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Director Antony Thomas is a British filmmaker who has produced five other America Undercover documentaries for HBO: 2001's A QUESTION OF MIRACLES, 1997's TWINS, 1996's TO LOVE OR KILL: MAN VS ANIMAL, 1993's BY SATAN POSSESSED: THE SEARCH FOR THE DEVIL, and 1992's NEVER SAY DIE: THE PURSUIT OF ETERNAL YOUTH. Thomas's films have taken numerous top prizes, including the most prestigious: the Emmy® Award, the Peabody Award, the British Academy Award, and the Grierson Award for Best British Documentary.
INTERVIEW
HBO: What kind responses have you been getting about the film?
ANTONY: It's very interesting. In the U.K., we've gotten very good reviews. The U.K. Catholic Church did a very wise thing and ignored the film. They are so much more sophisticated. Once you draw attention to it, then you help the film because everyone wants to see it. However, notices have been great.
HBO: Tell us how you came to make this film.
ANTONY: Well, after hearing all the reports on the scandals and viewing some Irish films on the same subject, I realized that no one was asking the 'why' questions. Questions such as, "Is this abuse more common among priests than in the general population?", "Why has this scandal erupted?", "Is there connection between this and forced celibacy?" and "Why is there celibacy in the first place?" I felt that I really hadn't seen a film that started to approach these questions. I then started off on the research for the film. In all the material I saw, the clergy weren't given a voice. The more I discovered this, the more I felt it was important to give them a voice to tell their side on the subject.
HBO: Were you surprised at the willingness of so many people to come forward and discuss this matter so openly?
ANTONY: Oh yes, I was very, very surprised. Furthermore, they made themselves quite accessable and spoke openly at seemingly great personal risk.
HBO: What did you learn from the film -- was there anything that surprised you?
ANTONY: I knew that the celibacy was introduced around 1136, but I didn't remember any reference to celibacy in the four Gospels. While researching through some of the ancient records, I was surprised at how specific they were in giving reasons for enforcing celibacy, which has much to do with protecting church property, preventing priests from passing their legacies on to their sons, and points like that. To me, it was so overtly political and quite surprising. I also was surprised to find myself feeling almost as much sympathy for the priests as I did for the victims.
HBO: What was the most challenging aspect of making the film?
ANTONY: I think that it's very difficult going into a situation where you are feeling someone else's pain. In the film, I was speaking to the wonderful Ralph Pinto, who left the church to marry the woman he loved who was a nun. I asked him how he felt when he reflected on those people who over 28 years advised him to continue his relationship with the woman he loved on the side and never out in the open. And I tell you, Ralph just broke down in tears so much he could hardly answer. My heart went out to him and so many good people while making this film. Maintaining the distance to present the film responsibly was challenging but I think I've accomplished it.
HBO: In other religions where people practice celibacy, do you get a sense of a movement toward a more open view on the celibacy?
ANTONY: In many other cultures that do practice celibacy other than in the Catholic Church, celibacy is looked upon as a matter of personal choice. When you reach the stage when you want to renounce your body completely in the name of your religion, it is your personal journey and no one is telling you that you must or ought to live this way. I want to make it clear that I'm not at all critical of people who chose to live a life of celibacy and would never dream of demeaning that. It's the enforcement of it that I take issue with. If you feel you don't want any personal carnal relationship with anyone, that's your decision, and it just shouldn't be a rule to be enforced across the board as an ultimatum.
HBO: What would you like viewers to get from film?
ANTONY: I'd like them to really understand the predicament the clergy are in and where celibacy stands in Christian tradition. I hope that someone in high positions of the Roman Catholic Church will rethink the value of celibacy and how, in its present form, is quite damaging to the church.
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