A HOLY MESS
Bonita L. Davis | 09/13/2000
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Fans of Ellis Peters' most intriguing monk, Brother Cadfael, will certainly enjoy this dramatic presentation of The Holy Thief. Derek Jacobi was made to be Brother Cadfael, a soldier of the Crusades, who laid down his sword and pledged himself to holy orders leaving behind the ways of the world. Alas, the ways of the world inhabit the monastery of Shrewsbury. Our dear monk is called on time and time again to solve mystery upon mystery that befalls the monastery. Sigh, this time a greedy self-centered abbot from Ramsey lays claim to the relics of St. Winifred. Ramsey has been burned down and her presence would enable that monastery to be built anew. Abbot Radulfus' bases his claim on the vision of his young novice who was told by the saint to come and retrieve her. Pardon the expression,"as all hell breaks loose", everybody stakes their claims for the bones. To make matters worse Winifred gets stolen and someone gets murdered. It is a Holy Mess and Cadfael is called upon to clean it up. From their our story goes through various twists, turns and detours. Cadfael gets to a point of him blowing his top. Wonderful. What a great story. One major flaw is the cinematic production strays quite away from the book but of course this is expected. You still get the fundamentals of the conflict and find yourself wondering who done it. By the way, it's not who you think even if you did read the book. I love a video that will keep you guessing. So will you."