"W imie..." or "In the Name of..." is the newest collaboration between director/writer Malgorzata Szumowska and actor Andrzej Chyra. They worked together three years ago on "Elles" and ten years ago on "Ono". I felt that this project started off slowly, but quickly gained steam. It deal with the life and work of a priest, who is a homosexual, but suppresses his sexuality because of his profession. When he meets a boy who obviously has similar tendencies things start to heat up.

All in all, I liked the movie. It's often thrilling and won't leave you unattached probably, even if you have no gay tendencies yourself or don't know anybody who does. There were a few scenes which felt random, like the woman trying to seduce the main character the way she did it with her husband years ago or suddenly another gay couple out of nowhere or the over-the-top reaction of the lead character's love interest when another boy accuses the lead character of being into boys. It just didn't fit his otherwise shy character.

It's an ambitious project, which delivers most of the time and is certainly worth a watch despite its occasional weaknesses in writing. Chyra is very convincing and all the others give decent portrayals of characters where they really couldn't do much wrong. The acting is possibly the strongest component of the film. 100 exciting minutes and an ending which I liked a lot.

With the huge quantity of gay-themed short films, it's always nice to see a full feature on the issue which reaches a certain level of quality. Well done to everybody involved.

To say the least. The movie will not leave you completely after watching it. Whatever reaction it does create, it will stay with you. It's not an easy or light theme it takes on. Therefor it had to be careful. But it is not too careful. You have scenes that are explicit in its sexual nature (even if not completely graphic).

But it is the overall feeling this movie might leave you with and the moral choices the characters are taking. It is not easy to watch at all and you might understand the characters or you might start to hate some of them too. But I can't imagine anyone watching this, feeling nothing (even if its just disgust). The acting is really good and you get the feeling as if this is really happening (some might argue that it is close to some truth, which wouldn't be wrong I reckon). Tough but maybe still rewarding watch

I saw this film as part of the official Competition section of the Berlinale 2013. The theme at hand is very relevant in the context of child abuse as came to light in recent years, but there is more to it than that in this film. While the "children" in this film are nearly old enough to count as consensual adults, there is always the relationship between teacher and pupil to block any sort of romantic involvement. And there is the issue of celibacy for Roman Catholic priests. And if that is not enough, any intimacy between men and boys (whatever their age) is frowned upon by not only the church but also not accepted by the average man/woman in the street. The scenario contains elements of all these issues, mixed together in a believable story line.

As a bonus we see also the dilemmas that the church has to face when becoming aware that things are deviating from the official path. Our main character, priest Adam, has a proved track record of having a positive influence at all locations where he worked before. Nevertheless, there was always something going on, allegedly or not, that the church could not approve. And even when proving untrue rumors after all, it could have repercussions on their charitable work by the sheer suggestion alone. A transfer to a different place with the proverbial clean slate is then the next best thing the clerical hierarchy can do in their context, since dismissing him would be a loss for the social work that the church wants to continue at any price.

All of the above issues are intermixed in this film. That is done in such a way that one has difficulties to choose for either side, even for or against the church who is often maneuvered in a difficult position. And there is always some form of collateral damage due to suddenly broken relationships, deserving our pity as well. The perfect casting and superb acting carry this film and make into a believable piece of work. Having lived devoid of religious beliefs for the greater part of my life, I cannot follow in the footsteps of most of the characters in this film. And we should not forget this this happens in Poland, but even being from The Netherlands where I live, we know that their actions and beliefs are not extreme or otherwise unbelievable.