The Confirmation movie review (2016)

From the audience's perspective, we don't know if young Anthony is being dishonest or unaware of his sins, although, from a first glance, we might believe he's telling the truth. He seems like a good kid.

We do know that, almost immediately after finishing his confession, he lies to his mother Bonnie (Maria Bello). She asks her son if he has completed his penance. He says he did, but we just saw him flee down the aisle of the church after barely beginning an Our Father. Something about the sight of the crucifix hanging above the altar spooked Anthony. Maybe it's guilt about lying to the priest, or maybe it is the fear of eternal punishment for not having enough or the right kinds of sins to tell the priest.

It's Anthony's lie to his mother that matters, and by the end of writer/director Bob Nelson's film (his first time directing), Anthony will have lied many more times to many people. He also will have stolen a couple of times, falsely accused someone of a crime, raised his fists to try to hurt a couple of people, and pointed a gun at someone. Even after all of that, he's still a good kid.

This is a smart, effective coming-of-age tale about a boy figuring out that there are gray areas to life's moral choices. The priest may say it's a sin to lie and, hence, dishonor one's parent, but what if that sin is committed in order to prevent a parent who's a recovering alcoholic from taking a drink? Wouldn't the greater sin be not lying? Is there a point at which a "sin," in the black-and-white view of the priest, would cease to be a sin, because it's done in the name of something good?

Reconciling that apparent contradiction is Anthony's dilemma throughout the film, as he spends an eventful weekend with his father Walt (Clive Owen). Walt's a down-on-his-luck carpenter who takes pride in his work, although the work has dried up for him as of late. He and Bonnie have divorced, and she has remarried (Matthew Modine plays the new husband). Walt's a "freelancer," which is just the way he has of saying that he's unemployed. His pickup truck is on its last fumes, and he hasn't been able to pay back the loan he took out on his house.