EXECUTOR

US, 2017, 93 minutes, Colour.

Markiss McFadden, Paul Sorvino, Aiden Betesh, Mischa Barton, Eric Roberts.

Directed by Moziko Wind.

An executor is somebody who carries out the will of another – or can be an executioner.

This is a little seen American thriller, written and directed by Israeli cinematographer and editor, Moziko Wind. It is a crime thriller, focusing on a group of hitmen, young orphans trained over the years to act on the command of authorities and wreak vengeance on targets considered to be criminals, hitmen who are vigilantes.

But, there is a great difference with this criminal organisation from crime families and Mafia bosses Antonio,. The head of the organisation is, in fact, a Catholic priest, who, like the crime families, has inherited his role and mission from a father, this time an old priest. With the Catholic background, the priest considers that he is doing God’s vengeful and punishing work, that his hitmen are God’s bullets.

The priest is played by Paul Sorvino, rather huge at this stage of his life and career, a sinister Italianate presence, mouthing misguided theology, choosing out targets who need to be punished, sending out messages throughout the city by lookouts who are able to communicate with the potential hitmen. But Antonio uses the confessional, the secrecy and the seal, urging the hitman to read the Scriptures in the church, given a penance, and then the target.

One hitman, Kyle, played by Markiss McFadden, brought up as an orphan to live this kind of life, is given a target, setting a bomb, but finding that a mother and boy have gone into the shop – and he tries to save them, succeeding only with the boy (who is played by the director’s son, Aiden Betesh).

It is set up as a drama, Kyle not telling Father Antonio about the boy, finding himself in an interesting relationship, caring for the boy, getting his neighbour, Mischa Barton, to help. But, with all his spirituality words, Father Antonio is actually a crime boss, resorting to violence, imposing his own will rather than God’s, leading to a confrontation, more drastic than the audience may have been expecting.

But, there is an epilogue to the film, 10 years later, a young man on the subway and we know that there will be delayed retribution.

1. Moral fable? Catholic background?
2. The world of American crime, Mafia and mob law and morality, vengeance? The hold of the mob over society?
3. The screenplay making the parallels between Mafia mobs and this ecclesiastical vengeance cult?
4. The credibility of the plot, the presupposition about a tradition of priests, moral judgements, vengeance, Mafia methods, training orphans and bring them up as killers?
5. The tradition of priests on screen? Catholic priests? Religious traditions, the tradition of the sacrament of penance, confessional is? Advice? Penance? Organising networks – here of vigilante moral justice?
6. Kyle, the flashbacks, his father and disappearance, an orphan, with the other orphans, his upbringing, with Father Antonio, trained to be an assassin, his personal life, isolated? The messenger in the streets, his going to the church, confessional, Father Antonio explaining the situation and the target, going to the church, the pew, the Scripture reading, the penance? His going out and executing the command?
7. The morality of the priest and his executioners wreaking justice on offenders? In the name of God?
8. Father Antonio, his presence, in the confessional, his garb, the traditions, advice to pile, the gradual revelation of who he was, his network? His ruthlessness? Violence, weapons? The exercise of controlling power?
9. The task, Kyle going to the diner, the bomb, the mother and boy going in, his watching, the timing, tension, his rescuing the boy, the mother killed in the explosion?
10. The character of the boy, his age, experiences, his mother and her problems, her death? Going with Kyle? The apartment, secrecy? No questions? The effect on Kyle, the emotional response, new to him? The time together, the dangers, the outings and enjoyment? The neighbour, the conversations, her interest, his trust in her, her help?
11. Father Antonio, the discovery of the truth, his vengeance, his henchmen, commanding them, their willingness, unwillingness, his hold over them?
12. The drama of the pursuit, Kyle and his determination to protect the boy, against Father Antonio? The thugs in pursuit, the travel, the dangers, the boy almost falling out of the car, leaving the thugs, the rendezvous with the neighbour, the underground tunnels, the escape?
13. Father Antonio, with the guns, his anger, shooting Kyle, his explanation of the past, Kyle’s father trained as an assassin, Father Antonio inheriting the network from a previous priest?
14. Kyle dying, audience expectations? The boy taken by Father Antonio?
15. 10 years later, the boy growing up, going out on mission – and the film ending? Target Father Antonio?