Best Movies 2006

5. Deliver Us From Evil

This docudrama gets into the controversy surrounding sexual abuses in the Catholic Church. Director Amy Berg investigates the life of Father Oliver O’Grady, a 30 year pedophile. Father O’Grady abused children as he moved from parish to parish in Northern California. 

Amy exposes the corruption that exists inside the church that allow this abuse of so many children to happen. The movie tells the stories of many of the victims involved. There also is a chilling interview with O’Grady himself, allowing us a glimpse into this disturbed mind.

4. Pan’s Labyrinth

This is the story of young Ofelia, and the fantasy world she created, struggling to survive the harsh reality she was thrown into. The time is 1944, the place is Spain. Ofelia and her pregnant mother are sent to the country to live with her step father, the cruel Captain Vidal. The Captain is brutally trying to rid the area of the few anti-facist rebels that are left. Here Ofelia escapes into a deep fantasy world.

She is led by a fairy one night to the center of a maze, where she meets a faun. She is told that she is the princess of a great underground kingdom. Her father is waiting for her, but she must do three difficult tasks before she can go to him. 

3. The Departed

With a star studded cast, Martin Scorsese hits a home run in this action, crime thriller. Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon, and Mark Wahlberg head the list of stars. The plot pits two double agents, one on the side of the Massachusetts State Police, the other from the Irish mob.

With a man on the inside, the police think they have the upper hand. When they see that someone always knows what’s going on, they realize that they have a mole. Both double agents are simultaneously trying to ho undetected while finding out who the other double is.

2. The Queen

In 1997 the tragic death of Lady Di (Princess Diana) has broken the hearts of the British public. She died suddenly, and unexpectedly in a car crash in Paris. Surprisingly, the Queen and her family withdraw behind the closed doors of Balmoral Castle. The distraught public want to hear from their Queen.

Lady Di, “the People’s Princess”, is not being honored as part of the royal family. The royal family finds itself under tremendous pressure from the media and the public. So much so, that newly elected Prime Minister Tony Blair recommends to the Queen that she makes a public speech that mourns the passing of Diana.

1. United 93

This is the story of the one plane, on 9/11, that didn’t reach it’s target. This is a fact based drama that puts you inside the plane as passengers become aware that there situation is very bad. Flight 93 was delayed on take off, and this delay allows some passengers to become aware that other planes have crashed.

Armed with this knowledge, passengers conclude that they are not merely being hi-jacked, but that this plane will be crashed as well. Normally, during a hi-jacking, you just stay patient and do what the hi-jacker’s want. Knowing these terrorists plan to crash the plane, they decide to try to over take them and get control of the plane. This ends in flight 93 crashing, but not hitting it’s intended target.