I Confess

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. Alfred Hitchcock was born in London, England. My sources say that his parents were very strict Catholics. Some people might not like this and rebel against it but Alfred Hitchcock did not; he embraced it instead. He went to mass every week and went to and graduated from a Catholic prep school. After graduating, he kept up with his beliefs and married Alma Reville who converted to Catholic beliefs. They also attended mass every week just like Hitchcock’s parents. Not only did they attend mass but they donated a lot of money to their church and their daughter even married and Archbishop from Boston. Hitchcock even had his funeral in Catholic tradition. Hitchcock’s Catholic ways definitely rubbed off in his movie “I confess”. The movie is about priest named Father Michael Logan. In the catholic faith, people go to confession which is when you tell a priest your sins and you are forgiven for them. In the movie, a caretaker named Otto, tells the priest that he was trying to steal from a lawyer and ended up killing him. Of course, all priests have made a promise never to tell the sins of someone who goes to them no matter what. They are supposed to be martyrs and even if it comes to death, they aren’t supposed to tell a soul. Coming to death is exactly what happens in the movie. People find out about the murder and start to question everyone including the priest. Of course he doesn’t tell the police any information and they start to suspect that he is the one who committed the crime. He is almost found guilty but isn’t and Otto is determined to be the killer. In this movie, you can tell how strictly Hitchcock believes in the Catholic faith. He understands that the priests are serious with what they do and most people would think that the priest would say something but in Hitchcocks head, the priest does exactly what he is supposed to do and almost dies living up to his duties. I feel as though if Hitchcock was the priest then he would’ve been the same way. His teaching ad beliefs also show in his other movies as well and I think its really good that Hitchcock kept to his beliefs even as a director.