'Wake Up Dead Man': Is This the Most Catholic Hollywood Movie of the Year?

The one where Benoit Blanc attempts to get the guilty party to confess(ion)

Buckle up.

Like so many others, I watched Knives Out in 2019 and was pleasantly dazzled by the killer ensemble cast, gorgeous visuals, clever script, and quirky southern Daniel Craig. Like so many others, I watched Glass Onion at some point after that and was left feeling somewhat let down. Sure, there are some good moments, but ultimately, it did not, could not, live up to the expectations built by the first. So like so many others, I approached this third Knives Out installment with a mixture of hope and cynicism. Would this film stumble the path of so many franchises before it, where the first movie was the magnum opus, and the sequels merely echo its best moments, with the echo fading more with each successful installment of the franchise?

OR

The movie would become a thing of greatness in its own right?

Let’s talk about Wake Up Dead Man.

What’s a Catholic moviegoer to think when both the protagonist and the antagonist of a mystery movie made by a non-Catholic are Catholic priests? What’s a Catholic movie-goer to think when a popular franchise announces the next film will be centered completely around the goings-on of a Catholic church? In a word, apprehension. Surely it wouldn’t end up being a positive portrayal - it’s a murder mystery after all.

As the trailer will tell you, this film follows Father Jud (a phenomenal performance by Josh O’Connor), a young, kind priest with a violent past who finds himself sent to a failing parish ruled by the fire-and-brimstone Monsignor Wicks (Josh Brolin). Different as different can be, the two priests clash, and one murder later, proud atheist Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) needs to come along and solve an impossible case deeply rooted in the world of faith, morals, repentance, and atonement.

What it leads to is a brilliant handling of Catholicism, balanced on the tip of a knife to appeal to all audiences. In a word, it is evangelization.

With a darker color palette and grounded, familiar setting, this film nails the visual aspects of a whodunnit reminiscent of the first film. Director Rian Johnson took inspiration from Edgar Allan Poe as well as Agatha Christie novels to shape the tone and aesthetic of the movie, and it works. Much of the movie takes place in a Catholic church, and the air feels reverent. Characters genuflect, kneel, make the sign of the Cross, and say prayers in the proper manner. Research was done shockingly well, with deep-cut Catholic references that I never would have expected. From the vestments, to the echoes of the pews, to the stained glass tinted lighting, the small details added dimension and believability.

On the other side of the scale, characters portray negative stereotypes of Catholicism in great variety. So there are moments of ugliness, discomfort and vulgarity in the movie that may feel like too much. Josh Brolin’s Monsignor Wicks is a fallen, broken man leading a congregation of fallen, broken parishioners, and in order to show how right the right is, the film takes the time to show how wrong the wrong is.

And yet, while there is much portrayal of darkness, there is also light. There is redemption, there is confession (used liberally in the film) and there is the delightful Fr. Jud, who in his own words, is just “young, dumb, and full of Christ”. Father Jud might just be the best portrayal of a Catholic priest in modern cinema, perhaps even the best I’ve encountered in film ever. His character is complex, realistic, and endearing. His honesty cuts through the deceit of those around him, and his love for Christ drives his every action. Father Jud’s earnestness carries the emotional weight of the movie, as a young priest trying so hard to do what is right, and to be a good shepherd to his troublesome flock. His struggles, and O’Connor’s performance, threaten to steal the spotlight clean away from everything else happening.

Benoit Blanc recruits Father Jud to assist him in gathering the facts of the case, and the results of that dynamic are utterly delightful. There is humor, there is suspense, there are moments of vulgarity and ugliness, but resonating throughout the film is a sense of sincerity that pervades every frame, every performance. The ensemble cast is firing on all cylinders, with way more depth and believability than I would have expected from their relatively sparse screen time. There’s so much to say about the movie’s incredible use of shadow and light, the balance of the narrative, and the visual storytelling. This is a story about faith: what drives people to seek it, how it can be misused or misunderstood, and how it sustains. An incredibly complex lesson all wrapped up neatly in a murder mystery steeped in Catholic imagery made by a non-Catholic director who took an enormous swing and in my opinion, connected. People will like this movie. But believe me, it hits different for Catholics.

Was it perfect? No. There are valid grievances, like a proclivity for foul language, certain Catholic inaccuracies, and portrayals of sacrilege that will lose some viewers’ support and understandably so. For all its faults, however, Wake Up Dead Man ultimately is a film that is inviting viewers into a contemplation of faith, in a Catholic framework, with the best priest performance I’ve ever seen. In that moment in the theater, I could hardly believe the incredible film I was seeing, where Catholicism was highlighted, celebrated, and fully immersed in a film that was just really, really good.

I loved it.