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  Abuse Victim Shares His Story on 'Frontline'

By Kevin McDonough
Albany Times Union
January 16, 2007

http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=554117&category=ARTS&newsdate=1/16/2007

"Frontline" (9 p.m., WMHT Ch. 17) presents "Hand of God," a remarkably powerful and personal film about a victim of sexual abuse by a Catholic priest.

Raised in a large and tight-knit Italian-American family in Salem, Mass., filmmaker Joe Cultrera uses home-movie footage and interviews to chronicle his brother Paul's story of abuse and its effect.

Given his past, Paul is surprisingly frank and at times even funny about his grim experiences. Both brothers have every reason to be outraged and angry, but this film is not defined by bitterness. Cultrera puts special emphasis on the important and all-encompassing nature of the Roman Catholic church in their family and neighborhood and how his elderly parents still cling to their faith. And it is this aspect of the film that makes the church's betrayal of the Cultreras -- and hundreds of families with similar stories -- seem all the more brutal, indifferent and truly evil.

*"American Idol" (8 p.m., WXXA Ch. 23) returns for a sixth season with a cross-country tour of auditions in cities from Los Angeles to New York. This painful, awkward and irresistible phase will last for a solid month, leading to the live Hollywood Round, beginning Feb. 13.

What can you say about a G-rated show that champions young people, dreams and talent?

Other highlights

*Scheduled on "Dateline" (8 p.m., WNYT Ch. 13): murder in the Silver State.

*Luke and Christopher duke it out on "Gilmore Girls" (8 p.m., WCWN Ch. 45).

*A stabbing victim's autopsy proves revealing on "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" (9 p.m., WNYT Ch. 13).

*A clean sweep on "The Unit" (9 p.m., WRGB Ch. 6).

*A pregnant police officer (Frances McDormand) unravels a series of homicides linked to a contrived kidnapping in the 1996 Coen brothers mystery "Fargo" (10 p.m., WE).

*Scheduled on "48 Hours Mystery" (10 p.m., WRGB Ch. 6): After a nationwide hunt for a missing college freshman, her best friend provides key evidence.

*Fin's son reports a series of crimes in his dorm on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (10 p.m., WNYT Ch. 13).

*Denny lands on a no-fly list on "Boston Legal" (10 p.m., WTEN Ch. 10).

*P.J. casts a skeptical eye on some old myths on the season finale of "My Boys" (10 p.m., TBS).

 
 

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