Priest

Priest (1995) is Antonia Bird's British drama, now available to watch online on iFILM. It follows Greg, a young Catholic priest who meets situations the seminary never prepared him for.

Greg (Linus Roache) arrives at a working-class Liverpool parish and finds the senior priest openly living with the housekeeper. Greg, meanwhile, hides his attraction to men. Then a teenage girl confesses in the booth that her father is abusing her — and the seal of confession ties his hands. Pray, or step in? Keep the collar, or save the child?

Bird shoots this without sermonizing and without cheap shock; it's about a man wedged between doctrine and conscience. Tom Wilkinson and Robert Carlyle turn up in roles that grab you fast. The film took the People's Choice Award at the Toronto festival and picked a loud enough fight with the Catholic Church to make headlines on both sides of the Atlantic. A tough, honest drama for anyone who wants cinema that asks hard questions and refuses easy answers. Stream Priest online on iFILM.