Moving Along

I began this site in January of 2011. Since then 25 posts have appeared. This will be the last.

In the posts which have appeared, with only a few exceptions, I have generally attempted to provide reaction to films which have touched different parts of my own spirit and I have also sought to introduce to readers films of substance which I believe are worthy of their own attention (to repeat, there are a few exceptions).

While my last post has appeared here, I wish to continue doing what I began in January of 2011. Paralleling what was happening here, I wish to direct readers to Musings on Film, which is where I will present film-related posts.  If you like the looks of that location, and wish to receive updates when I post something, I invite you to click on the button "Follow Musings on Film" which is on the right sidebar of the blog page.

I am proud of the content of the bulk of posts which have appeared here, and happy for the conversations which occurred. I hope, in general, the films identified have cultivated in viewers things which are worthy of cultivating.

Religulous (2008)

In his article “The Rise of the ‘New Atheists’,” Simon Hooper describes commonly seen representatives of such a phenomenon as sharing the belief that religion should not simply be tolerated but should --- especially when its influence rises --- be countered, criticized and exposed by rational thought. Viewing religion as “detrimental to the progress of humanity,” Bill Maher’s documentary Religulous seeks to contribute to this aim.

Maher is a comedian and there is a lot of laughs within Religulous and a lot of laughs motivated (in me, at least) by Religulous. Certainly Maher's camera is not as kind as it could be and certainly some of those with whom he speaks are made to look stupid, but this is not entirely Maher’s creation ex nihilo; he has plenty of material to work with here. Conversely, when Maher’s thanks a particular group of Christians for being, as he puts it, "Christ-like" to him, Maher is genuine, and when he leaves them joking that one has nicked his wallet you can tell that each party has enjoyed the presence of the other.

At the Second Vatican Council, in reflecting upon specific kinds of atheism, one such kind stems from “a faulty notion of God [which] when they disown this product of their imagination [results in] their rejection [of something which has] no reference to the God of the Gospels” (The Church in the Modern World, Paragraph 19). So, for example, when Maher impersonates a Scientologist at the Speaker’s Corner of London’s Hyde Park, a disownment is being encouraged that has, in my view, very little to do with the God that I, as a Catholic person, believe Jesus reveals. In many ways the religion attacked in Religulous bears little correspondence with the theology that motivates the Catholicism I experience in the Church. As a result, in many ways I share Maher’s desire to see disowned a certain religious product which, to me, has no reference to the God of the Gospels.

We Have a Pope (2011)

Habemus Papam --- We Have a Pope --- is billed as a comedy. While there are all sorts of gentle instances of humour throughout, comedy is a stretch and I would not think it was the genre intended by the filmmaker Nanni Moretti. For Catholic viewers perhaps sensitive to the way in which their expression of faith is treated, Habemus Papam, in my opinion, avoids caricature of the Church nor does it engage in disrespectful polemics against either the Pope or his office. In fact, as a Catholic person, I found this film particularly thought provoking. 

I recall reading that when it appeared he might be elected pontiff, Benedict XVI described feeling as if a “guillotine” was coming down upon him. Telling a German audience of pilgrims that he prayed to be spared, Benedict playfully adds: “Evidently this time he [God] didn’t listen to me.”

Habemus Papam are words proclaimed from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica after which the newly elected Pope makes his first appearance to representatives of the world gathered below in St. Peter’s Square. When these words (which mean "We Have a Pope") are announced in this 2011 Italian film a horrible shriek is heard followed by tears and words such as “help me” and “I can’t do this!” All are coming from the newly elected Pope.

A therapist specializing in psychoanalysis is sought by the Vatican and brought to the Pope. I just can’t go on, the newly elected Pope explains to the therapist. God sees abilities in me I don’t have. Where are these abilities? I look for them and find nothing. Unable to work freely with the Pope, the therapist suggests the Pope be taken to another therapist (the therapist suggests his own estranged wife). A session is arranged, and when brought into contact with her, the Pope explains: I can’t do anything anymore. I’m always tired … I’d like to do so much. Upon leaving her office, the Pope evades his own security and loses himself among the people of the city of Rome.

Monsieur Lazhar (2012)

Someone once --- humourously, I thought --- reduced the diversity in films about teachers to the following: Viewers would experience either an inspirational teacher bringing his or her own passion and dedication to inner-city students so full of potential (but seen by previous teachers as beyond hope), or would experience an inspirational teacher bringing his or her passion and dedication to capable but bored suburban students who, until now, have taken what they have for granted. Occasional aberrations would place a mercenary in a school as an undercover substitute, replacing --- perhaps --- a teacher-girlfriend who had been knee-capped by her students, or a teacher-brother who had been murdered (violence resulting from that teacher’s discovery of, for example, a massive drug operation being run from the basement of the school).

Monsieur Lazhar, a Quebec-based picture and Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, has other interests. An elementary classroom in Montreal has experienced the unexpected death of its teacher, and Monsieur Lazhar, claiming to have taught in Algeria for nineteen years and to now be be a permanent resident of Canada, presents himself as being able to immediately fill the vacancy left by the dead teacher.

His methods are old-world. After Lazhar places the desks of his students in neat lines (rather than in groups) one colleague responds that it has been years since she has seen this. Also, Monsieur Lazhar seems not to have received any Memo about physical contact with the children as, without much hesitation, he smacks one misbehaving boy across the head (Lazhar, after a student tells him to apologize, is told that he is not in Saudi Arabia anymore).  Lazhar does not know what to do with the lap-top left by his predecessor, uses the writings of Balzac in his dictations to students, and speaks to his students in prehistoric, Balzac-like language. His classroom is as colourless as a hospital, and his experimentation with methods of classroom control (like counting backwards from five, for example) are not particularly effective.

Apocalypto (2006)

Jaguar Paw & Mel Gibson

Apocalypto is the fourth film directed by Mel Gibson (and only the second to be written, directed and produced by him). Having seen Apocalypto recently for only the second time, I was reminded of just how good Gibson is at what he does.

The narrative largely unfolds in a jungle, and if the spoken Yucatec Mayan language is any indication, Apocalypto is likely taking place in south-eastern Mexico (or perhaps northern Belize). Likely set in the early sixteenth century, I recognize a certain anachronism in speaking of a Mexico or a Belize long before either would have been identified as such.

The film begins with a number of Mayan tribesmen hunting in a forest. After successfully catching an animal, the tribesmen are encountered by a group of persons whose community has been attacked and who seek to pass through the jungle. Unaware of their own impending doom, the community to which the Mayan tribesmen belong has only one more night of peace before they too will be attacked by warriors in search of persons who will eventually be sacrificed to the god Kukulkan. Before being captured, the Mayan tribesman Jaguar Paw succeeds in hiding his wife Seven, and their son Turtles Run. Lowering them into a deep cave, the pregnant Seven and Turtles Run are outside of immediate danger but have no means of escape. A good deal of Apocalypto surrounds the attempts of Jaguar Paw to return and save his wife and son.

On their last night of peace, the Mayan community gathers around an old man who tells them a story of Man “drenched deep in sadness:” In the story, the animals, not liking the sight of the man so sad, approach him and invite him to seek from them whatever he wishes. Asking for sight, the man receives it from the vulture. Seeking strength, the jaguar then shares his with the man. The man, wanting to know the secrets of the earth, finds in the serpent the reply: ‘I will show them to you.’ The story teller continues: "And so it went with all the animals. And when the Man had all the gifts that they could give, he left. Then the owl said to the other animals: ‘Now the Man knows much and is able to do many things. Suddenly I am afraid.’ The deer said: ‘The Man has all that he needs. Now his sadness will stop.’ But the owl replied: ‘No. I saw a hole in the Man. Deep like a hunger he will never fill. It is what makes him sad and what makes him want. He will go on taking and taking until one day the World will say: ‘I am no more and I have nothing left to give.’"

SUPER (2011)

SUPER, a peculiar 2011 film directed by James Gunn, brings together two emerging actors I very much enjoy.

The first of these is Rainn Wilson (Dwight Schrute of The Office) who plays a cook named Frank D’Arbo. Frank sees himself as a real loser. In a particularly authentic scene, the viewer is given a glimpse of a prayer Frank offers: “Other people have goodness. They have good things; they have love and tenderness, people who care about their lives. They’re not humiliated at every turn. Other people have things God.” Frank owns only two moments which have brought him pleasure, and one of these, his marrying a recovering addict named Sarah, has unraveled.

In fact, the happenings of SUPER are precipitated by the sudden departure of Sarah. Previous to her leaving Frank, Jacques (played by Kevin Bacon) arrives on Frank’s door. Jacques asks for Sarah's whereabouts, and Frank, oblivious to the fact that Jacques has succeeded in luring Sarah from him, agrees to share his breakfast with the man. Film critic Roger Ebert, while no fan of SUPER, nonetheless congratulates Bacon for his performance, noting his is a character “who visits as if an ambassador from another, better, movie.”

For the Bible Tells Me So (2007)

For the Bible Tells Me So, (available here), a documentary written and directed by Daniel Karslake, interacts with five different families. In each family, a member has come forth and revealed him or herself as a gay or lesbian person, and as each family is a Christian one, For the Bible Tells Me So unfolds the relationship between a gay or lesbian loved one and the larger Christian community and its sacred text which stigmatizes such persons.

Some of the gay or lesbian persons within these five families might be known to viewers (for example, Gene Robinson, the Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire, or Chrissy Gephardt, the daughter of 2004 American presidential candidate Dick Gephardt) but others will be less generally known. For the Bible Tells Me So does not rely on the fame of the families or persons interviewed.

The Robinson, Poteat, Reitan, Gephardt and Wallner families are from Kentucky, North Carolina, Minnesota, Washington D.C., and Arkansas, respectively. They are five loving families (which is not to say that each reaction to the revelation of their family member is loving or accepting). Presenting loving families, as For the Bible Tells Me So does, makes it difficult in these five specific contexts to attribute a discovered gay or lesbian identity to some fault in nurturing. In the past it was common to describe a man’s attraction to other men (or a woman’s attraction to other women) in terms of a person’s sexual preference (in the case of men, a preference made possible, even if subconsciously, on account of having an absent male parenting figure, for example). This made it easy to place at the origin of such a preference, a person’s choice (and gave justification to the view that a homosexual identity could be corrected through therapy). Gene Robinson, however, talks of being with his Grade 7 friends who had discovered a pornographic magazine, and how the magazine produced in his friends a reaction that it did not in him. It was not Robinson’s choice to not be attracted to women.