The Body of Christ / Boze Cialo (2019). Or how a Polish gopnik makes me believe.

It's amazing how many films about church or faith have passed by me, and most provoked laughter, or the opposite — a feeling of rejection due to intrusiveness, you can literally feel the artificiality and that the tricks in the modern world don't work. But “The Body of Christ” is a view from a completely different side, and this film makes you want to believe.

Description: 20‑year‑old Daniel, who experienced a spiritual rebirth while incarcerated, dreams of dedicating himself to serving God, but a criminal record stands in his way. Seizing an opportunity, he pretends to be a seminary graduate and takes the place of a sick pastor in a small provincial town's parish. 

The film starts heavily, with an unpleasant scene — the one where a prisoner dropped soap in the prison shower, except he didn't drop soap, and it actually happens in a workshop, but you get the gist. At that moment I caught myself thinking that a familiar (Russian) Polish crime drama awaited me. But it wasn't like that; gradually the film begins to unfold from its best side. And, despite the oppressive atmosphere of danger that never lets go until the very end, the film turned out quite inspiring and, most importantly, close to many people.

The main character makes a special impression, and if I were asked which work or which main character I would compare him to, I would pause, and thus would utter something I find hard to believe myself: the closest analogue for me is the Japanese Great Teacher Onizuka. At this point the reader might doubt my adequacy… but I still insist on my view. Here and there we are shown main characters who are unsuited for their profession: in Onizuka — a yakuza‑teacher, in The Body of Christ — a convict‑priest, and in both works the theme of “calling” to these professions occupies a special place. Just as Onizuka found an approach to his students, here the main character finds an approach to every resident of an already practically dying Polish village.

The film also has a detective component that fits very well into the overall plot. A story that at first seems simple, about an ordinary rural accident, acquires new and new shades as the plot progresses. But I won't spoil it, and could I even? At this point the reader should already be intrigued and try to figure out the situation themselves. Overall the film is a kind of mix of drama, detective story, and, of course, faith and allusions — what would it be without them.

Overall, the film's atmosphere is stunning, perhaps because it deals with the Polish countryside, which is identical to western Belarus, or simply from personal experience, but it looks warm and lively, another big salute to the director.

So what's the verdict? I definitely recommend this film; for me it was a breath of inspiration and something fresh in the genre, even with my atheist swings it found something to hook me on. It's a pity it didn't get an Oscar, even though it was nominated.