SYNOPSIS: Newly released from prison, a thief is anxious to recover his stolen loot. But others are also anxious to lay their hands on the jewels. So with the help of his younger brother (a Catholic priest), he dresses himself in priestly clothes and decides to hide out in a small hamlet in the Ardèche. Fortuitously, the parish priest has just passed away, so the villagers naturally assume the thief is a replacement sent by the bishop. With the prompting of the altar boy, all goes well for the thief at first, but problems develop. One is the arrival of the real replacement priest. Another is the backsliding of the thief's good-hearted but weak-willed brother, who cashes the jewels but lets the money go to his head.COMMENT: When you have a clever script that depends to an inordinate degree on the phrase, "but it just so happens", you have to make quite extraordinary efforts to disguise this fact or, at the very least, hide it away. In my experience, very few writers, actors and directors are capable of doing this, but it just so happens that Jean-Marie Bigard is the writer-actor who hits the jackpot here, and Roger Delattre is the astute director who manages to bring it off. And it all happens thanks to superb pacing that not only makes the jokes come thick and fast, but brilliant scripting that absolutely crowds the screen with cameos, and even better still, action! The audience is given no time to think, no time to ponder. Blink and you'll miss an arresting image. Turn your head and you'll lose touch with the plot. Pay attention to your date and you'll wonder why she and the rest of the audience are laughing so heartily.As might be expected, Bigard has written a great role for himself. As a result, his is indeed a most striking presence. All the same, the support cast has not been neglected. Doudi has at least two or three scenes in which he wipes out some formidable opposition from the Mafia boss and a bevy of beautiful girls.Produced on a grand scale, Le Missionnaire is at once a feast for the eyes, a constant titillation of the funny-bone and a truly emotional message for the heart. The film of the year, in my opinion!

Mario, a thief that has spent seven years in jail gets released. Two former partners in crime await for him to settle a score. The duo want to get their share of a robbery they worked together where up to a million and a half Euros is hidden somewhere, and now, they want Mario to give them what the shares due to them. The only problem is that Mario has to go to a small town where the treasure is buried, but he wants no company.As a solution to his problems, Mario goes to his brother Patrick, a Catholic priest, for help. The brother suggests he travels dressed as a priest since he has the proper outfit for the journey. When Mario arrives in his priestly garb, he finds a welcoming committee that confuses him with their new pastor because of the death of their beloved priest. At this moment everything breaks loose."Hallelujah" as the film was retitled for its English release, is an old fashioned French comedy directed by Roger Delattre and written by its star, Jean-Marie Bigard, who takes the role that would have gone in years gone by to Fernandel. or Louis De Funes, or even Coluche. It is clearly a pleasant time at the movies, but do not expect fireworks because it is a conventional story that was probably created to serve the star. Just go for the mindless fun and enjoy. Mr. Bigard plays the criminal who impersonates a priest with gusto.The film was filmed in the Rhone Alpes towns of Banne and Ardeche, which are picturesque and serve the action well. Thierry Arbogast, the cinematographer gets the essence of the small places.

I think that people that don't speak or understand French should not watch this movie because French films are made to watch in French. I think people should stop rating this film and just not watch French movies if they watch it English. I'm warning you if you watch this film in English, it will loose it's every aspect it's worth watching for. The difference between English and French films is that even though you can add French or English dubs to a movie, you can translate a movie from one language to another, but you can never translate everything. I've watched French films in English, there's no point because it's a completely different film. This film is funny,sarcastic, slightly violent but in a funny way and full of French jokes which is impossible to translate to English. So I suggest for people not to watch this film unless they speak and understand perfectly the French language. This movie deserves more than it was rated.

Jean-Marie Bigard is well known in France for his crude sexual jokes. I was rather surprised while watching this movie to see how 'contended' he might be for his part - much more subtle than I expected.The duo Doudi-Bigard worked quiet well for 3/4 of the movie and I enjoyed many of the characters part. The movie suddenly seemed to go a different way in the last quarter, trying to deliver some kind of moralistic message that didn't convince me too much.Story pitch (may content minor spoilers) : Mario (J-M Bigard) is just released from jail after a 7 years detention for jewels robbery. Some of his 'old friends' are waiting for him at the prison entrance because he is the only one to know the location of very precious jewels from a previous robbery. After a few intimidations, Mario is going to his brother Patrick (Doudi Strajmayster) - a priest - to find a place to hide from his dangerous friends. Patrick's only idea is to disguise Mario as a priest and send him in a very isolated village in Ardeche as a priest student. But once Mario arrives in the village of Banne, the crowd there is awaiting for him to bury the just passed-away former local priest - and take his place ! In the meantime, Mario asks his brother Patrick to retrieve the jewels and sell them to a local mafia boss. The more the story evolves, the more the two characters take the position of one another with unexpected consequences !I gave it a 6/10 because of the good performance of the actors even if the story is sometimes a bit predictable and annoying - some good parts are irresistible to laugh at. A good average french comedy.