Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast

Mel Gibson's Apocalypto is one of those works of art whose reputation has suffered from its circumstances. Its release in late 2006, two years after The Passion and six month after Gibson's infamous DUI, more or less coincided with the director's blacklisting from Hollywood. Thus Apocalypto tends to be overlooked by critics, despite having been hailed as a masterpiece by the likes of Scorsese, Tarantino, Edgar Wright, and Spike Lee. Apocalypto has also been attacked for its portrayal of "first peoples". Set in Mesoamerica immediately before first contact with the Spanish, it features a protagonist from a small forest tribe who is captured by Mayans for the purpose of human sacrifice (depicted as the mass-scale brutality it was) and must try to escape back to his family.  Gibson's depiction of Mesoamerican peoples is sensitive and sympathetic but not PC. Rather than sneering at how terrible a pre-Columbian civilization could be, in portraying the Mayans Gibson wanted to make us reflect on the decadence of the modern West and in particular the American Empire. The film is about a culture of death not unlike our own. Filmed, like The Passion, in a language most people have never heard, Apocalypto is a stunningly ambitious recreation of a lost civilization, but also a thoroughly entertaining chase movie. Gibson is known for his singular approach to cinematic violence, and Apocalypto gives ample opportunity to discuss the specific artistic choices that are overlooked when we wave off all movie "blood and guts" as the same. Links Essay by the film's historical consultant https://www.researchgate.net/publication/288187016_Relativism_Revisionism_Aboriginalism_and_EmicEtic_Truth_The_Case_Study_of_Apocalypto DONATE to make these shows possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio Go to Catholic Culture's website for tons of written content, including news, articles, liturgical year info, and a vast library of documents: https://www.catholicculture.org

0:00 The prosecution 39:15 The defense With the release of his new film Asteroid City and with memes imitating his cinematic style going viral on social media, Wes Anderson is having a real moment in the zeitgeist almost thirty years into his career. In Asteroid City, Anderson drives further into the immediately identifiable and somewhat polarizing style he has cultivated for the past decade, characterized by meticulous framing, camera moves and blocking, a certain color palette, and deadpan writing and acting. One is always aware of the director's hand tightly controlling a cute, harmonious little world of his own creation. The Criteria hosts look at Anderson's career and try to figure out what he's trying to achieve by making his movies so aggressively, well, Anderson-y. James Majewski calls it downright decadent and pretentious, style for its own sake to the point of self-parody. Thomas Mirus is concerned that the increasingly airless and emotionally closed-down aesthetic may be a reflection of Anderson's belief that life has no discernible meaning, and so there is nothing much to do other than create aesthetic illusions (an idea explicitly alluded to in more than one of his films). Nathan Douglas defends Anderson's style as sincere, in service to something more than shallow visual pleasure. But we all agree on one thing: Wes Anderson is in despair. DONATE to make these shows possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio Go to Catholic Culture's website for tons of written content, including news, articles, liturgical year info, and a vast library of documents: https://www.catholicculture.org

Jim Caviezel’s latest project, The Sound of Freedom, is a harrowing but thrilling look at the fight against the global sex trafficking of children. Caviezel's intense but nuanced performance plays well into both the serious subject matter and the film's mainstream appeal. The film's spiritual relevance is increased by the choice to include not only protective fathers, but a repentant exploiter among its protagonists.  Though the film isn't about Hollywood, one of its best scenes offers what may as well be a portrayal of how the entertainment and modeling industries sexualize children. The impact is all the more unsettling for how subtly and tastefully the scene is handled. Though they praise the film, Thomas and James express some reservations about the “you must see this movie for the cause” style of promotion.

Since we started Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast in May 2020, we've been hosting in-depth discussions of movies from the Vatican's 1995 list of important films. Now, after three years, we've finished discussing all 45 films - and in this episode, together with Catholic filmmaker Nathan Douglas, we're taking a look back at the list as a whole. After discussing how and why the Vatican film list (actually titled "Some Important Films") was made, and putting it in the context of several decades of concern from the highest levels of the Vatican about the social and moral influence of cinema, we talk about our favorite and least favorite films on the Vatican's list, as well as the movies we think should be added in a hypothetical future update of the list. Ultimately, watching through the entire Vatican film list is not only an education in the classics of world cinema, but also gives  important perspective on the strengths and weaknesses of past cinematic engagement with religion, allowing us to see both the potential fruit that could be borne and the dead ends that should be avoided in the Catholic cinema of the future. 0:00 Introduction 11:31 History behind the Vatican film list 43:34 What films should be removed from the list? 1:24:10 Our favorite films on the list 1:55:30 What films should have been included that weren't? 2:34:09 What post-1995 films would we add? 3:00:19 The most Catholic/edifying films on the list Links Pope St. John Paul II's address on the 100th birthday of cinema https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/speeches/1995/march/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_19950317_plen-pccs.html "100 Years of Cinema" document from the Pontifical Council of Social Communications with model curriculum https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/pccs/documents/rc_pc_pccs_doc_19960101_100-cinema_en.html Below is the 1995 list by the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, "Some Important Films" (with links to our episode on each film): Religion Andrei Rublev, Andrei Tarkovsky (1969, USSR) The Mission, Roland Joffé (1986, UK) The Passion of Joan of Arc, Carl T. Dreyer (1928, France) Vie et passion du Christ (Life and Passion of Christ), Ferdinand Zecca and Lucien Nonguet (1905, France) The Flowers of St. Francis, Roberto Rossellini (1950, Italy) The Gospel According to Matthew, Pier Paolo Pasolini (1964, France/Italy) Thérèse, Alain Cavalier (1986, France) Ordet (The Word), Carl T. Dreyer (1955, Denmark) The Sacrifice, Andrei Tarkowsky (1986, Sweden/UK/France) Francesco, Liliana Cavani (1989, Italy/Germany) Ben-Hur, William Wyler (1959, USA) Babette’s Feast, Gabriel Axel (1987, Denmark) Nazarín, Luis Buñuel (1958, Mexico) Monsieur Vincent, Maurice Cloche (1947, France) A Man for All Seasons, Fred Zinnemann (1966, UK) Values Gandhi, Richard Attenborough (1982, UK/USA/India) Intolerance, D. W. Griffith (1916, USA) Dekalog (The Decalogue), Krzysztof Kieslowski (1987, Poland) Au Revoir, Les Enfants (Goodbye, Children), Louis Malle (1987, France) Dersu Uzala, Akira Kurosawa (1974, Japan) The Tree of Wooden Clogs, Ermanno Olmi (1978, Italy/France) Rome, Open City, Roberto Rossellini (1946, Italy) Wild Strawberries, Ingmar Bergman (1957, Sweden) The Seventh Seal, Ingmar Bergman (1957, Sweden) Chariots of Fire, Hugh Hudson (1981, UK) Bicycle Thieves, Vittorio de Sica (1948, Italy) It’s a Wonderful Life, Frank Capra (1946, USA) Schindler’s List, Steven Spielberg (1993, USA) On the Waterfront, Elia Kazan (1954, USA) The Burmese Harp, Kon Ichikawa (1956, Japan) Art 2001: A Space Odyssey, Stanley Kubrick (1968, UK/USA) La Strada, Federico Fellini (1954, Italy) Citizen Kane, Orson Welles (1941, USA) Metropolis, Fritz Lang (1927, Germany) Modern Times, Charlie Chaplin (1936, USA) Napoléon, Abel Gance (1927, Italy) 8½, Federico Fellini (1963, Italy) La Grande Illusion, Jean Renoir (1937, France) Nosferatu, F. W. Murnau (1922, Germany) Stagecoach, John Ford (1939, USA) The Leopard, Luchino Visconti (1963, Italy/France) Fantasia (1940, USA) The Wizard of Oz, Victor Fleming (1939, USA) The Lavender Hill Mob, Charles Crichton (1951, UK) Little Women, George Cukor (1933, USA)

The new film Padre Pio, directed by Abel Ferrara and starring Shia LaBeouf, is ruined by a pornographic and sacrilegious scene involving abuse of a sacred image. James Majewski and Thomas Mirus contend that conscientious Catholics must not see this movie. They explain the difference between portraying an act and committing that act, and how that line can be obliterated on a film set. They discuss the reality behind holy images, and the importance of making reparation for sacrilege. First Saturdays devotion to make reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary: https://www.bluearmy.com/first-saturday-devotion/ Thomas Mirus wrote a summary of the arguments in this podcast for the Dappled Things blog: https://www.dappledthings.org/deep-down-things/about-that-padre-pio-film This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio Go to Catholic Culture's website for tons of written content, including news, articles, liturgical year info, and a vast library of documents: https://www.catholicculture.org

In this livestream, James Majewski and Thomas Mirus we discussed errors artists can fall into in pushing back against a moralistic approach to art found within the Church. Rather than reacting away from rigidity to excessive openness, the mature Catholic artist has to get over himself and be a servant. Also discussed: The relation between order and surprise in beauty, morality and culture. Note: the video begins abruptly in the middle of our introductory fundraising campaign pitch - because of some glitched-out audio, we cut the first 6 minutes or so. We're a week into CatholicCulture.org's May fundraising campaign. Generous donors have offered a $50,000 matching grant, so any donation you make by May 24 will double in value! You can donate on our website or PayPal (tax-deductible).  Donation links below: http://www.CatholicCulture.org/donate  https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=DZRZRJ5723MLA Go to Catholic Culture's website for tons of content, including news, articles, podcasts, liturgical year info, and a vast library of documents: https://www.catholicculture.org

After three years discussing the Vatican’s 1995 list of 45 important films, Thomas and James have finally reached the final movie! Made in 1927, it’s a five-and-a-half-hour long, epic, technically dazzling silent film about Napoleon. Napoleon trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6504eRh5h6M This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio Go to Catholic Culture's website for tons of written content, including news, articles, liturgical year info, and a vast library of documents: https://www.catholicculture.org Music is The Duskwhales, “Take It Back”, used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com

We'll be doing YouTube livestreams on the next 3 Monday evenings, as part of CatholicCulture.org's May fundraising campaign. In these freewheeling conversations, you'll have the opportunity to ask questions and prompt discussion in the live chat box! 5/8, 8pm ET - Mike Aquilina (host, Way of the Fathers podcast) 5/15, 8pm ET - Thomas Mirus & James Majewski (hosts,Catholic Culture Podcast, Catholic Culture Audiobooks, Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast) 5/22, 8pm ET - Phil Lawler & Jeff Mirus (CatholicCulture.org writers) You can use this link to connect to the Mike Aquilina livestream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNXvhOJuLZ8 The links to the other two livestreams will go up on the Catholic Culture YouTube channel a few days before each one.

The Miracle Maker, a little-known animated Gospel film with Ralph Fiennes as the voice of Jesus, deserves a place in any Christian family's Easter viewing. Its beautifully crafted mix of stop-motion and traditional 2D animation engages the imagination without dominating it in a way that live-action cinema can't. It's also a masterful piece of adaptation, compressing the story of Christ into 88 minutes. It somehow retains the compactness of the Gospel accounts, yet feels fleshed out by subtle touches and connections within the existing material rather than overmuch invention. For this discussion, Thomas and James are joined by Timothy Reckart (animator and director of the Oscar-nominated stop-motion short Head Over Heels, and of the feature-length Christmas movie The Star). Watch Tim Reckart's short film Head Over Heels https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96D-bRx5KuU Music is The Duskwhales, “Take It Back”, used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com

Filmed in Rome just after its liberation from the Nazis, while the rest of Italy was still at war, Roberto Rossellini's Rome, Open City documents a unique moment in the history of the Eternal City. With its story of working-class Italians secretly resisting Nazi occupiers, Open City did much to dispose Americans more kindly toward a defeated Italy, and made the cinematic movement of Italian neo-realism internationally famous. Art historian Elizabeth Lev joins the Criteria team to discuss this classic, included on the 1995 Vatican film list under the category of Values.  Catholicism is central to the film, with Aldo Fabrizi playing one of the great heroic movie priests, almost an Italian counterpart to the one in On the Waterfront. But it's also interesting how the film manipulates recent history to serve as a kind of propaganda for Italian unity and the rehabilitation of Italy's global image in the post-fascist period - "art as diplomacy", as Lev calls it. https://www.elizabeth-lev.com/ https://nwdouglas.com/about Music is The Duskwhales, “Take It Back”, used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com