Help for the dead: A review of the film Purgatory

Michie

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Polish director Michael Kondrat’s new film about a commonly misunderstood doctrine is uneven in places, but is a timely program for a modern world that constantly avoids and tries to escape death.


MPAA Rating, Not rated at the time of this review
USCCB Rating: Not rated at the time of this review
Reel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Polish director Michael Kondrat has been hard at work producing a series of excellent Catholic docu-dramas of the past two years including Love and Mercy: Faustinaand Two Crowns.

Now, he has created the first film not about a saint but a commonly misunderstood doctrine: Purgatory. The film employs the writings and experiences of many saints combined with contemporary theologians to paint a picture not just of what purgatory may look like us, but—most importantly—how the living are perceived by our beloved departed.

It’s a timely program for a modern world that constantly avoids and tries to escape death, but must be reminded of everyone’s inevitable fate and of the afterlife.

While not a biography, the film centers around the life of Polish mystic Fulla Horak. In early adulthood, during the 1920s, she was a hardened atheist and boldly challenged a Christian friend’s foolish faith at a party. Her friend is unfazed, and Horak discovers that she had no responses to her friend’s rebuttals.

Continued below.
Help for the dead: A review of the film Purgatory – Catholic World Report
 
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