So the trailer for Amy Berg’s film Deliver Us From Evil has hit the web, but not without some controversy of course. I’ve checked out the trailer and it’s some pretty powerful stuff. The film focuses on the confessions of Father Oliver O’Grady, a member of the Catholic Church who admits to having molested multiple children since 1973. The film not only features interviews with O’Grady himself, but some of his victims (“My last memory of Oliver is severe pain…before i blacked out”) and more shockingly, videotaped questioning of the Church officials who’ve kept his pedophelia a secret for so many years. Here’s a quick synopsis from the films official site:

“Over the years, O’Grady successfully exploited mothers and fathers in order to get to their children. His penchant for sexual mayhem was as essential to him as breathing, and internal Church documents prove that since 1973, he raped and sodomized with the full knowledge of his Catholic superiors. Remarkably, Deliver Us From Evil filmmaker Amy Berg tracked down Father O’Grady and persuaded him to participate in the making of her film. O’Grady’s account of his years in various Northern California parishes is chilling and he tells his story without remorse or self-reflection.”

The most shocking part of the trailer is watching this man say he has sexual urges towards nine year olds as though it’s completely normal. His ‘confession’ is so unapologetic that it seems more like he’s just discussing his hobbies and interests with a friend. The fact that Amy Berg somehow managed to convince this man to tell this story on camera boggles my mind. It’s interesting to point out that according to the folks at Cinematical, this trailer has actually been red banded with an R rating. This means that the exposure for this film will most likely be limited to the internet. Now I really don’t think this will make that big of a difference in the long run because the subject matter is enough to shake things up as it is. But it’s weird to think of the reasons behind the R rating. There’s no swearing, nudity or violence in the trailer, simply the confessions of a priest. Esentially, it’s the conduct of the Catholic Church and one of it’s members that has made the MPAA decide that this trailer is not suitable for minors. Check out the film’s official website here.

Related Link: Amy Berg’s Blog