Extra Credit Blog: "I Confess" by Alfred Hitchcock

 Look up Alfred Hitchcock's biography and find some articles about his Catholic faith.  How do you think his faith informs his view of the cinema?  Give examples from "I Confess" (or other Hitchcock movies) to make your case.  (400-600 words, 25 points)

From reading articles about Alfred Hitchcock it tells that the reason for his Catholic faith was because of his strict upbringing by his parents. His parents were so strict about his religion so much that he described his childhood as lonely and the fact that he was obese. Because of the strictness of his parents, it resulted him to come up with ideas of becoming wrongfully treated in his movies. Patrick McGilligan, a biographer, wrote, “Catholicism pervades his films, albeit a brand of Catholicism spiked with irreverence and iconoclasm.”   Also, most of his educations were from Catholic schools. He attended a convent school called Howrah House, and  St. Ignatius College.  Attending those types of schools definitely had an impact on his faith even though he rarely talked openly his faith. In the movie “I Confess” his faith is showcased. The movie is about a murder mystery about a man that had committed a murder to cover a robbery. The plot of the film is that he confesses to a priest, but the priest cannot report it and it puts him in a difficult situation. From this plot of the movie alone, tells that Hitchcock questioned the religion his was brought up by because of the ways he was punished. The man in the movie, Keller is ultimately punished by confessing his sins and the priest telling on him. Also, Hitchcock might have just wanted to challenge his faith. In a quote about “I Confess” he says “We Catholics know that a priest cannot disclose the secret of the confessional, but the Protestants, the atheists and the agnostics all say, ‘Ridiculous. No man would stay silent and sacrifice his life for such a thing.’

Answer the question on the movie poster: "If you knew what he knew what would you do?"  Tell me why, and compare your own reaction to the priest in the movie. (15 points, 300-400 words)

"If you knew what he knew what would you do?" – I what did opposite of what the priest did in my opinion. It was his obligation as a priest to keep the things people tell him between the person telling him and his self.  Yeah, he probably did the right thing by getting Keller jailed up but he broke his duty of oath. In my opinion, two wrongs don’t make a right and he just should have kept his confession quiet.  If I saw that the man was big enough to confess his murders like he did, I would actually be proud of the man for doing it. In other words, I believe everyone deserves a second chance and being a man and fessing up is a good start. I was shocked by the way the priest ratted that man out. I know he was threatened and everything but I would have still handled the situation differently than he did. I would have sat down the man down and say look I’m a priest, and your secret is safe with me and that is the bottom line. Being a “tattle tale” can get you into trouble as well, so in my opinion the best option for the priest was to stay true to his brotherhood and to himself by keeping the secret.