Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast

Fr. Brendon Laroche joins Thomas to review Denis Villeneuve's film Dune: Part One. Fr. Brendon, who knows the original novel by Frank Herbert well, gives his thoughts on how the film fares as an adaptation, and on what Catholics ought to make of the religious elements of Herbert's novel. Watch discussion on YouTube: https://youtu.be/8wB7-jPIHPM Links Discussion of Catholic sci-fi author Gene Wolfe with Fr. Brendon https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-77-gene-wolfe-catholic-sci-fi-legend-sandra-miesel-fr-brendon-laroche/ Fr. Brendon on Twitter https://twitter.com/padrebrendon Music is The Duskwhales, “Take It Back”, used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com/ This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation is a landmark of world cinema and arguably gave birth to Hollywood on an economic level. A technical masterpiece said to have established the grammar of cinema, it is also an astonishingly racist film (and was considered so even in 1915), portraying black people as subhuman and the Ku Klux Klan as civilization-saving heroes. Griffith’s follow-up, Intolerance: Love’s Struggle Through the Ages, was even more ambitious, telling four stories in four different time periods: the fall of Babylon, the life and passion of Christ, the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, and a modern love story. While the film condemns intolerance, it is not Griffith’s apology for Birth of a Nation, but rather his self-defense against his critics. In this episode James and Thomas discuss both films, trying to understand what sort of artist Griffith was and what his Founding Father status in Hollywood history might tell us about cinema as a medium of entertainment and emotional manipulation. The Birth of a Nation is an exceedingly well-crafted but fundamentally immoral work which offers some food for thought about the power of cinematic rhetoric. Intolerance is included in the Values category of the Vatican film list, but James and Thomas find it to be an incoherent, empty spectacle whose attempt to attribute all of human tragedy to the single vice of “intolerance” falls laughably flat. (And it also has its immoral side, if less fundamentally.) We hate to say it, but the earlier film is the superior one on the level of storytelling craft. If you don’t want to choose between racist and incoherent, though, watch Griffith’s later melodrama Broken Blossoms, which unlike Intolerance, actually does contradict the racism of his most famous film. Watch discussion on YouTube: https://youtu.be/JawFbn-b7B0 Links The Birth of a Nation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kN_o3zeD81g Intolerance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIMpKXR83pg Broken Blossoms https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQXb89LXuJo Music is The Duskwhales, “Take It Back”, used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com/ This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Oratorian brother and visual artist Joshua Vargas joins Thomas and James to discuss Season 2 of The Chosen. The series continues to set a high imaginative standard in its portrayal of the Twelve Apostles, each of whom has a distinctive personality and several of whom have beautifully fleshed-out backstories (the calling of Nathanael being one of the standout episodes of this season). Jonathan Roumie continues to shine in his performance as Jesus, and we also find the filmmakers stretching their cinematic chops and experimenting with various methods of storytelling. The Protestant-written show also ventured into more problematic theological territory this season, so a review would be incomplete without an evaluation of its controversial treatment of the Virgin Mary and of Jesus' human knowledge. While falling short of a Catholic view, these allow for some nuance; but the portrayal of John the Baptist is purely disappointing. Watch discussion on YouTube: https://youtu.be/iREGf8C6_tM Links The Chosen, Season 1 discussion https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/chosen-education-in-meditation/ Thomas’s interview with Jonathan Roumie on the Catholic Culture Podcast https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-76-playing-jesus-on-chosen-jonathan-roumie/ Buy Brother Joshua’s work on Etsy https://www.etsy.com/shop/ArtbyJoshuaVargas Music is The Duskwhales, “Take It Back”, used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com/ This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

In 1943 Warsaw, a little Jewish girl is brought to the home of a Catholic woman who has offered to provide her a fake baptismal certificate so she could be safely settled with a Catholic family. Upon her arrival, though, the woman turns her away, saying it is against the principles of her religion to lie. This scenario sets up the events of Kieslowski's 1988 film Dekalog: Eight, in which decades later, that little girl, who had escaped to America and survived, returns to Warsaw to confront the woman in order to make sense of what happened to her. What ensues is an exploration of what it really means to bear false witness. We see a variety of ways in which Polish people learned to cope with the trauma of the years of Nazi occupation and Communist rule, and to reconcile with themselves and others after making various moral and psychological compromises to survive. Watch discussion on YouTube: https://youtu.be/8aFQcgmUvzo Music is The Duskwhales, “Take It Back”, used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com/ This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Film critic and deacon Steven Greydanus joins the show to discuss one of the best movies about a saint ever made, Monsieur Vincent. The film depicts St. Vincent de Paul's invention of the organized charity we take for granted today, and his struggle to stay personally close to the poor despite the practical need to court the favor of the rich to support his work. This isn't a film about a man conflicted about his basic identity or goal in life, nor is does it culminate in the beginning of a conversion—rather, it shows the continual deepening and conversion characteristic of the life of holiness. That is a very rare thing: a compelling drama about a soul already advanced in the spiritual life. This outstanding piece of narrative filmmaking won the Oscar 1948 for best foreign film, yet it is underappreciated, underseen and underdiscussed; this is the only discussion of the film in English you’ll find on YouTube. Greydanus suggests that Monsieur Vincent, of all the films on the Vatican’s list, may do the best job of uniting truth, goodness and beauty, and thus in a sense belongs in each of the list’s three categories: Religion, Values, and Art. Watch discussion on YouTube: https://youtu.be/5SrmmqNQgkc Links Steven Greydanus's writing at www.DecentFilms.com Music is The Duskwhales, “Take It Back”, used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com/ This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

James and Thomas, with the help of filmmaker and critic Nathan Douglas, tackle Alain Cavalier's 1986 film Thérèse, an unconventional portrait of the beloved French saint known as the Little Flower. It gives them a chance to ask the question: What makes for a great saint movie? One of the great strengths of the film is actress Catherine Mouchet's amazing physical resemblance to Thérèse, but also the way in which she seems to inhabit her from the inside, shining forth a visible beatitude unique in cinematic portrayals of saints. She does this without ever falling into the "plaster saint" sentimentality one might fear. But it's also a highly unconventional movie, seemingly set on eliminating extraneous elements that would normally be attractive in a film. in order to get to something more essential. This is manifested in the austerity of the sets, to the point where we do not actually ever see a room in the strict sense, much less an outdoor setting, and more mysteriously in the camera's singular focus on certain physical objects. Though the lead actress seems to get at her character from the inside, the attitude of the film itself is somewhat more inscrutable and distanced, particularly in its ambiguous portrayal of asceticism. The discussion concludes with a killer monologue by Nathan Douglas on how one might get the most honest and complete results in making a film about a saint, as well as the observation that Eucharistic devotion is almost completely absent from the majority of even the best saint movies that have yet been made. Thérèse is not available for streaming anywhere, and cannot be bought on disc for a reasonable price. The easiest way to see the film is to contact podcast@catholicculture.org and ask for help. Links Watch this discussion on YouTube: https://youtu.be/UsW2Vo6HKN0 Nathan's newsletter, The Vocation of Cinema https://vocationofcinema.substack.com/p/welcome-to-the-vocation-of-cinema-10b This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio Follow this link to join the Online Great Books VIP waiting list and get 25% off your first 3 months: https://hj424.isrefer.com/go/ogbmemberships/tmirus/ Music is The Duskwhales, “Take It Back”, used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com/

It's remarkable that as recently as 1986, we had a hit movie, with A-list stars (Jeremy Irons, Robert De Niro) and an A-list composer (Ennio Morricone), that takes a nuanced look at a controversial historical subject, European Christian missionary activity. The Mission could not be made today.  The Mission was written by Robert Bolt (A Man for All Seasons, Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago) and directed by Roland Joffe (The Killing Fields, There Be Dragons).  Gerald Russello, editor of the University Bookman, joins James and Thomas to discuss the film's moral complexity in dealing with sin, repentance, and issues of obedience; as well as the relevant historical subjects, such as the South American Jesuit missions and how Catholic Europe worked out issues of human rights in theory and practice during the colonial era. Watch this discussion on YouTube: https://youtu.be/S-MruaPfJV4 Links The University Bookman https://kirkcenter.org/bookman/ This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

The podcast returns to yet another episode from Dekalog, the series of Polish short films inspired by the Ten Commandments. Part seven, based on the commandment "Thou shalt not steal", is about a young woman who kidnaps her own daughter. It asks the question: can you steal something that belongs to you? But it also asks: what happens when motherhood is stolen from you? Part seven also returns to some of the parental themes raised in part four. There, we saw the disastrous consequences of a father abdicating his God-given authority. Here we focus on an overbearing grandmother and mother who force a small child to fill their psychological needs, but we can't help but notice the weak fathers lurking in the background, failing to step in and set proper boundaries. Watch this discussion on YouTube: https://youtu.be/CFqUmEi9yHU Dekalog can be difficult to find. It can be streamed online with a (relatively cheap and surprisingly legal) subscription to https://easterneuropeanmovies.com—the best viewing experience, however, will be the recent restored edition on Blu-Ray/DVD from Criterion https://www.criterion.com/films/28661-dekalog Older editions on Blu-Ray and DVD are available for considerably cheaper on Amazon and elsewhere, and you may have luck borrowing Dekalog from your local library. This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio Music is The Duskwhales, “Take It Back”, used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com/

A Quiet Place Part II is a more straightforward horror film than its predecessor, with less emotional weight, but it delivers on well-executed suspense and action while faithfully carrying forward the first film's themes of themes of family and self-sacrifice. Thomas and James discuss the series' remarkable use of silence to enhance the dramatic weight of even the slightest sound. James points to the film's unashamed embrace of the traditional role of the man as protector of the family, which nonetheless leaves room for a non-competitive collaboration of the sexes in facing danger. A Quiet Place Part II is currently in theaters, streaming on Paramount+, and available for purchase on VOD. Watch this discussion on YouTube: https://youtu.be/R78xZ97932Y This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio Music is The Duskwhales, “Take It Back”, used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com/

James and Thomas interview Sixtine Leon-Dufour, writer of the new Lourdes documentary, one of the best religious films in recent years. She discusses: Her background caring for the sick at Lourdes How she convinced the Lourdes authorities to give secular filmmakers unprecedented shooting access to this holy place How a documentary about a Marian pilgrimage got the support of a large French secular film studio and became a big success Depicting the wide range of people at Lourdes How the filmmakers found sick people who would let them film intimate and painful parts of their life The role of the writer of a documentary Why people come to Lourdes even if they are not hoping for a miracle Watch this interview on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Bywww0alMqw Links Watch our review of Lourdes: https://youtu.be/hEsxNbajQ_s Check here to find out where Lourdes is playing (including upcoming virtual screenings): https://www.distribfilmsus.com/portfolio/lourdes/ Want to bring LOURDES to your town? Contact Distrib Films (in Brooklyn). The contact is François Scippa- Kohn, who can be reached by email at fsk@distribfilms.com. www.distribfilmsus.com Watch the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tGC8lQOZuw This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio