"I Confess" by Alfred Hitchcock

I watched "I Confess" by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Montgomery Clift. God only knows how many times I have seen it before, but each time is a renewed enlightening experience.

Without giving too much away, the story is about Father Logan. One night a man is killed. The murderer is a man named Keller. He is a servant in a church where Father Logan serves the God. On the night of the murder Keller wears a priest's robe to hide his identity. Later on, the robe is found in Father Logan's personal bag with the victim's blood on it. Father Logan becomes a suspect. Fortunately, he has an alibi. He and his former girlfriend were seeing each other until 11 p.m. Autopsy showed the murder was committed around 9:30 p.m. Father Logan's former girlfriend, who is now married to a renowned lawmaker, testifies out of her intention to protect her former lover and now good friend Father Logan. However, this testimony of hers serves to make Father Logan more vulnerable than before. Later the police says the initial autopsy was wrong, and that the corrected estimated time of death is around 11:30 p.m. The only way for Father Logan to prove his innocence to the police is to tell the police what he heard on the night of the murder--Keller's confession in the confession booth! But in the Catholic Church it is the absolute duty of priests not to disclose anything that they learn from a confessor during the course of confession. Father Logan is now put on trial, with Keller and his wife Alma in the gallery watching him being interrogated by a prosecutor with a series of relentless questions! What will his verdict be: guilty or not guilty?

All in all, the director Alfred Hitchcock does a marvelous job of making us audience experience the inner conflicts of the main characters, especially those of Keller, Father Logan, and his former girlfriend. The catastrophe is particularly dramatic, and Hitchcock's way of showing how the truth is revealed to all parties involved including the police is so elegant and sophisticated. I especially like the scene where Father Logan's former girlfriend, looking relaxed as she believes that the police no longer suspects her former boyfriend, holds her husband arm lightly and says, "Take me home." It's a damn good movie that you should not miss. I highly recommend you to add it to your to-watch-list for next weekend.