#prentice wicks

This is according to Wick’s own standards for why his mother was a “harlot whore”: he A) had a child out of wedlock who grows up with at least one absent parent and B) had a love of power and material possessions that lead him to scheming to get his grandfather’s jewel back so he could be rich. He also removes all symbols of Christ from the church because he claims it's more important to remember the "harlot whore" he had for a mother, and Father Jud even tells Blanc in frustration that none of Wicks' homilies are about Christ at all, but about Wicks himself.

Something she was never given in life and certainly not in death. We're introduced to her as the "Harlot Whore" and what we're told of her is through the eyes of someone who despises her and sees her only as a sinner. Her only presence in her son's life is the outline of where a cross once was, memorialising an untrue version of past events.

For all the years that Monsignor Wicks has been head priest of that church, that's all that has ever been of Grace. He built a church of hate on the bedrock of her shame and hate. Her memory is one of sin and temptation. Her legacy is a fairytale where she is the wicked mother and the wicked daughter. Her name is never uttered; she is simply the "Harlot Whore".

Her son does not know the truth about her until sixty years have passed and even then, he does not show her grace, instead only thinking of himself. He does not see her as the person she was; as the desperate woman trapped under the thumb of her controlling father and his church who is denied the escape she was promised. He doesn't think of her at all, he thinks instead, ironically, of how he himself can escape this church.

She is not given one ounce of grace until after her son dies, sixty years later. It's only when another woman, similarly trapped by Grace's controlling father and his church, confesses the truth that she is finally given the grace she has deserved for over sixty years. When the truth comes out and she is shown to be a person, however flawed, and not some caricature with only hate in her heart. And only then does Martha, the other woman, finally see that herself and show Grace grace.

And that's what the whole movie is about. Showing grace to one another, being kind and being caring and helping our fellow man.

The movie ends with Grace's presence and memory in the church being put to rest as Father Jud puts up a new cross, which so happens to have Eve's Apple hidden on it.

Though it's sixty years late, Father Jud makes sure to give Grace both her namesake and the key to the escape she was promised.

And instead of donating it and accomplishing something good, decide to choke on it in front his child disciple, as a fuck you to his daughter for not being what he wanted.

There's a few things I noticed due to being raised Catholic myself (blessed be my religious trauma) that nobody talks about.

The church this whole thing takes place in is a CATHOLIC church; why am I remarking this? Well, unlike protestant priests, The Catholic Clergy are FORBIDDEN from either marriage or sex.

A Reverend could have a wife and kids, a catholic priest CAN'T.

Thus; both Father Wicks (Prentice and Jefferson) had kids out of wedlock.

We're constantly bombarded with the image of The Harlot Whore, but it wasn't Grace who had kids while having a bow of chastity; it was her father, and then her son.

Neither men are chastised for breaking their bows AS CATHOLIC PRIESTS,NEITHER SHOULD HAVE CHILDREN AND THUS NEITHER IS IN A POSITION TO JUDGE WOMEN.

And more so in the case of Jeff, because the revelation that he BROKE his vows makes him want to say quits and run for an office, but there's the small issue that a Catholic priest CAN'T quit; they have to ask permision to their Diocese to retire (their Bishop), and the Bishop can either allow or deny their perrisher's request to retire.

So there he's commiting a double sin against his own vows as a priest.

So, to any devout catholic, Wicks themselves should've been already on their shit list; but they found it easier to hate on a woman who made NO vows of the sort.

When we first see Grace tear up the church through Martha’s perspective, we see her walk in with this blood red circle behind her, crowning her in this evil halo. Then, after she tears up the church, she lets out these creepy screeches that almost sound demonic.

The second time we see her, there’s no evil light behind her. When she crawls on the ground, she is not screeching— she’s crying. A purely human sound, the sound of someone who was just trying to take back the life the church took from her. Someone who was hurt by her father.

Then, in Martha’s final moment, when Jud first mentions Grace, we see how Martha has seen her for her entire life, with dark red surrounding her. Then, when she finally sees who Grace really was, she just exists as a broken woman. No longer a harlot whore but a woman in deep, unimaginable pain