavier Barden character in Into the Wonder. Himself deep in the dark night of the soul, he radiates light and comfort to others, like a Mother Theresa of Calcutta. Terrence Malik must be himself something of a closet Catholic mystic so powerfully does he communicate the spiritual anguish, in voice-overs, of the agony of God's absence. Barden's performance is mesmerizing, happily balancing the poignant, sad, ravishing loveliness of the Olga Kurylenko figure. Ben Affleck brings his customary persona to a new depth of despondency and discouragement. The short, discreet adultery scene is the most penetrating, piercing dramatization of the sadness of infidelity: I felt like I was observing my own mother/wife/sister/daughter in the illicit act.

First Team: 

I Confess is a favorite of mine: a thriller by the Catholic Hitchcock, it gets everything right about the Church, the priesthood and specifically the seal of confession. Montgomery Cliff is superb and probably the most attractive priest ever. He returns from World War I with a deep call to the priesthood to become engaged in a murder mystery involving his old lover. At every level it satisfies!

Keys of the Kingdom has the incomparable Gregory Peck as a humble missionary priest in China, persevering in the face of apparent failure. It reminds me of the Maryknoll love for China. It is a parable of Catholic life as quiet, joyful, generous service even with no apparent success.

Romero 1989 has a spectacular Raul Julia as the iconic Archbishop, martyred at the altar in El Salvador. It seems to be true to the real story. A scene of desecration of the Eucharist is unforgettable.

The Mission gives us the tragic story of the failed Jesuit settlements in South America with a dazzling DeNiro as a slave trader, convert and religious brother. Jeremy Irons holds his own, however, as a heroic, virile Jesuit as he faces the raging slaver in prison and elicits confession and conversion. That one confession scene may be the greatest single priest event in movie history.

Monsignor Quiote. the last performance of Alec Guinness, surely on any short list of the greatest English-speaking actors ever, captures the eccentric, delightful cleric from the Graham Greene classic.

Doubt has us square in the heart of the Church of the priest sex scandal with Meryl Streep (the greatest American actress ever!) facing an astonishingly convincing Philip Hoffman Seymour pastor whom she suspects of child abuse. Both are so persuasive that the viewer is left suspended in an unbearable condition of...doubt!

On the Waterfront, in my view THE great American movie, has Karl Malden as the tough, fearless, manly, working-man's waterfront priest defying the mob on the docks of Hudson County NJ (where I have lived my adult life) and mentoring Marlon Brando's unforgettable Terry Malloy. His character is based on the actual Jesuit priest who worked the docks. His fierce, righteous anger from the hull of the ship is a classic.

Black Robe returns us to the historic Catholic missions, in this case rugged, frigid Canada and the French priests who faced torture and death to bring the faith there. Unsettling and inspiring: the strength and fortitude of these men. The movie is realistic, unsentimental and well-made.

Second Team

The Scarlet and the Black1983  has Gregory Peck back as a similarly noble priest, the historic Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty who worked underground to rescue Jews in World War II Italy. It is a real thriller. Peck effortlessly portrays virile, priestly heroism at its best.

True Confessions 1981 is a neo-noir set in 1950s L.A. with Robert Duvall and Robert DeNiro as brothers: one a detective, the other an esteemed monsignor. It realistically shows the dark side of the prosperous post-war Church with its underside of compromise and corruption. This is not inspiring. But it is mesmerizing entertainment and Duvall/DeNiro do not disappoint.

Into Great Silence 2005 is an outlier, a documentary of the monastic life of the Carthusian Grande Chartreuse in the Alps. There is no narrative. The monks are anonymous but interviewed and their faces memorable. It majestically suggests the mystical depth of the life. It  is itself an experience of prayer.

Of God's and Men 2010 Is another documentary about the monastic life, this the Cistercians of Algeria who were martyred in the Algerian civil war of 1996. In the build up to the violence the men know their destiny and discuss it candidly, revealing strength and fragility in their fears, difficulties, hesitancies. They are SO human as they face, in an ambience of love and prayer, their violent death.

Sentimental Favorites 

Feel good movies that capture the optimism of the mid-20th-century American Church include: Bing Crosby in The Bells of St. Mary's and Going My Way; Ward Bond in The Quiet Man (ecumenically balanced by Barry Fitzgerald as the Protestant minister), Pat O'Brien in Angels with Dirty Faces,  and Spencer Tracey in Boys Town.

Movies I Haven't Seen But Need To

Alec Guinness in The Detective and The Prisoner, The Assis Underground, Shoes of the Fisherman, The Cardinal, Monsignor Vincent, Diary of a Country Priest,  the film version of Greene's The Kingdom of the Glory, Father Stu, Padre Pio (coming out in Sept; star Shia LaBeouf converted to Catholicism preparing for the role).

Priest Movies I Won't See

Silence: dark and nihilistic. The Thornbirds and movies about infidelity to the vow of chastity. Most movies about the demonic although I did like Max von Sydow in The Exorcist.

Best Netflix Priest

Father Beocca, warrior Saxon priest friend of Utrid Son of Utrid in The Last Kingdom. Shia LaBeouf

Why Doesn't Someone Make a Movie About:

Charles de Focault? Matthew Ricci? Miguel Pro?

Dear Reader! What do you think? Have I missed any? Over or underrated any?