Twist of Faith is a 2004 documentary film by Kirby Dick.
It is an examination of the sexual abuse scandals that roiled the Catholic Church in the early years of the 21st century. Tony Comes is a firefighter in Toledo, Ohio. He is, by all appearances, happily married to Wendy, and they are parents to two young children. However, Tony's life is sent into turmoil when he learns that the family's new home is only five doors down from one Dennis Grey, a former Catholic priest. Dennis Grey, as it turns out, sexually abused a teenaged Tony Comes some twenty years before. Tony goes to the Catholic Bishop of Toledo and gets an apology, and a solemn statement that there were no other complaints against Grey. But when Tony finds out that there were in fact a half-dozen other complaints against Grey from children he abused, he launches a public lawsuit against the Catholic Church.
Compare Spotlight, a fictionalized telling of the reporting that broke the Catholic priests pedophilia scandal wide open.
Tropes:
- Christianity is Catholic: Averted. Wendy Comes specifically discusses going to a non-denominational church.
- Corrupt Church: Tony Comes becomes steadily more enraged at the stalling, obfuscatory tactics of the church. He is astonished when his lawyer tells him priests, in accordance with church law, are allowed to lie if necessary to protect the church.
- Gilligan Cut: A non-humorous example. Tony recounts the bishop of Toledo telling him that there were no other complaints against Dennis Grey. Cut to a news report about six different people filing suits against Grey.
- Ominous Latin Chanting: A rather spooky boys' choir is put to use during transitions, maybe most effectively with a shot of the Toledo Diocese at night as Tony tells about when he first reported Dennis Grey to church authorities.
- The Oner: Many shots were taken by Tony and Wendy Comes themselves on home video cameras. Some examples of Oners include the scene where Wendy sits in front of the camera and recounts Tony telling her his secret, or a scene where Tony sits down with his little daughter and explains what happened to him all those years ago.
- Pedophile Priest: Tony Comes was abused at the age of 14 by his parish priest, Dennis Grey. Wendy is horrified when she finds out that the priest who performed her wedding ceremony to Tony is also implicated as an abuser.
- Villain Opening Scene: Opens with a clip from a 2003 deposition of Dennis Grey. More clips from Grey's depositions are scattered throughout the film.
- What Did I Do Last Night?: As his victims remember, one of Dennis Grey's tactics was to get his teenaged guests so blind drunk they would black out.
