Dennis Gray was born in 1948, joined the Catholic priesthood at around the usual age, and got a job teaching religion at Central Catholic High School in Toledo, Ohio, in the 1970s. At some point during all that, he started molesting boys.

I have omitted the word "allegedly" because there is no reason for it. Yes, the Toledo diocese paid settlements to the victims rather than go to court; yes, during his deposition Gray refused to answer certain questions rather than admit anything. So yes, in legal terms, Gray remains only an "alleged" abuser, not an admitted one or a convicted one. But "Twist of Faith," a documentary focusing on one of Gray's young victims 20 years later, makes the facts clear. Dennis Gray is a monster.

Most of the film takes place in 2002 and 2003 in the Toledo area, when Tony Comes is a firefighter in his early 30s with a pretty wife named Wendy and two young children, Samantha and Mitchel. In June 2002, the Comeses move to a new house on a quiet street, only to discover that Dennis Gray -- the priest who molested Tony repeatedly when he was in his early teens -- lives five doors down. He's been struggling with the memories all his life, and he and Wendy candidly report on the difficulties they have had because of Tony's childhood trauma. But now they decide something must be done.

The movie follows Tony's quest for justice, giving us the events as they unfold, rather than telling us everything through after-the-fact interviews. Tony is not interested in a settlement, which the Catholic Church has been giving out like Halloween candy. He knows the statute of limitations has run out on Gray's crimes, so all he wants now is a public apology from Gray and the church. He wants people to know what happened. Doling out hush money doesn't solve the problem, he says, but bringing the problem to light will at least be a step in the right direction.

Tony explains that when he was a boy, Father Denny was everyone's favorite "cool" priest, often inviting the kids in Tony's group to stay overnight at his cabin on the lake. You felt thrilled to be part of the in crowd, excited that Father Denny liked you enough to include you in the excursions, where drinking and smoking were allowed. "What happens at the cabin stays at the cabin" was the unspoken rule.

It was there that Gray first began molesting Tony, and it resulted in such stomach-churning ironies as Gray forcing himself upon Tony early on a Sunday morning, and an hour later saying Mass and administering communion to parishioners. Ashamed and afraid, Tony did not try to stop it.

Now, 20 years later, a Minneapolis attorney who specializes in this sort of thing is called in to assist Tony in his petitions against the Catholic Church, and to help with a few other victims who have come forward. That last fact is a slap in the face to Tony, who had been assured by Father James Hoffman that Tony was Gray's only victim. Now Tony feels guilty for not speaking up as soon as it happened, to prevent Gray from molesting anyone else.

This is heartbreaking stuff, sensitively captured by Kirby Dick, the insightful and brilliant documentarian behind "Chain Camera" and "Derrida." He uses the same technique that made "Chain Camera" so compelling: He occasionally gives cameras to Tony and Wendy so they can record their own lives, thoughts, and confessions. There's only so much that even a good documentarian can do to make his subjects feel natural around him, after all.

Dick's method acknowledges that limitation (and Jacques Derrida pointed it out to him when Dick made a film about him), and it is fascinating to see how much more open and relaxed Tony and Wendy are when there are no interviewers, cameramen or film crews hovering over them. For example, I doubt Wendy would admit to another person that she sometimes feels resentful over how emotionally needy Tony's past has made him, but she'll admit it to an un-judging camera. Witness also the tearful scene in which Tony and Wendy explain in basic terms to their daughter what happened to Tony years ago, and caution her never to speak to the man who lives five houses down.

Tony's faith has been obliterated, and he remains bitter toward the church. He takes some of it out on his mother, who is still a practicing Catholic, saying the money she puts on the collection plate "pays the lawyers that are fighting me." For her part, she stands firm, maintaining that there is a separation between her faith in the doctrines of the Catholic Church and the actions of certain specific Catholics.

It's devastating to watch Tony break down, so consumed by anger that he is unable to eat or sleep, his marriage falling apart around him. As sympathetic as we are for him -- the fact that he blames himself for Gray's subsequent victims just twists the knife in the viewer's gut -- we are removed enough from the situation to see that too much anger is useless. There is being righteously indignant in order to fight for what's right, and then there is plain old hate, which helps no one.

Like most documentaries, "Twist of Faith" lives or dies by its subject matter, and this story is a two-edged sword. The basic concept is extremely compelling, of course, but Dick began filming without knowing how it would all play out, and the end is not as satisfying as you want it to be.

But listen to what Dennis Gray -- who left the priesthood in 1987 but continued to teach at public high schools for many years thereafter -- says in his videotaped deposition from 2003. Asked whether he thought sex with a priest would do lasting psychological harm to a child, he says no, not necessarily. Later, he says he doesn't believe in hell. I say he'd better start.


THE DVD

The audio is available in English or Spanish, and there are optional English, French or Spanish subtitles.

VIDEO: The film's full-frame presentation is preserved. The footage shot by Dick on digital video is sharp and colorful, while the amateur stuff shot by Tony and his wife remains naturally grainy, of course. It's a very good DVD transfer all the way around.

AUDIO: Basic digital stereo (for the Spanish track, too), but more than sufficient for the film's purposes.

EXTRAS: The commentary has director Kirby Dick, producer Eddie Schmidt, and Tony and Wendy Comes. Yet despite there being four people present, the commentary is marked by several instance of minutes-long silence. It's disappointing, because this was a marvelous opportunity for the director and his subjects to question each other about their roles in the film. There's a little of that, but not nearly enough.

There are six excellent deleted scenes (29:33 total). Five of them provide additional insight into Tony's situation and could have been included in the film. The sixth is an 8-minute sequence following a different group of abuse victims in New Jersey, shot early on, before Dick decided to focus on Tony.

"Q&A From Premiere" (9:54) is a touching, emotional sequence taped after the film's premiere in Toledo, Ohio, with an audience that had obviously been strongly moved by watching the film. It's too bad they only took questions for 10 minutes, because there was probably a lot more that could have been said.

There's an enlightening Interview with Kirby Dick (6:30) that answers some of the questions he should have addressed on the commentary.

Tony Comes' song "Far Away" (5:00) is a recording of a country song Tony wrote and which he sings in an unremarkable but strong baritone voice. The lyrics are about his abuse at the hands of his childhood priest, and there's no symbolism or metaphors to cloud the issue. The song is audio only; the "Special Features" menu remains on the screen while it plays.

The Kirby Dick Biography is just a page of text -- one paragraph, really -- giving Dick's background. Sort of superfluous.


IN SUMMARY

"Twist of Faith" was nominated for a Best Documentary Feature Academy Award, and rightfully so. It's powerful, moving, frustrating and eye-opening. The scourge of pedophile priests has been abundantly covered in the media, but it's films like this -- showing specific, real-life victims and their stories -- that give the news stories a human face.

(Note: Most of the "movie review" portion of this article comes from the review I wrote when the movie was released theatrically. I have re-watched the film in the course of reviewing the DVD, however.)