Maurice Crowell
December 10, 2012
Period 3
I Confess
1. I Confess, a 1950s movie by Alfred Hitchcocks, is
a film about solving a murder of a man named Mr. Velet. In the beginning, Mr.
Velet is shown dead in his house. Then a mysterious man is walking away from
the house with his face hidden. He tells Father Logan about what he had just
done. Father Logan vows to not tell the police about what Keller had done.
After the police find Keller’s body, they receive information that a priest had
done the murder from two small girls walking by the house. After receiving that
information, they talked to every single Father in the area. They end up having
zero suspects. Larrue talks to Logan and Logan had a chance to turn Keller in.
But he doesn’t, he vowed to not tell that Keller committed the murder. Then
Larrue thought Logan might have committed the murder. After a long
investigation with Logan, Ruth, and Pierre, Logan gets let off the hook. That
is, until Larrue is not sold on Ruth’s explanation. Ruth tells Logan that they
were going to arrest him, so he takes a long walk. Larrue calls police to go
after Logan because he thinks that he is fleeing because he committed the
crime. Later, Logan arrives at Larrue’s office and they go to court. After
going through court, Logan is not guilty. While Logan leaves the court room, he
is mobbed by angry people over the results, Keller’s wife feels sorry for him
and was about to tell the truth to the murder. Keller kills his wife so she can’t
tell then flees. The police look after him and the shoot him after he refuses
to back down with his gone.
In all honesty, this was one of the best movies I
have ever seen. The 1950s music got a little annoying at times, but you can’t
blame that since it was made in the 50s. The suspense of the movie, the twist
and turns, and the feeling of “What is going to happen next” really made this a
great movie. Even if a person in my class doesn’t want to watch this movie, you
should at least do the extra credit to get the points while watching the movie,
because it is well worth watching.
2. Logan remained faithful to Keller throughout the
entire movie. There could have been countless times that Logan could have turned
in Keller for what he did. However he didn’t because Keller told him in
confession. What happens in confession stays in confession, no matter how bad
the thing that the person did. Keller made sure about that while he was in confession
with Logan after the murder. Logan was just trying to be the best priest that
he could be, and was trying to save Keller from what he had done in the past.
In the end of the movie, both Keller and his wife
die. Keller shoots his wife, and one of Larrue’s teammates shot Keller so he
would drop his gone. At the instant before Keller’s wife died, she asked Logan
for forgiveness. She thinks that God shows a lot of mercy for the bad things
that people do. Also, during the death of Keller, he also asks for forgiveness
before he dies. Both of these instances project forgiveness. With forgiveness,
mercy also shows in the end of both of the deaths. God shows a lot of mercy as
he is a merciful God; they are asking for mercy on what Keller has done to the
people he has killed.
The ending of the movie was a great ending. It ends
with Keller asking for forgiveness. However, if I was the director I would have
ended the movie a little differently. Larrue wanted Keller alive so he told his
teammate to shoot Keller in the shoulder. He did this so Keller would stay
alive and so he would drop his gun. After the teammate shot Keller the second
time, I would have had Keller still alive and would have went to court or the
killing of the wife, chef in the kitchen (This right here shows that I watched
the movie), and Mr. Velet. Then he would have went to jail for what he did, and
Logan would not have been mobbed liked that since they would have the real
killer on trial and in jail.
3. Hitchcock was a huge catholic. In almost every
scene in the movie there was at least one cross. With that, a priest is not
supposed to break the seal of confession. What happens in confession stay in
confession. He had the main character Logan; go through the whole entire movie
keeping the seal of Keller’s confession. It got so bad the Logan could not even
safe himself from the investigations that were happening against him. Logan put
his own life on the line by not saying anything. Larrue asked him questions
about the murder, but Logan refused to give good answers that would end up
getting Keller caught. He also did the same thing in the courtroom by not
telling his side of the story.
During
the movie, he used a lot of religious imagery to be portrayed out during his
movie. He shows that good and evil is in the hearts of everyone. The imagery
that he used dealt with churches,
icons, and men of the cloth. In all of his films, he usually has a man that is
accused of a crime that he did not commit. What that is called is “Transference
of guilt”. This here is directed towards Jesus Christ on how he was an innocent
man. He did exactly what he was supposed to do. Just like Logan, he was an
innocent man and did exactly what he was supposed to do. However, Jesus was
accused of a crime he did not commit and ended up paying the price by dying for
our sins. In the movie, Logan was accused of a crime he did not commit. He had
to go down with Keller’s sins on his back because he was not going to tell the
police what happened. So technically, you can say that Logan went down with
Keller’s sins up to the part where he was deemed innocent. However it was not
over yet for Logan. Before he went looking for Keller, he was being attacked by
mobs of people; just liked Jesus was attacked by people who said he was fake
and accused of pretending to be Christ, even though he was Christ. In addition,
Hitchcock does a good job in showing that even the innocent people have a dark
side, as Logan did have a bad side when he was caught having an quick affair
with Ruth and when he was in a fight with Mr. Velet.
4. It’s a tough call to be in the priest position
here. You obviously want to be the best priest that you can be by not telling
the secret that Keller told you. However, you also don’t want to go to jail for
what somebody else did. If I was Logan, I would have turned Keller in on what
he did. I wouldn’t have been as strong as Logan was to hold all of that stuff in
just to keep his promise. However, no matter what I did though, I would have
thought I would have been doing the right thing. The reason is because if I don’t
tell the police, then I am keeping my seal of confession. But, if I do tell the
police, then I am doing God’s duty by turning in a murder. In addition to all
of this, I would have turned him in because I don’t think I could have gone
through all of the stuff that Keller went through. He had to tell all of his personal
business, and go through being attacked by mobs of people. He did all that to
just keep one promise. I would not been able to go through all of that torture
just to help save one life. Logan really proved though how determined and committed
to being a priest. You could also tell how hard it was for Logan to do what he
did. While he was in the church, Keller tried to talk to him to see if Logan
had told the police on the murder. Logan didn’t say anything to Keller and just
went to walk for a moment. If that was me, I don’t know if I could have held in
all of my emotions to just turn away and walk. Then on top of that, he never
told, I would have told a long time ago.
