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MistyMcMurphy
Reviews
Broken (2017)
Cathartic
As a lapsed Catholic, I felt this programme really gave me a big warm hug and made me cry deep and long. So much so, I had to pause it to collect myself on many occasions. It felt like I was being cleansed. Not that it made Catholism out to be great, far from it. But the community love and support provided by one man was heart lifting. If only we could have that in real life.
I've never met a priest like that and I've worked with quite a few. I know a gay priest who came close, a man simply wonderful at his ministry but was publicly shamed after it became news he was on Grindr, a gay dating site. And a better priest you couldn't find, but that finished him. All my parish is interested in is your bank account details. They are shockingly avaricious. I'll tell you a story: Two priests in my parish, one drives an Audi A4 and the other a convertible...in fecking Ireland of all places!!! Apparently when questioned about the need for it, the Audi fella had the audacity to reply "God would want me to have a good reliable car that won't break down on the way to a funeral"....and they wonder why no one has any time for them?
Also priests get moved around so much, there's little point in them forging deep links in their parishes, so they don't tend to bother. There are many lovely priests doing their best but not like Fr Kerrigan in Broken. If he was my priest I would be at mass every week. So I watched this and wished I could experience this sense of community and closeness to the human condition.
Sean Bean is wonderful as Fr Kerrigan and his genuineness, even in private, was so uplifting. Broken for once portrays priests as something other than predators, although many of them are, there are some out there doing it for the right reasons. It's good to see religion in any form being shown some respect but also being held up to scrutiny too.
The writing is superb and portrays all levels of society needing guidance and non- judgement in their working and private lives. Although searingly sad at times, this series is ultimately uplifting and full of redemption. I actually want to go to mass in the morning after watching it...but I'll probably just light a candle instead, for Jimmy McGovern and Sean Bean to work together again and again!!