Leigh Paatsch reviews In Bob We Trust

FATHER Bob Maguire is one of those types who's so easy to get to know, but bloody hard to describe.

Moving portrait of rebel with a cause

FATHER Bob Maguire is one of those types who's so easy to get to know, but bloody hard to describe.

Social worker. Stirrer. Raconteur. Rabblerouser. Friend to the friendless. Rebel with a cause. Oh, and he's an 85-year-old Catholic priest as well.

Filmed on the fly over a three-year period commencing in 2009, In Bob We Trust wonderfully conveys both the well-intentioned friction and centred calm that Maguire is able to summon at any given moment.

That was also the year Father Bob found out his employers over at Vatican Inc. were about to shake his hand and show him the door.

Naturally, Father Bob was not about to take a forcible separation from his beloved parish in South Melbourne lying down.

And so, Maguire spends the duration of the doco very much up and about, causing much bother to God-botherers everywhere.

And yet, never once forgetting to lend a hand to his fellow man when the call is sounded.

There is only one Father Bob Maguire. There will be not another.

Therefore the lasting value of this film is its documentary proof such a unique human being ever existed in the first place.

So thank the Lord we have In Bob We Trust.

Now showing in Victoria. Coming soon to other states.