The Conflict (1973) is a short film also known as Catholics: A Fable. It is based on (as far as I can tell, it is word-for-word) the brilliant 1972 novel Catholics by Canadian author Brian Moore, written only seven years after the end of the Second Vatican Council.

The story is indeed a fable. And it is indeed a conflict. It is focused on the irreconcilable differences between traditionalism and modernism - and the centrality of the liturgy as ground zero of these two conflicting confessions of Christian doctrine and of society itself.

The actors are entirely believable. The story is set some time in the future (from the perspective of the 1970s) - probably around the year 2000 (after the Fourth Vatican Council has implemented more doctrinal changes building on Vatican 2). Martin Sheen plays the youthful modern priest sent by the Vatican to get a group of intransigent old Gottesdiensters in line.

This is a powerful short film that I recommend to anyone who is interested enough in liturgical and ecclesiastical matters to be reading this right now. In fact, the film also speaks powerfully to the secular conflict between modernism and postmodernism.

You can click the link and watch it on YouTube, or you can watch it right here: