The Confession

The Confession is a 2010 British melodramatic short film. It was directed by Tanel Toom, and written by Caroline Bruckner and Tanel Toom. The film follows a boy named Sam who can't think of any sins to tell the priest at his first confession. He worries that he won't be a real Catholic if the priest doesn't absolve him of some misdeed. Jacob, Sam's friend, devises a solution in the form of a prank, but the result is tragic. Plot Sam, an eight-year-old attending a Catholic school, and his trouble making friend Jacob prepare for their first confession. Their class is given a list of sins that children can confess. These include "bullying" and "swearing" among others. Sam pores over the list but is unable to come up with a sin he has done. Sam asks Jacob what he will confess. Jacob states that he would mention not listening to his mother and locking his sister in the closet. Sam feels like he will not be a true Catholic if he cannot be absolved, so he turns to Jacob to suggest a sin Sam could commit and then confess to. Jacob and Sam decide to steal Farmer Collins’ Scarecrow and leave it in the middle of the road for him to find while he is driving his tractor to town, committing the sin of "stealing." The plan backfires when Farmer Collins pulls off the main road before he sees the stolen scarecrow. As soon as the farmer leaves, however, another car speeds down the twisted and deserted street and, believing the scarecrow to be a dead body, swerves to avoid it and crashes into a tree. Sam walks up to the steaming car and sees a woman and a little girl alive, but severely dazed and bleeding from the head. The car bursts into flames, while Sam and Jacob flee the scene with the scarecrow. As they are running through the woods, the vehicle explodes in the distance. Sam and Jacob dump the scarecrow off the cliff by the tree they play by every day. Jacob makes Sam swear never to tell anyone because "it was an accident." Sam is full of guilt. That night he dreams the dead woman, the farmer and his father all know. He is haunted by what he has done.