‘Retaliation’ Review: Orlando Bloom powerfully tells story of a man broken by child abuse, robbed of his faith

KARNATAKA (INDIA)
MEA WorldWide

July 23, 2020

By Pathikrit Sanyal

https://meaww.com/retaliation-review-orlando-bloom-child-sexual-abuse-faith-janet-montgomery-charlie-creed-miles-story

In the 2015 Oscar-winning biographical drama ‘Spotlight’, an extremely overwhelmed Phil Saviano (played by Neal Huff) tells the Boston Globe journalists, “See, it is important to understand that this is not just physical abuse. It’s spiritual abuse too. When a priest does this to you, he robs you of your faith.”

Saviano was talking about child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. In a host of powerful scenes in the film, this one stands out. It spells out with immense clarity one of the consequences of this abuse that isn’t often spoken about.

Ludwig Shammasian and Paul Shammasian’s film ‘Retaliation’, which premiered at the 2017 Edinburgh International Film Festival as ‘Romans’, takes us through a similar painful journey. It tells the story of Malky or Malcolm (Orlando Bloom), a demolition worker in a working-class town in England. Malky…