Written by: Joan Didion & John Gregory Dunne
Starring: Robert De Niro, Robert Duvall, Burgess Meredith, Charles Durning, Ed Flanders
Rating: [3.5/5]
Upholding the pillars of society comes as such an incredibly important action for those managing the public. There needs to be a basic faith in the institutions around us all even if behind the scenes they may act in some nefarious ways. But when a house of cards gets built that can topple and bring everything and everyone else down creates tension and one True Confessions knows how to weave together for maximum impact.
Two brothers, Monsignor Desmond Spellacy (Robert De Niro) and Detective Tom Spellacy (Robert Duvall) each carry important positions in the city of Los Angeles with the former a priest and the latter a member of law enforcement. They each do what they feel is ultimately right for the individuals they serve, even if it comes with lying in the gray area. When a young woman gets murdered, it begins to lift the curtain on some troubling revelations about the city’s most respected individuals.
The places priests and police officers hold in society are vital, especially to the average person. The clergy serve as the congregation’s connection to God while the police uphold the idea of justice here on Earth. Even with each of these institutions giving us many reasons to doubt their integrity, they remain integral to our society in the United States and the way they play into each other through the lives of these two brothers makes for quite the fascinating look but also an entertaining story.
Desmond finds himself in a great place for his career as a priest in this feature partly because he’s good at what he does but mostly due to him getting things done for the church by having the willingness to work with shady characters discreetly. It creates this moral conundrum of whether it’s right to take money from individuals who may not uphold the true values of the church with the justification of the ultimate good it will do for the community. Something that many can ask themselves even today with the way some projects receive funding. Desmond has made peace with it but when it all gets intertwined with the murder of a young woman, everything becomes much more complicated and this feature well and truly begins to shape up.
The implications threaded together in this narrative through what happens behind closed doors and the public remains one of the more fascinating aspects, especially when observing how public perception means so much. Perception of the institutions may receive backlash and waves of criticism, but the individuals representing them can certainly be used as cannon fodder, which is where both of these brothers find themselves. These two have to fight multiple battles, including staying true to each other and their roles making this back-and-forth between them so captivating.
It also helps to have this back-and-forth occur with Robert De Niro and Robert Duvall in the leading roles going toe-to-toe with each other. Not too long after working together, while not on screen at the same time, in The Godfather Part II, these two dazzle here. Duvall gets the more boisterous role in how Tom tries to get to the bottom of the perpetrators of these murders and how pulling these strings may begin to topple this house of cards with far too many individuals who will be implicated. De Niro has a more reserved role but he handles it so well in the way he captures this internalized dread but exterior calmness with Desmond. His character always sits in conflict with himself in the way he seeks career advancement but compromises what makes a good man of the cloth. The moments these two share together have this electricity that reminds you why they are two of the greatest to ever do it.
Incredibly entertaining and quite the movie to think about, True Confessions pieces together an intriguing story and two strong characters to hold it together. Certainly an underseen film considering the cast involved especially given how adeptly it tackles the issues at hand at the center of it all. The film contends with this idea very well and opens the door for some fascinating conversations about these institutions and exactly what keeps them going behind the scenes.
Films with Josh 
