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1959_28 | An excerpt from the manuscript Revolucija v istoriji interlingvistiki: Do tego casu bila aktivnost za meždunarodni jezik osnovana na principach utopizma, jež ždal si jedinego jezika za ves mir bez vzgleda na fakt, cto taki jezik ne može bit v nikakim pripadu rezultatem realnego razvoja jezikov živich, cto on bude vsegda tolika vidumana, spekulativna konstrukcija."To date, activity for an international language has been based on principles of utopianism, which endeavoured one language for the whole world without regard to the fact that such a language can in no way result from real development of living languages, that it wil always be an invented, speculative construction."
Slovio |
1959_29 | One of the first projects in the digital era was Slovio, a project created in 1999 and published in 2001 by the Slovak Mark Hučko. Unlike previous projects, Slovio was not only intended to serve as a pan-Slavic language, but also to compete with languages like Esperanto and Ido as a global international auxiliary language. Most of its vocabulary was based on Slavic roots, but its grammar was almost entirely based on Esperanto, with an emphasis on simplicity. Verb conjugations were regular apart from the four verbs es ("be"), mozx ("can"), hce ("want"), dolzx ("must"). Adjectives typically ended in -ju, the nouns formed their plural in -s or -is, and the only case was the accusative in -f or -uf (plural: -fs or -ifs). Slovio could be written in Latin or Cyrillic, but was typically written in Latin, with digraphs in x replacing the haček (e.g. zx for ž). |
1959_30 | Slovio was the first Slavic-based constructed language with a substantial dictionary and a small user community, at its peak consisting of 10-15 users (mostly diaspora Slavs) and a number of interested bystanders. In spite of heavy marketing on the part of its creator, Slovio gained little support; it was heavily criticized for its artificial, un-Slavic character and the radical Slavic-nationalist views expressed by its users. Perhaps due to Hučko's insistence on owning the language and his hostile attitude towards proposed changes (similar to the situation with Volapük), people interested in a pan-Slavic language moved on to other projects. It became defunct by about 2011. |
1959_31 | A passage on the origin of the Europeans:To es bezsporju historju fakt zxe sovremju Europanis (negda imenitju Indo-Europanis) es potomkis om Dunavju Slavis (negda imenitju Dunavju Lesju Ludis). Odnakuo to es bezsporju fakt zxe vse Europju jazikas originijut iz odnakju jazika, jazika om Dunavju Slavis."It's an undisputed historical fact that the current day Europeans (sometimes called Indo-Europeans) are all descendants of the Danubian Slavs (sometimes called the Danubian Forest People). Equally, it is an undisputed fact that all European languages originate from the same common language, the language of the Danubian Slavs."
Slovianski |
1959_32 | To address the problems of Slovio, a community-based project called Slovianski was begun in 2006. Its main purpose was to create a simple, naturalistic language that would be understandable to Slavs without prior learning. This was approached with a voting system to choose words for the lexicon and a grammar consisting of material existing in all or most Slavic languages, without any artificial additions. Slovianski was developed in different versions. The version of its principal author, Jan van Steenbergen, had three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter), six cases and full conjugation of verbs. A high level of simplification was achieved by means of simple, unambiguous endings and irregularity being kept to a minimum.
Slovianski was mostly used in Internet traffic and in a news letter, Slovianska Gazeta. In 2012, the language was reported to have several hundreds of speakers. |
1959_33 | The Lord's Prayer in Slovianski:Naš otec, ktori jesi v nebah, da svečene je tvoje imeno, da prijde tvoje krolevstvo, da bude tvoja volia, kak v nebah tak i na zemie. Hleb naš každodenni daj nam tutden', i izvinij nam naše grehi, tak kak mi izvinime naših grešnikov, i ne vedij nas v pokušenie, ali spasij nas od zlogo.
"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." |
1959_34 | Slovioski
In 2009, Slovioski (a portmanteau of Slovio and Slovianski) was launched with the idea of bringing together both language projects. Its initial purpose was merely to provide Slovio with a more Slavic grammar (for example, by substituting the adjective ending -ju with -ij and the plural ending -is with -i), but gradually, it developed into a separate language project, widening its distance to Slovio and abandoning the Slovio dictionary in 2010. After Slovianski was reworked into Interslavic, Slovioski was discontinued.
Neoslavonic |
1959_35 | Novoslovienskij ("Neoslavonic") was published in a 128-page book by the Czech pedagogue and programmer Vojtěch Merunka as a study of what Old Church Slavonic might look like today if it had not stopped developing in the Middle Ages. As a result, Neoslavonic had a complex grammar characterized by various archaisms, for example: four types of past tense, dual, seven cases and the Cyrillic letter ѣ, but on the other hand, it contained few exceptions and a relatively small number of repetitive rules. Neoslavonic could be written in four alphabets, Latin, Cyrillic, Greek and Glagolitic.
Example:Uvažimi gospodi! Tu jest projekt jezyka novoslovienskego. Prošu Vas, da byste jego čitali i poslali Vašim prijateljam, jako li oni hočut to vidieti."Dear Sirs! Here is the Neoslavonic language project. I ask you to read it and send it to your friends if they want to see it."
Contemporary pan-Slavic |
1959_36 | In 2011, Slovianski was renamed Medžuslovjanski ("Interslavic"), and its grammar and dictionary were revised to include all options of Neoslavonic and several older projects. A close collaboration was started between them, resulting in a common dictionary, a common news portal and a common wiki, and during the years to follow, Medžuslovjanski and Novoslovienskij (soon renamed Novoslověnsky) gradually grew closer to each other. As a result, most differences between both projects vanished in a natural way. After the first Conference on the Interslavic Language in 2017, Merunka and Van Steenbergen eliminated the last few remaining differences, and in the same year they published a unified grammar and orthography together, soon to be followed by a multilingual online dictionary covering English and most modern Slavic languages. Medžuslovjansky jezyk'' has gained some attention from the media, and by 2021 its user community had grown to over 15,000 people. |
1959_37 | See also
Pan-Slavism
Proto-Slavic, the common ancestor of all Slavic languages
Army Slavic
Slavonic-Serbian
Iazychie
References
External links
Vikisbornik - a collection of texts in Interslavic
List of constructed Slavic languages
Interslavic - Medžuslovjansky
Interslavic information portal
Interslavic dictionary
Neoslavonic
Interslavic on-line newspaper
Interslavic Wiki
Neoslavonic Memorandum
Interlinguistics
Zonal constructed languages |
1960_0 | There were significant slave revolts in Brazil in 1798, 1807, 1814 and the Malê Revolt of 1835. The institution of slavery was essential to the export agriculture and mining industries in colonial Brazil, its major sources of revenue. A marked decrease in the Indian population due to disease necessitated the importation of slaves early in the colonial history of Brazil with African slaves already being enslaved in greater amounts than Indian slaves on sugar plantations in the Bahia region by the end of the 1500s. A gold and diamond boom in the interior of Brazil in the mid-eighteenth century precipitated a significant increase in the importation of African slaves. |
1960_1 | The conditions of slavery in Brazil varied by region and form of labor. For instance, in sugar plantations in the Bahia region, African slaves were treated and fed poorly, and worked as hard as possible because the profit gained from this method outweighed the profit lost from a slave with a short life span. In the mountainous mining region of Minas Gerais, while the work was arduous, slaves were valued more and allowed some autonomy. |
1960_2 | Slave revolts were rare events. The most common form of slave resistance was instead the formation of fugitive settlements known as Quilombos, or macobos. Usually inhabited by those of varying African descents, the physical layout and social aspects of these communities represented a fusion of African and Brazilian practices. Existing most prevalently in the Bahia and Minas Gerais regions, as well as in the remote frontier region Alagoas where the largest and most famous quilombo, Palmeres, existed, just as slave conditions varied in these regions, the reason for the prevalence of fugitive slaves in these regions also varied. They were most often not self-sufficient, depending on theft and raiding from other slaves, free blacks, and whites for survival. |
1960_3 | Religion, Society, and Slavery |
1960_4 | The goal of converting all Indians to Catholic faith and practices was used by the Portuguese crown to justify the colonization of Brazil. The Jesuits, arriving in Brazil in the mid-sixteenth century, were tasked with these conversions and continued to be`the most prevalent and economically powerful denomination in Brazil until they were expelled in the 1700s. Indians were not viewed in the eyes of the Jesuits and the Portuguese Crown as slaves by nature but rather should only become "captives" to be used for slavery through a "just war". However, due to the demands of the landowning class who depended on slave labor and whom was more powerful compared to in Spanish-America, this view was oftentimes not adhered to in colonial policy. Jesuit Priest Padre Antonio Vieira's sermons reflect these views, suggesting that enslaving Indians who were not captured in this manner was a sin and that they should be paid a wage. African slaves were viewed as inherently different to Indians as |
1960_5 | evidenced by Vieira, who stated to an audience of African slaves, "...it is by God's particular providence that you live at present as slaves and captives, so that... you will very easily reach eternal freedom." |
1960_6 | The social hierarchy, similarly, was racially based. Portuguese immigrants, and native born whites stood at the top of this hierarchy and held the most wealth and power. Both Indians and blacks were the poorest in society but with a decline in the Indian population due to disease as well as their movement into the frontier, African slaves and free blacks constituted the majority of the bottom tier. Mixed populations fulfilled social and economic roles in between. Especially prevalent and important in the skilled labor force were mixed white and black people. Of course, there was also always exceptions to this stratification. |
1960_7 | Quilombos in Resistance and Revolt
There is limited evidence regarding whether the inhabitants of fugitive communities intended to attack the institution of slavery itself. One scholar Stuart Schwartz suggests, based on surviving evidence from multiple quilombos that “...in general the goals of the fugitive communities seem to have been the more immediate and practical ones of survival beyond the control of white society.” This is evidenced in part by the fact that they stole not only from whites but also from other slaves and free blacks. |
1960_8 | Although almost all the slave rebellions had been designed and executed through the quilombo community, the more preeminent threats they presented in the view of colonial officials included that they "endangered towns, disrupted production, and cut lines of communication of travel" as well as attracted those who were currently enslaved, thus threatening the institution of slavery itself. Colonial officials viewed these as serious threats given Brazil's economic dependence on slaves and took measures to mobilized Indians and free blacks to destroy these settlements, re-enslaving or killing its inhabitants. Indians, however, at the same time were often "the best potential allies" to fugitive slaves.
Revolts
1798 |
1960_9 | The Revolt of the Alfaiates in 1798, also called the Bahian Conspiracy and Revolt of the Tailors (after the trade of many of the leaders) and recently also called Revolt of Buzios, was a slave rebellion in the then Captaincy of Bahia, in the State of Brazil. Unlike the Inconfidência Mineira of 1789, it was a separatist movement with a popular base and extensive black participation. Both were largely inspired by the French Revolution. The leaders who were prosecuted were mostly free mulattos, but a second group of wealthier whites who encouraged the revolt were not prosecuted. |
1960_10 | The objectives of the rebelling baianos were, according to Clóvis Moura, "much more radical," and the proposal to liberate the slaves was one of the main goals. Its leaders and members included "freed blacks, black slaves, pardo slaves, freed pardos, artisans, tailors; those who were from the most oppressed or discriminated classes of Bahia colonial society". With many slaves living in Bahia, the probability of revolts and rebellions ran high. The elites of the area were frightened that if rebellion or revolts did happen, they would be similar to the Haitian Revolution. Because of the significant participation of Bahia's lower classes, the revolt has also been called “The First Brazilian Social Revolution”. |
1960_11 | 1807
In 1807, slaves were planning a revolt that would take place on May 28, during Corpus Christi celebrations. Six days before the revolt would take place they were betrayed by a slave loyal to his master. The master went to the governor and he was skeptical about the situation. However, he sent his spies out into the community and he learned that a subversive plan was real and growing stronger as the 28th approached. A day before the rebellion took place the governor had mounted specific patrols in the city. With its exits and entrances under surveillance, and rural officers on the roads, the house that was the center of the planning was surrounded and searched.
After being searched the alleged leaders and captains were taken prisoner. Many weapons were confiscated from the house, such as: four hundred arrows, a bundle of rods to be used as bows, piles of rope, knives, and one shotgun. |
1960_12 | Rural officers caught three of the ringleaders who had fled earlier that afternoon, and military patrols on rounds caught a few more identified as agents or enticers.
The goal of the uprising is believed to have been to capture ships in the harbor and make a massive flight back to Africa.
1814
The rebellion of 1814 overshadowed the previous ones in numbers of participants and violence. Starting on February 28, slave fishermen began to burn down part of the harbor, killing the foreman and most of his family. The rebels proceeded to head to the village of Itapoan.
Resistance was met when they were trying to leave to go the next village. Troops from Salvador then encountered a bloody battle with the rebels, which left the rebels with fifty fewer men.
Four of the captured slaves were hanged in public and twelve were deported to Portuguese colonies in Africa.
1835 |
1960_13 | The Muslim Slave revolt in 1835 began January 24, 1835 by rebellion organizers, Malês, or Muslim Africans. The revolt took place in the streets of Salvador and lasted for three hours. During that time seventy people were killed and a report of more than five hundred were sentenced to death, in prison, whipped or deported. Reis argues that if you bring these numbers into today's times, with Salvador being 1.5 million, over twelve thousand people would be sentenced to some form of punishment. Within these hearings, Africans spoke out about their rebellion as well as about their cultural, social, religious and domestic lives. The testimonies from court and the oppressors’ descriptions of these Africans that were enslaved brought out “priceless testimonies” of African culture with the Americas. |
1960_14 | Families |
1960_15 | In 1778, José da Lisboa wrote, “Because of the obvious benefits accruing from male labor over female, there are always three times as many males as females among the slave population, which perpetuates the pattern of their failure to propagate as well as their failure to increase in number from generation to generation.” Native born slaves populations was slightly higher women to men, 100:92, where as the Africans that were not born in Brazil were a little less 100:125, women to men. Also what was interesting was how the African men “vied” for the African woman and the formations of African families was extremely dissatisfactory and limiting even among free Blacks. In terms of the relationships in Bahia there were not a lot of married couples, “As one might expect, slaves had scant opportunities for affectionate relationships either episodic or long lasting. More than 27 percent claimed to be bachelors, and that number could be raised to 98 percent if we considered those whose |
1960_16 | marital status is not known to have been single.” |
1960_17 | See also
Islam in Brazil
Notes
References
Johnson, Lyman L., and Mark Burkholder. Colonial Latin America. Oxford University Press, 2008.
Kent, R.K. Palmares: An African State in Brazil. The Journal of African History, Vol. 6, No. 2, 1965. pp. 161–175.
Mills, Kenneth, et al. Colonial Latin America: a Documentary History. SR Books, 2004.
Reis, João José. Slave Rebellion in Brazil: The Muslim Uprising of 1835 in Bahia. Johns Hopkins Paperbacks, 1995. pp. 41–43.
Reis, João José. Slave Resistance in Brazil: Bahia, 1807-1835. Luso-Brazilian Review, Vol. 25, No. 1, Summer 1988. pp. 111–114.
Schwartz, Stuart B. "Rethinking Palmares: Slave Resistance in Colonial Brazil." Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1992. |
1961_0 | The Last House on the Left is a 2009 revenge horror-thriller film directed by Dennis Iliadis and written by Carl Ellsworth and Adam Alleca. It is a remake of the 1972 film of the same name, and stars Tony Goldwyn, Monica Potter, Garret Dillahunt, Spencer Treat Clark, Martha MacIsaac, and Sara Paxton. The film follows the parents (Goldwyn and Potter) of Mari Collingwood (Paxton), who attempt to get revenge on a group of strangers, led by a man named Krug (Dillahunt), that have taken shelter at their home during a thunderstorm. |
1961_1 | The film rights were picked up by Rogue Pictures in 2006, with the remake being the first film produced by Wes Craven's new production studio Midnight Pictures. Craven, who wrote and directed the 1972 original, was interested to see what kind of film could be produced on a large budget, as the limited funds in 1972 forced him to eliminate scenes he had wanted to film to tell a complete story. Alleca's original script included elements of the supernatural, which prompted the studio to reject it and bring in Ellsworth to perform a rewrite. One of the elements director Iliadis wanted to avoid with this film, given its graphic nature, was turning it into torture porn — a subgenre of horror popularized by the Saw franchise. For Craven and Iliadis, The Last House on the Left primarily illustrates how even the most normal of families can be driven to evil acts if pushed too far. |
1961_2 | Released on March 13, 2009, The Last House on the Left was met with mixed reviews from critics. Audience opinion ranked the film at a "B" level, from a scale of "A to F"; the film would ultimately gross $45,286,228 worldwide.
Plot
Emma and John Collingwood, and their daughter, competitive swimmer Mari, head out on vacation to their lake house. Shortly thereafter, Mari borrows the family car and drives into town to spend some time with her friend Paige. While Paige works the cash register at a local store, she and Mari meet Justin, a teenager passing through town who invites them both back to his roadside motel room to smoke marijuana. While the three are hanging out in the motel room, Justin's family members return: his father, Krug, his uncle, Francis, and Krug's girlfriend, Sadie. |
1961_3 | Krug becomes angry at Justin for bringing unknown people to their motel room, and shows him a local newspaper that has Krug and Sadie's pictures on the front page, and which explains how Sadie and Francis broke Krug out of police custody and killed the two officers that were transporting him. Believing it would be too risky to let Paige and Mari go, the gang kidnaps them and uses their car to leave town. While Krug searches for the highway, Mari convinces him to take a road that leads to her parents' lake house; Mari then attempts to jump out of the vehicle, but the ensuing fight among the passengers causes Krug to crash into a tree. Frustrated by Mari's attempt to escape, Sadie and Francis proceed to beat Mari and Paige as they crawl from the wreckage. Krug attempts to teach Justin to "be a man" by forcing him to touch Mari's breasts. Paige begins insulting him to get him to stop; in response, Krug and Francis stab Paige repeatedly, and Mari watches her friend bleed to death. Krug |
1961_4 | then rapes Mari, during which he pulls off Mari's necklace and throws it away. When he is done, Mari musters enough strength to escape the group and make it to the lake so that she can swim to safety. Krug shoots her in the back as she swims, leaving her body floating in the lake. |
1961_5 | A storm forces Krug, Francis, Sadie, and Justin to seek refuge at a nearby house. Justin is the only one to deduce that the inhabitants, John and Emma, are Mari's parents, and intentionally leaves Mari's necklace on the counter to alert them about their daughter. When John and Emma find Mari barely alive on their porch, and the necklace on the counter, they realize that Mari's tormentors are the people in their guest house. |
1961_6 | As they try to find the key to their boat so that they can take Mari to the hospital, Francis happens upon Mari, Emma attacks Francis and John kills him. When going after Krug and Sadie, they find Justin holding Krug's gun; Justin gives the gun to John so that he can kill Krug. Sadie awakens and interrupts John, allowing Krug to escape from the couple: After finding Francis dead, Krug realizes that they are Mari's parents. After Emma shoots Sadie in the head, John chases Krug. Justin is stabbed by Krug, but with a combined effort from Emma and John, Krug is knocked unconscious. John, Emma, Mari, and Justin then leave in the boat for the hospital.
Later, John returns to the cabin, where he has paralyzed Krug from the neck down. John places Krug's head in a microwave. As John walks away, Krug's head explodes, ultimately killing him.
Cast |
1961_7 | Tony Goldwyn as Dr. John Collingwood
Monica Potter as Emma Collingwood
Garret Dillahunt as Krug
Aaron Paul as Francis
Spencer Treat Clark as Justin
Riki Lindhome as Sadie
Sara Paxton as Mari Collingwood
Martha MacIsaac as Paige
Michael Bowen as Officer Morton
Production
Development
In August 2006, Rogue Pictures finalized a deal to remake The Last House on the Left with original writer and director Wes Craven as a producer. The company intended to preserve the storyline of the original film. In September 2006, it was announced that Craven had formed a production company, Midnight Pictures, under the umbrella of Rogue Pictures, and the remake for The Last House on the Left was selected as the company's first project. One of the reasons Craven agreed to remake The Last House on the Left was because of the money involved. In 1972, he did not have the budget to film every piece of the story he wanted to tell. |
1961_8 | With the 2009 remake, a larger budget allowed the filmmakers to pace themselves more during filming, taking more care while shooting, and expand the scope of the story more. One of the ways to accomplish this was for the producers to find a "rising young director to bring a new perspective for the story". According to the producers, who were impressed with Hardcore—which explored the world of teenage prostitution—director Dennis Iliadis was the person they were looking for. Co-producer Cody Zwieg stated, "Hardcore wasn't a genre or a horror film but showed completely believable characters in horrific, realistic situations. Many directors could handle the surface elements, the blood and shock moments of Last House, but Dennis proved that he could do it all without exploiting his characters and their situations." According to Iliadis, the director was quick to accept the responsibility of remaking The Last House on the Left, having already been a fan of Craven's and seen all of his |
1961_9 | films. |
1961_10 | Writing |
1961_11 | An early draft for the remake had moved the setting to northern California, and altered the third act to include elements of the supernatural. When that script was rejected, Carl Ellsworth was brought in to touch up the script written by Adam Alleca. Ellsworth had previously worked with Craven on Red Eye, but had never seen the original film. After reading the script and watching the 1972 film, the latter he found difficult to watch because of its extreme nature, Ellsworth decided that the first thing they needed to do was to establish someone whose survival you wanted the audience to root for. The writer wanted to know how the "typical family" would react to such a heinous act being perpetrated on their daughter, and what they were truly capable of. Craven points out that most of the early script problems were based around deciding what elements to include. They were never sure how much of the Krug family needed to be seen, what elements from the original film should be included, or |
1961_12 | even if Mari should live or die. |
1961_13 | One of the changes that Ellsworth made was keeping Mari alive, as the character is found dead in the original film. The writer believes keeping Mari alive when her parents find her adds to the suspense, because there is now a "ticking clock" for the parents to get their daughter to the hospital. Another change to the character was making her a swimmer. Director Iliadis wanted to give Mari a "big character trait" that could be used as a coping mechanism for the character, as well as become an important component to her escaping Krug. As Iliadis explains, "Well the idea was to find something where she channels all her energy and that was a big character trait because her brother is dead. It's like she's carrying him on her back. She needs to perform for two people now. She has to compensate for him so all her energy is in the water. The only area where she feels slightly free is when she's in the water swimming like crazy, so it's interesting having that as a character trait, and then |
1961_14 | having that as a key element for her trying to escape." |
1961_15 | The writer changed the fate of another character, Krug's son Justin attempting to give the audience a better "sense of hope". Craven points out that early on he suggested that Krug have a son who commits suicide, but found it interesting to see "this strange Romeo and Juliet thing happening" between Krug's son and Mari. He also stated that he likes the fact that John Collingwood is a doctor who actually gets to use his skills in the film, unlike in the original where the character is merely identified as being a doctor. Craven comments, "[it is] an extraordinary moment" when John is forced to improvise a way to restore a collapsed lung; "It made it real." Ellsworth wanted to create a level of interest in the characters that would "engage [the audience]", as opposed to simply leaving the family in "even worse shape [by] the end of the movie". He asserts that the film does not have a happy ending, but that there is some hope left at the end. Director Dennis Iliadis further explains |
1961_16 | that the point is to show the family from a different light. Initially the director feared that they were "wussing out" with the ending; he eventually decided that what you really see is a family that has physically survived this encounter, but are "dead in many ways". Iliadis expressed that he did not want to go the way of "torture porn", which is what he sees most horror films moving toward, but instead show a sense of "urgency" with the parents' actions. |
1961_17 | Casting |
1961_18 | When casting for the film, Iliadis wanted to find actors who would not portray these characters in a stereotypical way. As Craven explains, they wanted someone who would take these characters in a direction that most actors would not—they wanted originality. Craven states, "You need an actor who can bring a complete sense of commitment to that character without making it silly and not be afraid to go in there to the point where someone might say, 'Oh, you got bad in you?' You have to be brave enough and mature enough to know we've all got it, and you're not afraid of putting it out there and if you've got a problem with seeing that, tough." For instance, Iliadis wanted to avoid casting some superficially sexy actress in the role of Mari, because he did not want the rape sequence to appear enjoyable to the viewers in any possible way. Iliadis notes that when Sara Paxton came in her audition was "good", but it was this sense of intelligence and intensity that Paxton brought with her. |
1961_19 | The actress also had the "innocent face" the director was looking for, someone who had this "wholesomely American look" that would not allow anyone to enjoy watching her go through these intense events. |
1961_20 | Iliadis auditioned dozens of actors before he hired Garret Dillahunt for the role of Krug, the leader of the family that kidnaps Mari. According to Iliadis, the actors coming in kept trying to portray Krug as the "typical bad guy", and that was not what the director wanted. In Iliadis's opinion, "the most sadistic criminal will smile"; when Dillahunt came in he brought a slyness to the character, and created "ambiguity and subtleties" to the character that Iliadis liked. Dillahunt attempted to humanize Krug by approaching the character more as a man who feels some love for his son, but is bitter about how his life has turned out and is fearful that he is losing his position as the leader. He further clarifies that Krug fails to take responsibility for his own actions, instead blaming others, and prefers to deliver his own "twisted justice" to those he feels have wronged him. |
1961_21 | Dillahunt took inspiration from Andrew Cunanan, the man who killed Gianni Versace, when he recalled the brutality in which Cunanan murdered a man just for his car. Dillahunt recalls how an FBI profiler noted that this type of rage is typically directed toward someone the perpetrator knows, yet Cunanan managed to pull some element from his own life and place it on this random person who attempted to stand his ground against the would-be carjacker. To Dillahunt, that was how he wanted to approach Krug. To him, Mari actually shows that she is not afraid of Krug, which causes him to go "crazy". That being said, the actor felt like the scene where his character rapes Mari was one of the hardest things emotionally to film. He notes that part of him was happy that Sara Paxton was cast as Mari, because they had worked together in the past, so they knew each other. On the other hand, he felt uncomfortable acting out such a scene with a person he considered to be a friend. Paxton echoed his |
1961_22 | sentiments to Craven, who stated the actress expressed to him a greater feeling of trust that the person who would have to do these "horrible" things to her was someone she knew, and as a result made them at least partially more bearable to act. |
1961_23 | At the time Riki Lindhome was called in to audition for the role of Sadie, December 2007, she had not heard of Craven's original film. On the day of her audition, Lindhome was informed that she had missed her scheduled appointment and that she would need to return come January. Lindhome took the time to watch the original movie and read an article in Vanity Fair about the film, giving her some familiarity with the story and her role when she went to audition. Lindhome says she finds her character "creepy for no apparent reason", because the film does not attempt to justify why the three antagonists do what they do. The actress characterizes Sadie as being "equally as bad as [the men]", being just as vicious as the others. Lindhome admits that early in production it was easier for her to detach herself from the violent character she was portraying, but as filming continued and the cast grew closer she says that it became more difficult and "upsetting" to perform some of the scenes. |
1961_24 | According to Lindhome, as a response to seeing how some of the scenes were affecting the women, the producers sent Paxton, Lindhome, and Martha MacIsaac to a spa for a weekend. |
1961_25 | Before filming started, some of the actors had to undergo various training exercises for their roles. Dillahunt, Lindhome, and Aaron Paul—the latter portrays Francis—had to take part in gun training, while Sara Paxton had to get up each morning for swimming lessons so that she looked like an experienced swimmer. Iliadis also spent several weeks with the actors in rehearsal. It was Iliadis's hope that space to rehearse their roles, and then time during filming to develop their characters individually, would help them to trust Iliadis as the director more. |
1961_26 | Filming |
1961_27 | Craven chose to give Iliadis his freedom while filming the remake, partially because Craven was in the process of working on a new film for himself, but also because he likes to allow the directors the chance to make their own film. For the 2009 remake, Iliadis wanted to keep a consistency among the scenes of his film, as compared to the 1972 original. Iliadis stated that he felt the intercutting of comedic scenes with the rape scene in the 1972 film had the tendency to take one out of the moment. Iliadis wanted to "cut those diversions out", as a way of "[throwing the audience] into this scene with no place to cut away to". For Iliadis, taking this approach helped to create more drama for the event. The producers brought in a medical technician to provide insight, based on his job experience witnessing the people's deaths, and lend realism to the actors' portrayals. Lindhome states that the technician would explain how someone would react given a particular event, like getting shot |
1961_28 | or stabbed. Iliadis also felt that his work on Hardcore helped to train him for this film. As the director points out, Hardcore contained "very difficult scenes", like a sixteen-year-old girl having an "existential breakdown during an orgy", and Iliadis sees those scenes as training for him to learn how to make sure the actors are still being respected, as well as making sure that the scene is focused on the characters instead of simply going for "titillation". |
1961_29 | For the ending of the film, Iliadis and the rest of the creative team chose to include the song "Dirge", by psychedelic rock band Death in Vegas. Iliadis was hoping to find something that was both "ironic" and "innocent" at the same time, given the events in the film that would precede its usage. To the director, the choice helped to illuminate the fact that nothing will be the same for this family again. Craven comments on the choice to have John Collingwood return to finish off Krug at the end. Craven explains, "I also found it interesting that the Dr., whose oath 'does no harm', intentionally [kills Krug] and that it kinda shows that when seeking revenge you can become something evil yourself if you don't stop once what's been necessary is done. So I also found it intriguing that we're just seeing these wonderful, perfect people but the father comes back and goes out of his way to do this." |
1961_30 | Release |
1961_31 | The Last House on the Left was released on March 13, 2009, to 2,402 theaters. The MPAA ratings board ordered multiple cuts to the film to achieve a R-rating. The biggest setback by the board involved the rape scene. In the original cut of the film, the scene was at least one minute longer, but the board forced the scene to be trimmed if the filmmakers wanted an R-rating. There were other minor aspects trimmed as well, like an extended stabbing sequence with Paige. What shocked Craven was when the MPAA told them that this was a "special" film that did not "need" the extension on those scenes. Craven believed that the MPAA viewed the film more as an artistic horror film, which he sees as both a blessing and a curse. In Craven's experience, once the MPAA becomes focused on certain elements they dislike in horror films that they otherwise like, they become determined to see it removed before release. The DVD and Blu-ray copies of the film, which were released on August 18, 2009, contain |
1961_32 | both a rated and unrated cut. The DVD sales have brought in approximately $20 million in revenue. |
1961_33 | Reception
Box office
On its opening day, The Last House on the Left grossed $5,630,345, on 2,800 screens across 2,402 theaters, putting it slightly ahead of Watchmen, the previous weekend's top film, with approximately $5,304,344. From March 13 - 15, The Last House on the Left took in an additional $5,318,215 and $3,170,125, respectively, to round out its opening weekend with $14,118,685. By comparison, the 1972 original earned an estimated $3.1 million, in unadjusted dollars, during its entire box office run. Adjusting for inflation, that would be approximately $16,468,225 in 2009. As of August 18, 2009 the film has grossed $45,286,226 worldwide. |
1961_34 | Critical response
, The Last House on the Left holds a 42% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 165 reviews with an average rating of 4.93/10. The site's critics' consensus reads: "Excessive and gory, this remake lacks the intellectual punch of the 1972 original." By comparison, on Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film has received an average score of 42 based on 27 reviews. CinemaScore polls reported that the average grade cinemagoers gave the film was "B" on an A+ to F scale, with exit polling showing that 57% of the audience was female, 60% was under 25, and with Hispanics and Caucasians making up 36% and 35%, respectively. |
1961_35 | The San Francisco Chronicles Peter Hartlaub felt the remake departed from the traditional template used by more recent remakes—"include twice as many kills, [find] boring young actors from TV shows, rewrite the script so you lose everything interesting about the original, [and] make up an excuse to add cell phones"—which ultimately made it far more effective. Hartlaub cited the script, which he felt devoted as much time to character development as "carnage", and the "good acting", particularly Tony Goldwyn, as reasons why this remake succeeds. Kyle Smith, of the New York Post, agreed that the film succeeded where other remakes had failed. For Smith, it was the replacement of the "quick-cutting, loud noises and camera tricks" clichés with "long takes, genuinely disturbing violence and stretches with no dialogue to pin you to the story", which made this film more effective. Smith also commended Dillahunt's acting, as well as Iliadis's "casual, matter-of-fact approach that multiplies the |
1961_36 | horror to an almost unbearable level". In contrast, USA Today's Claudia Puig stated that director Dennis Iliadis failed at trying to keep the film from becoming another "torture porn". Puig felt that the killing scenes were too drawn out, noting the technique was down to heighten the effect, but actually comes across more as "repugnant and fetishized violence". She also noted that the parents seemed to find enjoyment in exacting their revenge, even when their daughter lay dying in the next room. Joe Neumaier of the New York Daily News was in agreement with Puig when he referred to the film as "stomach-churningly anti-human" because of its violence, and questioned why Goldwyn and Potter even signed on to the film. Neumaier suggests that the film's violence fails to create the sense of "theatricality of the Saw or Hostel films", or even provide audiences with "the unkillable-monster nostalgia of [the] Friday the 13th re-do". Neumaier also states that the 2009 film lacks the reasoning to |
1961_37 | exist that Craven's 1972 original had, which was to push the "boundaries of cinema's new permissiveness". |
1961_38 | When comparing the 2009 film to its 1972 counterpart, Newsdays Rafer Guzman stated that Iliadis's film contains better "production values" than the 1972 original, but overall it keeps the "marrow of the story". Guzman suggests that some of the violence may have ventured too close to hysteria, and that this film is not like The Virgin Spring—which Guzman reminds that Roger Ebert "famously compared the original to"—but overall the film is "horribly, shamefully satisfying". Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune, who disliked the 1972 film and went so far as to call the original "unstable trash", found the remake to be a better film. Phillips noted that the 2009 film was well written—apart from a couple of moments that felt like they belonged in a different movie—well acted, and contains characters that seem like "real people [with] plausible behavior, amid plausible tension, borne of a terrible situation". He also suggests that, contrary to other critic opinion, the 2009 remake does |
1961_39 | not attempt to follow the current trend of Hostel or Saw-like films simply because audiences are gravitating toward them as of late. Mark Olsen, of the Los Angeles Times, believes the 2009 remake is "deeply misguided refraction of the original". Olsen points to what he feels is the addition of unnecessary back story for the family, and Iliadis's choice to film the rape scene in a "verdant, scenic forest", which gave the sequence an "art-directed falseness, draining the audience-implicating authenticity and replacing it with the easy distance of knowing entertainment". Olsen also felt that changing the trinket Mari holds in the original film to a keepsake from her deceased brother turns the family into "heroic characters" who appear to be "defending their entitlement to a rustic second home and vintage motorboat, not their right to exist". |
1961_40 | Dennis Harvey of Variety believed that the film lacked in comparison to the 1972 original in almost every aspect. Harvey felt like the film spent more time trying to please current horror conventions than create an effective update to Craven's film. Harvey criticized the choice of changing a "credibly ordinary family" into "typical modern movie-fantasy clan". He also noted that Dillahunt's portrayal of Krug is no match for David Hess. Michael Rechtshaffen, from The Hollywood Reporter, felt that the remake followed close to the original—something fans of the 1972 film would appreciate—but that the film lacked the timing of the Craven's film. Craven was responding to the graphic images being sent back during the Vietnam War and allowed his film "sociological context", while Iliadis's 2009 film comes across as "exploitative". Although Rechtshaffen points out that the parents lack the training and skill of Liam Neeson's character in Taken, the performances from all of the actors are |
1961_41 | "uniformly sturdy". |
1961_42 | Lisa Kennedy of The Denver Post suggested that some viewers may want to leave the theater before finishing the movie, as Paige and Mari's fight to survive is "so disturbing" and "earnest", the murders and rapes so "verite" that it forced the reviewer to "fear for women in the audience who have been victims of rape". Yet, Kennedy believes the film manages to create a deeper message by identifying the "truly horrific" nature of what occurs by following the events with "a deep pause". Comparing this remake to the multiple Michael Bay slasher remakes, Kennedy states that this film "is not an idea-free flick", and that it "[engages] what the word 'horror' means". Roger Ebert, who gave the film a mildly positive review of 2.5 out of 4 stars, was also appalled by the rape sequence of the film, and noted that the rest of the violence seemed to fall within the standard of trying to invent new ways to kill people simply to please horror fans. At the same time, he praised the performances of |
1961_43 | Goldwyn, Potter, Paxton, and Dillahunt. He noted that the audience actually fears for the parents, and that Dillahunt is convincing as the "evil leader of a pack of degenerates". |
1961_44 | See also
List of films featuring home invasions
References
External links
2009 films
2009 horror films
2009 crime thriller films
2000s horror thriller films
2000s serial killer films
Adaptations of works by Wes Craven
American crime thriller films
American films
Remakes of American films
American rape and revenge films
American serial killer films
American horror thriller films
Crime horror films
English-language films
Films about child abduction
Films about violence against women
Films scored by John Murphy (composer)
Films shot in South Africa
Horror film remakes
Universal Pictures films
Films directed by Dennis Iliadis
Films about psychopaths |
1962_0 | Keith Michael Patrick Cardinal O'Brien (17 March 1938 – 19 March 2018) was a senior-ranking Catholic prelate in Scotland. He was the Archbishop of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh from 1985 to 2013.
Cardinal O'Brien was the leader of the Catholic Church in Scotland and had been the head of its conference of bishops until he stepped down as archbishop in February 2013. O'Brien's resignation followed publication of allegations that he had engaged in inappropriate and predatory sexual conduct with priests and seminarians under his jurisdiction and abused his power. O'Brien was opposed to homosexuality, which he described as "moral degradation", and a vehement opponent of same-sex marriage. |
1962_1 | On 20 March 2015, the Vatican announced that though he remained a member of the College of Cardinals, O'Brien would not exercise his rights or duties as a cardinal, in particular voting in papal conclaves; he had excused himself from participating in the 2013 conclave. O'Brien died after a fall, aged 80, on 19 March 2018.
Early life and education
O’Brien was born at Ballycastle, in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, on St. Patrick's Day, 17 March 1938. After primary education in Ballycastle, his family moved to Scotland where his father was serving with the Royal Navy at Faslane. O'Brien initially attended St Stephen's Primary School, Dalmuir, before continuing to secondary school at St Patrick's High School, Dumbarton. His family then moved to Edinburgh, where he completed his secondary education at Holy Cross Academy. |
1962_2 | O'Brien studied at the University of Edinburgh where he gained a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry in 1959 (and a Diploma in Education in 1966). His studies for the priesthood were at St Andrew's College, Drygrange, Roxburghshire, and he was ordained priest on 3 April 1965 by his predecessor, Cardinal Gordon Gray. Initially serving as curate at Holy Cross, Edinburgh from 1965 until 1966, he completed his teacher training certificate at Moray House College of Education. From 1966 to 1971, he was employed by Fife County Council as a teacher of mathematics and science; he also served as chaplain to St Columba's Secondary School, initially in Cowdenbeath and then in Dunfermline, while assisting at St Bride's Parish, Cowdenbeath. |
1962_3 | O'Brien was then moved to full-time parish apostolate in St Patrick's, Kilsyth from 1972 until 1975 and then St Mary's, Bathgate from 1975 until 1978. He served as spiritual director to the students at St Andrew's College, Drygrange from 1978 until 1980; then as Rector of St Mary's College, Blairs, the junior seminary near Aberdeen, from 1980 until 1985.
Archbishop and cardinal
O’Brien was nominated Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh on 30 May 1985 and was consecrated by Cardinal Gray, then Archbishop Emeritus of St Andrews and Edinburgh, at St Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh on 5 August 1985. Pope John Paul II created him Cardinal-Priest of Ss Joachim and Anne ad Tusculanum on 21 October 2003.
O'Brien was made Bailiff Grand Cross of Honour and Devotion of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta in 2005, appointed Grand Prior of the Scottish Lieutenancy of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem in 2001 and appointed Knight Grand Cross (KGCHS) of that order in 2003. |
1962_4 | In 2004, Cardinal O'Brien was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from St Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada, an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from the University of St Andrews, and an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from the University of Edinburgh. In 2015 there were calls for the honorary degree from St Andrews to be revoked due to admission of sexual impropriety. Professor Manfredi La Manna wrote, "I, for one, would not recognise as a colleague someone who admitted abusing his position of power for sexual gratification with subordinates." The University decided against this, noting, "(...) that revocation cannot change or ameliorate the wrongs of the past and that, notwithstanding the very real hurt and loss caused by the actions of the honorand, it would be no more than an empty gesture." |
1962_5 | O'Brien was Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Argyll and the Isles from 1996 until 1999, when Bishop Ian Murray took over the diocese. O'Brien took part in the 2005 Papal Conclave which elected Pope Benedict XVI. In anticipation of the 2010 visit of Pope Benedict to England and Scotland, O'Brien and Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, said that the crisis involving Seán Cardinal Brady, Archbishop of Armagh, over the priest Brendan Smyth and other clerical abuse charges was one for the Irish Catholic Church and should not overshadow Benedict's visit. O'Brien and Nichols were asked whether the pope would respond to charges made against the church about clerical sex abuse during his four-day visit, the first papal visit to the UK since John Paul II in 1982. O'Brien said he did not know; Nichols said English, Welsh and Scottish bishops had "robust" rules in place to protect children. Campaigners for victims of abuse wanted an investigation of the way O'Brien dealt with all |
1962_6 | allegations of abuse while he was leader due to O'Brien's sexual misconduct admission. Mario Conti, Archbishop emeritus of Glasgow, said all the Scottish Catholic bishops except O'Brien cooperated over an independent inquiry into the handling of child abuse in Scotland between 1952 and 2012 with the results to be published. The inquiry was delayed because O'Brien and only O'Brien withdrew cooperation. |
1962_7 | When O'Brien announced on 25 February 2013 that Pope Benedict had accepted his resignation as archbishop, he said he would not exercise his right to participate in the conclave in March to elect Benedict's successor. On 20 March 2015, Pope Francis accepted O'Brien's renunciation of all duties as cardinal, an event extremely rare in Church history. Though he remained a cardinal until his death in 2018, he no longer participated in any public, religious or civil events.
Curial appointments
After his creation as cardinal, O'Brien was appointed a member of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications and also a member of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People. He was President of the Bishops' Conference of Scotland and fulfilled various engagements at the request of other members of the Conference. He was sometimes referred to as the "Primate of Scotland"; however, this title or position has never existed. |
1962_8 | Resignation as archbishop
O'Brien tendered his resignation from the governance of the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh to the Pope some time in 2012, in view of his 75th birthday in March 2013; the Pope accepted it nunc pro tunc on 13 November 2012 and decided it would become effective on 25 February 2013. He remained a cardinal. The announcement of his resignation followed allegations initially in The Observer newspaper that O'Brien had engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct with junior clergy. The Pope appointed Philip Tartaglia as temporary apostolic administrator in O'Brien's place. In July, Leo Cushley, a priest from Motherwell, was named to succeed O'Brien as archbishop.
Sexual misconduct and consequences
In 2013 allegations became public that Cardinal O'Brien had engaged in inappropriate, sometimes predatory sexual activity from the 1980s to 2003.
Accusations and admission |
1962_9 | On 23 February 2013, The Observer reported that O'Brien had been accused of inappropriate sexual behaviour involving four men (three serving priests, and one former priest) within the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh dating back to the 1980s. The former priest resigned the priesthood when O'Brien became a bishop and stated, "I knew then he would always have power over me. (…) I left to preserve my integrity." It was reported that one complainant needed long term counselling due to the actions of O'Brien.
One of the four, referred to only as "Priest C", alleges that the degree of control a superior has over subordinate priests made it hard for him to refuse O'Brien's demands. "He [the bishop above a priest] has immense power over you. He can move you, freeze you out, bring you into the fold ... he controls every aspect of your life." |
1962_10 | The complaint demanding O'Brien's immediate resignation was lodged with the Vatican's ambassador to the United Kingdom and there were efforts to silence at least one critic.
O'Brien initially contested the allegations. According to the BBC, a source within the church said that O'Brien "doesn't know who his accusers are and doesn't know what they're accusing him of". On 24 February 2013 he did not attend a special service to celebrate the eight-year tenure of Pope Benedict XVI at St Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh. It was widely reported that he had asked for legal advice and been advised not to attend. On 25 February 2013 it was announced that O'Brien's previously submitted resignation as archbishop would take effect that same day, and a temporary apostolic administrator was appointed in his place. O'Brien said that he would not participate in the oncoming conclave, although entitled to do so. O'Brien then made no further public appearance until early May 2013. |
1962_11 | On 3 March 2013, the Scottish Catholic Media Office released a statement from O'Brien in which he said, "I ... admit that there have been times that my sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me as a priest, archbishop and cardinal." He said he intended to retire permanently from the public life of the church. Archbishop Philip Tartaglia, temporary successor to O'Brien, said the "credibility and moral authority" of the church had been damaged.
Later in March 2013 a former priest announced his intention to sue O'Brien, saying O'Brien had groped and kissed him as a 19-year-old seminarian in the 1980s. One of the four whistleblowers who testified against O'Brien in 2013, Brian Devlin, who later left the priesthood, in 2021 waived anonymity to publish a book, Cardinal Sin, about his experiences and his fight for improved church governance and accountability. |
1962_12 | O'Brien was further accused of trying to grope a priest in 2003 in Rome at a drinks party to celebrate his becoming a cardinal. It was also alleged that O'Brien had been in a long-term physical relationship with one of the complainants.
O'Brien faced allegations of a "culture of cronyism" within his archdiocese and that this made him less likely to challenge priests to whom he had made advances. |
1962_13 | In 2015, The Glasgow Herald reported allegations that in at least 40 cases young clerics were encouraged to let O'Brien hear their confessions, and the religious act was used for sexual grooming. There was allegedly reluctance to accept O'Brien's actions as a sexual predator. Victims of O'Brien's sexual abuse felt unable to complain because within the church only a pope has ever been able to discipline a cardinal. After publication of the McLellan Report in 2015, The Rev. Andrew McLellan said the church's treatment of O'Brien showed that secrecy is still an "important part of the atmosphere" within the church. |
1962_14 | One of the four whistleblowers, Brian Devlin, gave up anonymity to write a book, "Cardinal Sin". The four went public when Cardinal O'Brien was allowed to attend the conclave to choose a successor to Pope Benedict XVI because they did not think that should happen. O'Brien's misconduct was well known internally before the four made public allegations. Devlin stated, “People go with sincere feelings to their bishop and he doesn’t respond. It’s indescribably bad and has nothing to do with Christianity. They still hurt and control people and I demand my freedom to say, ‘Stop this. Stop your cruelty.’” Devlin was a seminarian aged 19 when O'Brien first befriended him, then tried unsuccessfully to seduce him sexually. Before he made the sexual advances, Devlin thought O'Brien was the holiest man he knew and was impressed when O'Brien said Devlin would be a good priest. The morning after Devlin fled O'Brien's advances Devlin saw him at the altar, Devlin stated, “I remember that moment |
1962_15 | so clearly. I looked at him and thought: you are a fraud. I could see it was a cosmetic exercise, this holy-man image. The bonhomie, the jokes, the banter … all of it was a con trick to hook me, and I imagine others, into an intimacy with him.” |
1962_16 | Ecclesiastical response
On 27 April 2013, The Scotsman reported that Marc Cardinal Ouellet would head an investigation into O'Brien, and that appointment of Scottish bishops had been halted until the inquiry was completed. This contradicted another report suggesting that the Vatican would not hold a formal investigation or publish any formal report because "The Church doesn't work that way." No decision had been made to demote or laicise O'Brien. |
1962_17 | O'Brien returned to Scotland and attempted to settle into the church-owned cottage he had planned as his retirement home in Dunbar, East Lothian. One of his accusers, a former seminarian, stated, "Keith O'Brien is giving the impression he wants a nice peaceful little retirement now. My experience hasn't left me for decades and as far as I'm concerned this brings things very much back into focus. I have an issue with Keith O'Brien and it needs to be dealt with." There were fears the cardinal's visibility would harm the church further. On 15 March 2013, it was confirmed that the Vatican had ordered O'Brien to leave Scotland, and he left for months of "prayer and penance". According to The Washington Post, "The statement did not specify that the decision was imposed on O'Brien by the Vatican as punishment, and in fact suggested that the decision was O'Brien's. But in the past, wayward priests have been sanctioned by the Vatican with punishments of 'prayer and penance', and the statement |
1962_18 | made clear Francis supported the move and that the Holy See would decide his future fate." |
1962_19 | The Vatican stated on 15 May 2013 that O'Brien "will be leaving Scotland for several months for the purpose of spiritual renewal, prayer and penance" and "Any decision regarding future arrangements for His Eminence [Cardinal Keith O'Brien] shall be agreed with the Holy See."
Supporters of O'Brien objected to the church requiring O'Brien to leave Scotland; John Canon Creanor threatened legal action to prevent O'Brien's "forced exile", and said he had a legal team ready. Richard Holloway, former Bishop of Edinburgh in the Scottish Episcopal Church, said that forcing O'Brien into exile from Scotland would breach international law. Holloway likened O'Brien's forced exile to the tactics of "extraordinary rendition" (extrajudicial transfer) of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). |
1962_20 | The four complainants said that O'Brien needed psychological counselling rather than prayer and penance. One accusing priest said, "Keith is extremely manipulative and needs help to be challenged out of his denial. If he does not receive treatment, I believe he is still a danger to himself and to others." The four accusers believed there was a smokescreen, with the full story untold, and wanted an investigation to reveal the extent of O'Brien's actions.
Throughout the scandal, the Catholic Church in Scotland failed to act. , O'Brien was still Britain's most senior Catholic. According to Peter Kearney, the director of communications of the Catholic media office (which was largely unavailable for official comment), only Rome could handle the O'Brien affair; nobody in Scotland had authority to challenge a cardinal. |
1962_21 | According to Catherine Deveney writing in The Observer, Archbishop Tartaglia, who was temporary leader of St Andrews and Edinburgh following O'Brien's resignation, failed to confront the issue, and behind the scenes "church insiders" were critical; one told her that "He is completely lacking in leadership qualities". Kearney told The Observer there could be no Scottish investigation because the nuncio had rightly not identified the complainants. But he had; Kearney apparently didn't know that Joseph Toal, Bishop of Argyll and the Isles, had been given names and asked to be a contact point. |
1962_22 | Deveney said that this issue was no longer about personal failure, but systemic failure, and reported that theologian Werner Jeanrond said "As a church, we have failed to come to terms with homosexuality. The highest clerical representative of the church is himself a victim of the system which didn't allow him to own his homosexuality." She added that there are many other scandals involving Scottish clergy, including at least one bishop; misdeeds include sexual misconduct, heavy drinking, payoffs to cover scandals and serious abuse; and she said that "O'Brien knows where the bodies lie. And the hierarchy knows he knows." She said that this issue is not about Scottish clergy, but is worldwide.
In July 2013 O'Brien was reported to be in a monastery in Europe or an enclosed abbey in the English Midlands. In November 2013 there was a report that O'Brien would face no further punishment, which disappointed alleged victims and victims' groups. |
1962_23 | Apostolic visitation
After some delay, it was reported in The Observer on 23 June 2013 that the Vatican had decided to hold an apostolic visitation. This is a formal high-level inspection into the affair, in which the "visitator" is given authority directly by the pope. In this case the visitator was the archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, who had not yet been appointed at the time. Papal nuncio Antonio Mennini told one of the complainants, a former priest known as "Lenny", of the decision. Anyone affected would be able to give evidence; if there was considered to be sufficient evidence, a deeper process would take place in Rome. Lenny was relieved that the facts would finally be examined, but said that the visitation also had to examine "whether any promotions were awarded to the cardinal's cronies". |
1962_24 | According to the article, senior figures in Rome said the visitation would also deal with the more general accusations of moral failings in the church in Scotland. There was criticism of the choice of O'Brien's successor as Archbishop of Edinburgh as visitator; Tom Doyle, a canon lawyer who had worked at the nunciature in Washington and later represented Catholic abuse victims all over the world, said that the whole point was for someone from outside to investigate, and that the choice of O'Brien's successor would make the church "look like fools". Doyle said that dealing with a previous case, which related to widespread child abuse in Ireland, by an apostolic visitation had been a "total farce", and that only totally independent investigations have elicited significant truth in similar cases, as with (non-ecclesiastical) grand juries in the United States and government statutory commissions in Ireland. |
1962_25 | The complainants have been negotiating with Archbishop Leo Cushley but have also appealed to Pope Francis. They would like an investigation into the way the diocese was governed, the manner of O'Brien's appointment, whether close associates were appointed to positions of power and also the extent of O'Brien's predatory behaviour. Cushley promised to hand over the requests personally but discouraged public discussion of the case. During O'Brien's lifetime a Canonical trial remained possible but unlikely. "Lenny" claims the finances of the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh under O'Brien are being investigated internally to find if there were irregularities. If this were not done he would have involved the charity regulator. He says O'Brien bought a jet ski for a friend and the source of the money is unclear. The church has neither confirmed nor denied this. |
1962_26 | O'Brien had since January 2014 been living, initially incognito, in a home provided by the Catholic Church in the village of Ellington, Northumberland, fifty miles south of the Scottish border. O'Brien later moved to Newcastle on Tyne.
Charles Scicluna investigated O'Brien in April 2014 and such an investigation of a cardinal appears unprecedented. There are concerns that the report, allegedly "hot enough to burn the varnish" from the Pope's desk, remains unpublished. |
Subsets and Splits