X
- 2021
- R
- Netflix
- 1 h 56 m
- 2021
- R
- Netflix
- 1 h 56 m
Summary Six midwestern men — all survivors of childhood sexual assault at the hands of Catholic priests and clergy — come together to direct a drama therapy-inspired experiment designed to collectively work through their trauma. As part of a radically collaborative filmmaking process, they create fictional scenes based on memories, dreams and ex...
Directed By: Robert Greene
Written By: Chris Boeckmann
- 2021
- R
- Netflix
- 1 h 56 m
- 2021
- R
- Netflix
- 1 h 56 m
Procession
90
6.2
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Summary Six midwestern men — all survivors of childhood sexual assault at the hands of Catholic priests and clergy — come together to direct a drama therapy-inspired experiment designed to collectively work through their trauma. As part of a radically collaborative filmmaking process, they create fictional scenes based on memories, dreams and ex...
Directed By: Robert Greene
Written By: Chris Boeckmann
Where to Watch
Not available in your country?
ExpressVPN
Get 3 Extra months free
$6.67/mth
Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 13 Critic Reviews
90
100% Positive
13 Reviews
13 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 13 Critic Reviews
90
100% Positive
13 Reviews
13 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
In letting them retell those stories their way, and asking us to watch, Procession dares its audience to not look away. It calls us, in other words, to join the healing community, not just with vague aspirations but with our actual eyes. To play our roles as audience members and then take what we learn and bring it to others.
What could have been a disaster in the hands of a less sensitive film-maker ends up an extraordinary feat of care, collaboration and creativity.
Greene, whose earliest documentaries were rooted in the cinéma vérité tradition and its portraits of ordinary American lives, has crafted a poignant group portrait with something to say about the crossed wires of pain and memory.
It’s a harrowing documentary, to be sure, but also healing in a way that doesn’t go for easy emotional button-pushing, or play down the white-knuckle struggle they endure while processing all of it.
Procession feels like the surest execution of Greene’s voice.
To judge Greene’s experiment, not least because of its visible salutary effects, feels like intruding on private breakthroughs. But the discomfiting power of Procession comes from its ability to show and, to all appearances, facilitate them.
Robert Greene’s gaze is an attempt to accord his subjects the dignity of attention, utilizing cinema as a form of emotional due process.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 17 User Ratings
6.2
59% Positive
10 Ratings
10 Ratings
18% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
24% Negative
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 17 User Ratings
6.2
59% Positive
10 Ratings
10 Ratings
18% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
24% Negative
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]
Report
Sexual abuse of minors by Roman Catholic priests is undoubtedly a serious subject, and undertakings that address it deserve to be accorded due respect. One might even say that criticisms of such works is inherently bad form. However, for director Robert Greene's documentary about the efforts of six abuse survivors to come to terms with this issue through drama therapy, the film's uneven and somewhat disorganized treatment of its material tends to bog down the flow of their story. To a great degree, this is probably due to the picture's attempt at examining far too much ground in the allotted time, occasionally making the narrative appear scattered and unfocused and giving short shrift to certain aspects. To its credit, the film's dramatic re-creations of the survivors' abuse incidents are moving, shocking and powerful, generating genuinely heartfelt emotions. In addition, a number of individual interview sequences reveal appalling details about the victimizers and the Church's manipulative practices to avoid liability, most notably drawing upon statutes of limitation to skillfully evade prosecution. Indeed, the film makes a damningly strong case against the dangers of organized religion, particularly its ploys to fearfully manipulate and control parishioners, especially among the young and vulnerable. Yet it's because of that, unfortunately, that this production fails to convey its message as clearly and effectively as it could have. A better attuned approach would have worked much better in making this the bombshell it might have been.
Report
Production Company
4th Row Films,
Artemis Rising Foundation,
Concordia Studio,
Impact Partners
Release Date Nov 19, 2021
Duration 1 h 56 m
Rating R
Genres
Awards
Cinema Eye Honors Awards, US
• 2 Wins & 3 Nominations
Heartland International Film Festival
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Camden International Film Festival
• 1 Nomination