Twist of Faith
| Twist of Faith | |
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| Directed by | Kirby Dick |
| Produced by | Eddie Schmidt |
| Music by | Blake Leyh |
| Edited by | Matthew Clarke |
| Distributed by | Artistic License |
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Release date
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Running time
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87 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Twist of Faith is a 2004 American documentary film directed by Kirby Dick about a man who confronts the Catholic Church about the abuse he suffered as a teenager. The film was produced for the cable network HBO and screened at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. It received an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Feature.
The film focuses on Tony Comes, a firefighter from Toledo, Ohio, who was first sexually abused by a Catholic priest when he was a fourteen-year-old student at a Catholic high school. Feeling ashamed, Comes kept his secret for nearly 20 years but was forced to confront his past after discovering that the priest, Dennis Gray, was living on the same street as Comes, his wife, and their two young children. Comes decided to go public and bring a lawsuit against the priest and Church leaders who had neglected to take action after reading a series of investigative stories in the Toledo Blade revealing sweeping patterns of abuse and cover up in the diocese—including interviews with other Gray victims.
The filmmakers gave Comes and his wife camcorders which they used to record many of the film's scenes. Twist of Faith also includes other older family footage, including a scene in which Comes explains his abuse to his nine-year-old daughter.
The film also features interviews with several other men who had been abused by Gray, and these survivors reunite to discuss their continuing struggles. Other scenes include Dennis Gray's deposition in which he avoids responding to charges of abuse and coverup, Comes's confrontation with his mother about her decision to stand by the Catholic Church, and Comes's visit to a conference held by the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).
The film won acclaim from critics and earned a 100% rating from Rotten Tomatoes based on 21 reviews with an average rating of 8.2 out of 10. Rotten Tomatoes also listed Twist of Faith as the best film of 2005.Metacritic gave the documentary a score of 70 out of 100, based on 9 reviews.
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