What it’s about
As a parochial high-school kid, Toledo firefighter Tony Comes was a guest at a cabin owned by Dennis Gray, his parish priest. What happened there has haunted him ever since, clouding his marriage and relationship with his children. When Tony learns his past sexual abuser lives five doors down from his newly bought home, he decides to go public about his past, and confront the Catholic diocese that sheltered this predatorial man of the cloth.
Why we love it
Drawing a bead on the sex-abuse scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church in recent years, Kirby Dick focuses on the shocking story of Comes and his wife, Wendy, as they struggle with the decision to seek justice and heal the pain of Tony's past trauma. Splicing in footage of Comes's serial rapist as he is deposed by investigators, we see lives torn and perhaps damaged for good by the horrific acts of a trusted authority. It's a distressing and difficult journey to follow, but in the end, your heart embraces the Comeses — and those like them.