Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence In The House Of God Reviews

Mea Maxima Culpa only gets messier the more it tries to iris out to a larger indictment. The central tragedy ends up diluted to a fault.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5

Well done and compelling, and at its strongest when focusing on the bravery of these four deaf men who broke the silence.

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Alex Gibney's latest lacks a certain cinematic depth, but that doesn't take away from its admirable reporting.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4

This disturbing documentary takes a revealingly close look at rampant clerical pedophilia--but its sweeping overview of the Catholic Church's willful obliviousness is just as eye-opening.

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It's not one documentary that you'd care to endure on repeat viewings but it's a necessary investigation into the paedophilic petri dish that the Catholic Church allowed itself to become.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5

In the end, decades of such crimes going undetected and undeterred under the aegis of one employer - any employer - speaks for itself. And the extraordinary perseverance and courage of the men from St. John's speaks louder still.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4

Even though Mea Maxima Culpa can be incredibly sad and frustrating, the film is able to go beyond the tragedy of these boys' lost childhoods, using that empathy to incite anger, impatience and action in its audience.

Full Review | Original Score: 8.5/10

It's impossible to leave the cinema without hoping that the Papal resignation and the awful events explored here are not unrelated.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5

Gibney's most successful and rich work since Taxi To The Dark Side, Mea Maxima Culpa ultimately proves most successful in the way it balances public scandal with a tribute to human frailty and heroism.

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Before you say you can't take another feature length documentary about sexual abuse committed by Catholic priests, know that Alex Gibney's examination of the subject is both fresh and revelatory.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5

If you thought that Amy Berg's Deliver Us from Evil had extracted every last word on the issue of child abuse in the Catholic Church, Alex Gibney proves with his new film that there's still plenty left to be infuriated about.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5

Alex Gibney isn't casting the first stone at the Vatican with his documentary Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God. But, God willing, it will be the most effective in shattering their narrative of blissful ignorance.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5

Gibney tracks a disgraceful cover-up within the Catholic church.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5

A heartbreaking, brilliantly executed exposé, in which four deaf victims bring the church to account. Their testimonies are chilling.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5

To someone who was raised and educated in the Catholic school system, as I was, a film like this inspires shock and outrage.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4

Deaf victims passionately sign about years of anguish and pleas [but film] rambles. . .around the world [and] confusingly tries to pierce hierarchy to what pope knew when.

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10

I don't speak Latin, but I'm pretty sure that "Mea Maxima Culpa" translates into, "Good grief, don't watch this movie without access to some Excedrin."

Full Review | Original Score: B+

a carefully constructed observation of the facts and a withering condemnation of the behaviour of the Catholic Church.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5

Primed to deliver a heady dose of outrage via a broad overview of systemic cover-ups tracing to the Vatican, as well as a specific and heartbreaking case in Wisconsin.

Full Review | Original Score: B+

Powerful enough to leave you wondering whether the Catholic Church will ever stop protecting child molesters.

Full Review | Original Score: 8.5/10