By: Alex Kuhn, @magaman28
Exemplum first came to my attention when Michael Knowles retweeted it on Twitter. A relatively unknown film, the movie is currently available for free on Tubi. The movie centers on a Catholic priest, but things turn dark when you realize that the priest is recording confessions given to him by his parishioners. He then delivers sermons in the form of online podcasts. The priest eventually gains popularity in the community, and more and more people come to see him to give their confessions. The local Church leadership eventually pulls the plug on his “Exemplum” podcast. Outraged, he quits his job at the priesthood and decides to get rid of all the recorded confessions he made, except for one.
For those who aren’t Catholic, there is a reason that a Catholic priest would never record confessions. A person’s confession is meant to be given in private, between the confessor and God. The priest acts as a mediator between your confession and God. If the priest were to violate the sacrament of Confession, he would be sanctioned and likely excommunicated.
The plot of the movie is extremely far-fetched and would never happen in real life, but the lesson remains the same – don’t record confessions given in private! This will ultimately set you down a dark path toward the devil. Karma ultimately caught up with the priest.
I feel that the director did a good job directing this movie. The choice to film in black and white was interesting. Black and white films are very unique from color films in the modern era. They rarely happen. When they do, the black and white filming tends to help people focus on the finer details of the plot. The director kept the storyline moving forward. The pace of the movie was another bonus to this interesting story.