New York, October 29 (ANI): Alex Gibney, who has trained his lens on the likes of Eliot Spitzer, Lance Armstrong, Julian Assange and Enron, has found his most controversial topic yet - the Vatican.
The Oscar-buzzed expose 'Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God' traces a sex-abuse scandal from a Milwaukee Catholic church to the Vatican.
The movie was banned by the Venice and Rome film festivals this year.
"I was disappointed. The Vatican exerts a very strong influence in Italy. There is a palpable sense of fear there. This film takes on the Vatican's complicity in covering it up," the New York Post quoted Gibney as saying of the rejection.
The HBO film follows the story of Father Lawrence Murphy at the St. John's School for the Deaf in Wisconsin, who molested 200 of the school's pupils for 24 years until 1974.
He was never disciplined, even after his actions were brought to the attention of the Vatican. Instead, he was moved to other schools.
"The direct connection of the Vatican to this sheds light on the way they've shoved this stuff under the carpet," Gibney said.
Gibney discovered a similar scandal involving deaf students in Verona, Italy, while making the film.
"Who knew an 'anomalous' story about a priest abusing 200 deaf children in Milwaukee would be a testament to the predatory nature of this problem? We found a worldwide pattern," he said.
Five students are interviewed in the documentary, and as they use sign language to explain their ordeals, their words are voiced by actors Ethan Hawke, John Slattery, Chris Cooper and Jamey Sheridan.
"We play with the idea of silence in this film. How could this predatory behaviour exist with people so helpless?" Gibney said.
"With the priests in Italy . . . there is very little sympathy for victims.
"Instead, there's this resentment that people would attack the Church. What else is in this huge cache of documents in the secret Vatican archives that has been compiled for centuries?" he added. (ANI)
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