There's No Critics Like Show Critics

Existentialism, the nature of truth and memory, whether it is damaging to watch other world views in movies, and much more ... we've got a high level discussion that has been going on for two days in the comments boxes of my list of movies for Movies that Matter. Check it out.

Tags: Catholicism, Christianity

Movies That Matter, Part I: The Review

MOVIES THAT MATTER: Reading Film Through the Lens of Faith
by Richard Leonard

... St. Thomas argued that wherever faith, hope, love, justice, fidelity, self-esteem, prudence, mercy, and hospitality are present, then named or not, Christ is present. The best of missionary dialogue has been conducted on this basis, recognizing and affirming the goodness in culture. What applies to non-Christian cultures equally applies to non-Christian elements in our own culture -- at the metroplex.

We approach the task of inculturation by not being against everything. If a film presents virtues and values, and many do, then named or not, Christ is present in and through them. We should say yes to these movies and promote them. Yet we often insist that the world talk our talk and walk our walk. Jesus' great commission to go our to the world does not lead to that conclusion. Rather, Christ sends us to meet our sisters and brothers where they are, as they are. Again, Jesus is our model. The parables do not mention God. They rarely have a religious setting. Jesus takes ordinary events of daily life and draws out lessons about faith, hope, love, justice, fidelity, self-esteem, prudence, mercy, and hospitality. The cinema's parables can provide us with a venue in which to fulfill the great commission.

Richard Leonardi examines fifty-four popular movies and shows how Christian subtexts can be found in the most unlikely subjects. He begins by talking about the power of media to shape ideas and goes on to a good examination of positive and negative cultural "signposts" that can be found in current movies. This is followed by a look at individual movies which includes "teachable moments" to be found in each, a plot summary, how each shines a light on a particular Christian value, and a few simple questions that can further discussion.

Leonard has written a book that serves as a good primer for people who never have examined a movie beyond whether it entertained them or not. I can think of several friends who would benefit from such a book. Leonard's writing is clear and concise. He does a good job of communicating how to find Christian subtexts in the movies and how to apply them to our lives. Indeed, in the case of several movies that I thought I had thoroughly mined for information, he had several new ideas that I really enjoyed thinking about. For instance his discussion of The Exorcist and the nature of true evil as well as how The Exorcist is wrong on some key points was welcome and enlightening. When Leonard points out the sacramental nature of Chocolat I suddenly realized that chocolate in that movie is Eucharistic. Everyone who eats it suddenly realizes their true and better nature. The Lord of the Rings trilogy brings an insight about a Trinitarian imagery that I hadn't considered. I was well aware of Gandalf, Frodo, and Aragorn as Christ figures. However, I hadn't caught another reference.

Alternatively, we have a reimaging of the Trinity: Gandalf, the father who creates and calls; Frodo, the son who bears the form of the least but whose destiny is to save; and Galadriel, the spirit who inspires, enlightens, and comforts.

Unfortunately, a true movie aficionado will find that Leonard's commentary about The Lord of the Rings also embodies one of the ways that he falls prey to his own personal prejudices. He has a habit of using surprising and inappropriate moments to push his own personal agenda, which leans heavily towards social justice. Quite often, the interjection of a seemingly random, albeit quite pointed, comment throws the reader off stride since there is rarely any preparation for the remarks and seldom any followup. Many Catholics won't be surprised to find that Leonard is a Jesuit since this is a particular passion of that order. Social justice as a theme is certainly a purview of the movies, however, one only wishes that Leonard could contain his passion for more appropriate moments unlike his introduction to the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Some Christians object to stories about wizards, elves, and dwarfs. For those who take evil seriously, such objections are nonsensical. I only hope those who get into a lather over the evil of fictitious creatures are equally committed to the anything-but-fictictious fight against starvation and the unjust distribution of wealth.

Unfortunately, instead of the author's intended effect, the above passage had the unintended result of making nearby people ask this reader what was so funny in response to the resultant snort of laughter. Similarly, one finds his anything-but-subtle commentary about theology scattered throughout as well. This continues through remarks about more accurate renditions of violence being shown if more women directed movies, the idea that only Jews can recognize blatant anti-Semitism (yes, that tired old horse is being beaten in his Passion of the Christ comments which can only have been included for Leonard's desire to castigate it considering the overwhelming negativity), and the idea that we have "overdone the father language in theology and liturgy" from which we are liberated when we pray to "God as mother." This becomes quite tiring after a short exposure and the reader wishes that the editor had been more vigilant about the author's interjection of personal commentary.

One suspects that this passion for social justice is also what prompted the quite predictable inclusion of movies which the moviegoing public needs no help with in seeing a Christian subtext. Almost half the movies (21 of 54) are those in which the theme is so blatant that the title is all one needs to know the social issue being explored. Usually the movies also have been discussed ad nauseum so that one knows the specific message without having to have seen the movie as well. Gandhi, Romero, JFK, Unforgiven, Schindler's List, The Shawshank Redemption, City of God, The Magdalene Sisters ... the list goes on and on. We already know these movies matter. Movie critics have told us so time and again. It would have been refreshing to have Leonard show us how movies matter that don't necessarily pound us over the head with message, however sensitive or well done. A few of these movies are to be expected but for such a large percentage to be so very obvious becomes quite boring and one again wishes for a more vigilant editor who would call the author to a higher standard. Even these could be forgiven if the author plumbed new depths but he follows the same well-trodden path as every other commenter. Perhaps that is because there are no other depths to be found in these films. As praiseworthy as the subjects of these pointed films are, they are not the movies which the general public is flocking to see, as is evident from the list in the beginning of the book of top ten grossing movies of all time. If the author was going for the obvious movies, these would have been the ones to include. We then would have seen such films as Titanic, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Star Wars, and gone with the Wind discussed. What enthralling and unexpected commentary that would have been for many.

It is obvious that Leonard does understand what sorts of movies that are both interesting and informative to discuss simply because of the strong possibility that no one ever looked for a Christian subtext. It was delightful and fascinating to see Groundhog Day, Finding Nemo, Hannah and Her Sisters, Italian for Beginners, and Chocolat discussed.

Christianity has had a variable relationship with the world. At times the world has been viewed as a hostile place with temptations and risks to the life of faith. This is the Marlin school of theology - venture out only when necessary, and then do so with extreme vigilance...

The Nemo school of theology holds that the world is the gift of God, to be explored, dealt with, delighted in, and within which we learn who we are and who God is in the scheme of things.

I never would have considered this reading of Finding Nemo and it was quite eye opening. I did not necessarily agree with the reasons given for his assessment (not included in the excerpt) but agreement is not necessary. Simply having the concept brought up opens new vistas of a movie in which one can then go on to explore those themes for oneself. Those glimpses of depth and insight applied to more popular movies were what frustrated the most in finding so few of these movies discussed. Even with these movies one does wish for an additional, deeper level of discussion such as can be found in the reviews from such favorite reviewers of deep faith as Nehring the Edge, Overlook Journal or Decent Films. However, if this book is viewed as a primer the lack of depth is more excusable.

Despite the negative, this book does have value and a place in the education of the film going public, especially those faithful Christians who haven't considered looking below the surface of movies that don't have an obvious Christian message. As I mentioned, the author does have some very interesting things to say even to those who are used to examining every movie indepth. The mere fact of disagreement with so much of what Leonard included has been the subject of on-going discussion in our household for the past three days. Any book that can engage such conversation is definitely worth reading. However, one must do so with an awareness that the author has his own specific nonsubtle message as well as simply pointing out how faith lies beneath seemingly ordinary entertainment.

Coming in Part II ... some movies to replace the "social justice, politically correct" choices included in the book, a.k.a. movies that the public might actually have gone to see.

This was a review copy provided by Loyola Press. I highly recommend their podcast "Spirited Talk Today" available through iTunes for hearing author interviews of upcoming books.

Tags: Catholicism, Christianity

The Cheerful Struggle

When I think about keeping going in that interior, daily struggle, it is really funny (and amazing) how often the Galaxy Quest motto goes through my head ... "Never give up. Never surrender." It's funny because it's true.

The Christian's daily struggle will generally be specific and will entail fighting on very minor matters. Fortitude will be necessary in order to fulfill with sincere effort our acts of piety towards God, without abandoning them no matter what presents itself during the course of the day, and so as not to let ourselves be carried away by our state of mind at the time. The way we live charity, overcoming sudden ill-temper, making an effort to be warm, good-natured and considerate towards others -- these will be important, as will our efforts to finish off the work we have offered to God, without skimping or taking any shortcuts, doing it as well as we possibly can and using the means to receive the formation we need...

There will be moments of victory and defeat, of falling and of rising again. We must always begin again ...; it is what God asks of all of us. The struggle demands a love that is vigilant and an effective desire to seek God throughout the day. This cheerful struggle is the exact opposite of lukewarmness, which is characterized by carelessness, a lack of interest in seeking God, laziness and sadness in fulfilling our obligations towards God and other people.

In Conversation With God Vol 4

Tags: Catholicism, Christianity

What You Need to Know About the War in the Middle East

American Papist has put together a wonderful set of resources. I haven't said much about this because quite frankly I'm not very well informed, so I especially welcome this set of links.

However, I will add these links to Middle East bloggers that I read regularly. Keep an eye on them for commentary as well. If nothing else it gives an interesting insight to more than one side of the conflict.

• Perpetual Refugee who is in Lebanon.
• Sand Gets in My Eyes in Saudi Arabia.
• Middle East Journal, a reporter who has been all over the place.
• On the Face who is in Israel.

Updates

• Against the Grain has some additional news and commentary to add to the links given us by American Papist.
• Spero News has had very good coverage throughout.
  
• GOP Soccer Mom has been waiting for people to remember their history about what people were offered opportunities that they short-sightedly turned down.
• Sand Gets in My Eyes points out an unexpected though welcome reaction from the Saudis.

  In making the statement, King Abdullah clearly condemns Hezbollah for their actions and lays the responsibility for making things right firmly on their heads.
  
  “It’s your mess,” he tells them. “Clean it up.”
  
  Instead of spewing Arab hatred at Israel and questioning the measure of their response, the King publicly reprimands Iranian-backed Hezbollah calling them irresponsible and unaccountable...
  
  And King Abdullah isn’t the only Saudi official speaking out...

Tags: Catholicism, Christianity

Photo of the Week

Via American Papist

I Guess I Misjudged How Much Animals Love Me

Your Famous Last Words Will Be:

"Nice doggy."

What Will Your Famous Last Words Be?

Via Minivan Mom who shows a certain recklessness that seems about right.

It's Pretty Clear That We Need More Pirates

Since I'm all about saving the environment and everything. Via Listen 2 Your Uncle Jay who I found thanks to March Hare (who you all should be reading!).

The Interior Struggle and Failure

It is really true that how we treat failure in our lives is just as important as how we treat success.

In the interior struggle we will also meet with failures. Many such failures will be unimportant; other will be more serious, but our atonement and our contrition will bring us even closer to God. And if ever we smash into small pieces what we felt was most precious in our life, God will be able to mend that very thing if we are humble. He always forgives us and helps us when we turn to him with a contrite heart. We must learn to begin again many times; with new joy, with new humility, for even if we have caused serious offence to God and have done much harm to other people, we can still later come very close to God in this life and be happy with him in the next, as long as there is true repentance, as long as we make room in our lives for penance, humility, sincerity and repentance -- and begin again.

God allows for our weakness and always forgives us, but we need to be sincere, to repent and to struggle to rise up again. There is incomparable joy in heaven each time we begin again. Throughout our journey on earth we will have to do so many times, because there will always be faults, shortcomings, weaknesses and sins for us to recover from. May we never lack the straightforwardness to acknowledge this and to open our souls to Our Lord in the Tabernacle and in spiritual direction.

In Conversation With God Vol 4

Tags: Catholicism, Christianity

Powerful Stuff

Rosalind Moss's talk, "Mary, Our Jewish Mother" which can be found on iTunes under Ave Maria University Presents. Not just about Mary but also about her conversion when she accepted that Jesus was the Messiah. Here's the link to their website.

Tags: Catholicism, Christianity

What Happened Here?

In Mountain Meadows, Utah on September 7, 1857.

Aaargh! Apologies to all ... I mistyped and got the date wrong. Based on the comments so far I think that my brother and Rick Lugari are clued in on this incident.

Answer (in invisi-type)
The Fancher party, comprising more than 120 emigrants from Arkansas headed to California by wagon train, was attacked by a party variously described as Paiute Indians acting at the behest of Mormons, or Mormons disguised as Indians, or a combination of Mormons and Indians. The emigrants were besieged for five days; then a group of Mormons promised to lead them to safety. Instead, on September 11, they shot all but seventeen of the emigrants point-blank in what is now called the Mountain Meadows Massacre. The seventeen survivors, all children under five, were distributed among Mormon families. All but one were later recovered by a federal agent.

To Persecute the Church is to Persecute Jesus

I never thought about it this way ... about how it applies to us today.

Those people who claim to approach Christ whilst leaving his Church to one side, and even causing her harm, may one day get the same surprise as Saint Paul did when he was on his way to Damascus: I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. (Acts 9:5) And, the Venerable Bede reflects that He does not say "why are you persecuting my members, but why are you persecuting me?" For He is still affronted in his Body, which is the Church. Paul did not know until that moment that to persecute the Church was to persecute Jesus himself. When he speaks about the Church later on, he does so in words that describe her as the Body of Christ; (1 Cor 12:27) and he describes the faithful as members of Christ's Body. (1 Cor 2:27) It is not possible to love, follow or listen to Christ, without loving, following, or listening to the Church, because she is the presence, at once sacramental and mysterious, of Our Lord, who prolongs his saving mission in the world to the very end of time.

In Conversation With God Vol 4

Tags: Catholicism, Christianity

Where'd That Word Come From: Armadillo

This peculiar animal -- noted for its distinctive armored appearance -- gets its name from the diminutive form of the Spanish word armado, which means "armed man." The root word is the Latin verb armare, meaning "to arm."

The Word Origin Calendar

Quickest Movie Reviews Ever

DIE HARD
I waited too long to see this and the genre has passed it by. It is sadly dated. I watched for 45 minutes to give it a fair chance, also since I like Alan Rickman and Bruce Willis ... *yawn*. Predictable. The clever lines ... weren't. Next!

JACKIE BROWN
Lauded by critics everywhere. Written and directed by Quinten Tarentino whose movies I'd never seen. Also, it was based on an Elmore Leonard novel, which worked marvelously well for Get Shorty and Out of Sight. Here's more proof (beyond X3) that the director can kill a good premise in a movie. That's another two hours of my life I'll never get back. Too long, story told in an extremely uninteresting way and a complete waste of top notch acting talent.

Update on My Friend Cynthia

Just got this news from someone who saw her this morning.

She has been moved from the ICU to a regular hospital room (#822). They had just gone through a physical therapy session, with Cynthia walking for the first time (with assistance). Her right side is still only at about 70%, which is a great deal better than the 0% of a few days ago. Her angiogram indicates that the blood vessel sealed itself, so surgery may not be necessary. However, a great deal of rehab will be required.

Praise God and keep those prayers coming!

Tags: Catholicism, Christianity

Second Verse, Same as the First

The socks are done!
Hannah put them on as soon as the last one came off my needles and
I had a difficult time getting her to take them off for this photo. Quite satisfying!

Next up, a pair for Rose using Magic Stripes yarn.

Also, I'm beginning a feather and fan patterned afghan for Hannah to take to school. I'm realistic ... just hoping to get it done before she graduates! I am using Plymouth Encore Worsted because you've gotta be able to throw this in the washer and dryer. She chose Soft Rose for the main color and Cranberry for the contrasting color.

The Whole Scoop on the Holy Grail

Grail Code by Michael Aquilina and Christopher Bailey

I have written about this book fairly frequently so y'all know that I like and recommend it. Upon finishing it, I think that the thing that stands out the most is just how much our age misunderstands the grail story in its entirety, misled by story tellers of long ago who misinterpreted it to suit their times (almost Da Vinci Code style one might say). If you are at all interested in refuting the Da Vinci Code or in the stories of King Arthur and the Holy Grail then you owe it to yourself to get the whole story.

By the way, speaking of the Holy Grail which Valencia has some longstanding claims for, check this out.

Tags: Catholicism, Christianity

Prayer Request for My Friend Cynthia

I was greatly shocked by the news that my friend Cynthia Vasquez is in ICU suffering from an aneurysm. She's a vibrant 30 year old who is loving and giving ... I also have worked with her as a client where she was a dream to work with.

Please pray for her recovery and for her family.

Tags: Catholicism, Christianity

Knit Bit

"Knitting for Britain" was something of an escape from more serious work at a British boarding school during World War II. I suppose therapeutic, perhaps, at a time when life was so tangled. But no one ever thought it odd that a school of 200 boys should be busily whiling away the hours in such an activity as knitting.

"When Knitting Was a Manly Art" by Clinton Trowbridge
from the Christian Science Monitor, December 5, 1997

Get Your Thinking Caps On

From the Mensa Puzzler Calendar.

Find the word that best completes the following sequence.

NINE EIGHT TEN NINETEEN

a) SEVEN
b) TWENTY
c) NINETY

Did I get this? Pfft! No!

ANSWER
Mark Mossa emailed me the answer about 30 seconds after I posted this so I'll go ahead and put it up now...

c) NINETY (each word starts with the last letter of the preceding word).

On Loving Our Enemies

Copying this into my quote journal tonight, I thought of the uproar caused some time ago about a blogger who admitted that she had deliberately passed by a mother and small children whose car was broken down because at the last minute she saw a political sticker she didn't agree with (either Vote Republican or something in support of George Bush ... I can't remember and that isn't the point anyway). Later, I am so happy to say that the blogger repented although many of her commenters were much less praiseworthy in their wholehearted approval of her initial actions.

Then I thought of this post that I read today at The Anchoress. I confess that I didn't go read the original linked commentary because what The Anchoress said made it very clear that this woman was so enraged that she was almost not recognizable as a human through her hatred. I didn't want to read it in the original. I didn't want to sully my mind with words I probably wouldn't be able to forget. Honestly, I felt real pity for that woman who was letting her emotions control her actions so. I am going to pray for her. (You know that prayer by now, right? "Lord have mercy on me and bless her...)

I was going to post this next week but thought that maybe now was a better time. It is a longer version of one of my favorite quotes from one of my very favorite saints ... Augustine ... seems all too appropriate to the situation of the woman who said that her enemy and his child were "no longer human."

Saint Augustine (354-430)
Bishop of Hippo (North Africa) and Doctor of the Church
Commentary on the 1st Letter of John, 8,10

"It is mercy I desire"

In loving your enemy, you want him to be your brother. You do not love in him what he is, but what you want him to be. Let us imagine some oak wood that has not been carved. A capable craftsman sees this wood that has been cut in the forest; he likes the wood. I do not know what he wants to make out of it, but the artist does not love this wood so that it might remain as it is. His art lets him see what the wood can become. He does not love the rough wood; he loves what he will make of it, not the rough wood.

That is how God loved us when we were sinners. For he said: "People who are in good health do not need a doctor; sick people do." Did he love us sinners so that we might remain sinners? The craftsman saw us like a piece of rough wood coming from the forest, and what he had in mind was the work he would draw from there, not the wood from the forest.

It is the same with you: you see your enemy who opposes you, who overwhelms you with scathing words, who is harsh in his insults, who pursues you with his hatred. But you are attentive to the fact that he is a human being. You see everything that this person did against you, and you see in him that he was created by God. What he is as a human being is God's work; the hatred he bears towards you is his own work. And what do you say to yourself? "Lord, be kind to him, forgive his sins, inspire him with fear of you, change him." In this person, you do not love what he is, but what you want him to be. Thus, when you love your enemy, you love a brother.

Via DGO

Tags: Catholicism, Christianity