Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast

A new documentary on Lourdes, originally released in France in 2019, is now in theaters in the US. It is intensely moving and one of the best religious films in recent years. Written by a Catholic who used to care for the sick at Lourdes, it is an inside look at the spiritual but also deeply human needs and aspirations that lead people to this place of miracles. The film follows a a small selection of infirm individuals and their families making their way to Lourdes in hope of physical healing or spiritual consolation. These individuals are prompted to say their private prayers out loud, making visible their poverty and wounds, but also their hope in the power of the Lady who appeared to St. Bernadette in the grotto. Particularly moving is the father of two very sick children, one of whom he brings to Lourdes with him. We see father and mother guiding their little boy in the ways of suffering and, even more, of intercessory prayer. This film was James and Thomas's first return to a movie theater after the pandemic, so they take some time to discuss how the theatrical experience differs from watching a movie at home. They also remark on the difference between documentary as a cinematic art form and documentary as a way of delivering information. Lourdes is definitely the former. Watch this discussion on YouTube: https://youtu.be/hEsxNbajQ_s Links Watch our interview with Lourdes writer Sixtine Leon-Dufour: https://youtu.be/Bywww0alMqw 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 Check here to find out where Lourdes is playing (including upcoming virtual screenings): https://www.distribfilmsus.com/portfolio/lourdes/ 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 Music is The Duskwhales, “Take It Back”, used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com/

In this episode from the Catholic Culture Podcast, Thomas is joined by Catholic filmmaker Nathan Douglas to discuss Walker Percy's first novel, The Moviegoer. They examine the malaise-ridden protagonist Binx Bolling's "search" for meaning, which he ultimately finds through responsibility: not the responsibility urged by respectable "values", but that urged by love. They also look at how Binx searches for a deeper connection with reality through his moviegoing habits. Percy has some interesting descriptions of his characters finding moments of transcendent beauty in film, given that this novel was written just before the notion of "cinephilia" developed by French critics made its way to the United States. Watch episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/yvW59H3tAHw Links Nathan Douglas's short films www.nwdouglas.com Nathan's film writing www.vocationofcinema.substack.com Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast www.catholicculture.org/criteria 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/ This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

There are a few films on the Vatican film list James and Thomas haven't been looking forward to watching. Among them is Richard Attenborough's Gandhi, and our dread was due to the suspicion that this film, certainly negligible in its historical importance as a work of cinema, was included mainly because Vatican bureaucrats of a certain age are apt to confuse Mohandas K. Gandhi with a Catholic saint. (Though to be fair, the film was included under the heading of Values, not Religion.) The reasons for its inclusion aside, our suspicion was confirmed at least in that this enjoyable and well-crafted biopic in no way deserves a place on the Vatican's list of 45 important films. Gandhi, driven by Ben Kingsley's outstanding performance as the title character, is in many ways an inspiring picture of nonviolent resistance. However, it has been pointed out that this film presents a Gandhi sanitized (and we mean that quite literally) for Western consumption, leaving out his essential Hinduism, as well as his many inconsistencies, eccentricities and flaws. It is a work of boomer hagiography, from a secularized Western Christian perspective. Watch discussion on YouTube: https://youtu.be/R-FbOXEuJ0s Next on Criteria, we are watching the seventh installment of Dekalog, the classic Polish series of short films inspired by the Ten Commandments. 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

Federico Fellini's 8 1/2 is widely considered to be the best film ever made about filmmaking, but it's about much more than that. Ingenious cinematography and surreal images convey the experience of a man who is increasingly lost in his own memory and fantasy, and so finds himself unable to have real relationships with the people in his life or to bear fruit as an artist. Not all uses of imagination are equal to the artist. There is a contemplative, receptive use and a possessive, self-indulgent use, and this latter form is antithetical to true art. The protagonist of 8 1/2 may find that his artistic and personal problems, which find him ever more slave to fantasy, may have one and the same solution: fidelity to his wife. We might ask whether there is really such a thing as "writer's block" for a true artist, or whether such blocks are due to vice getting in the way of docility and receptivity. Katy Carl, novelist and editor-in-chief of Dappled Things, joins the show to discuss this film. 8 1/2 can be viewed with a subscription to Criterion Channel or HBO Max, and rented on many other platforms. Watch this discussion on YouTube: https://youtu.be/I91TFlJe2e8 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/

In honor of Pope St. John Paul the Great's birthday, James and Thomas discuss the 2005 film about his life starring Cary Elwes as the young Karol Wojtyla and Jon Voight as Pope John Paul II. One of the strengths of the film, made within a few months of the saint's death, is its portrayal of John Paul II's Polishness and how it influenced him as a world leader. Other aspects of the film are outdated in light of what we know today, such as its portrayal of the Vatican and the Curia as a group of men working together in harmony for the good of souls. Watch discussion on YouTube: https://youtu.be/zpuwtPBcKqk Links Pope John Paul II can be viewed on FORMED. https://watch.formed.org/pope-john-paul-ii-1 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/

The sixth episode of Kieslowski's Dekalog series inspired by the Ten Commandments, included in the Vatican's 1995 list of great films, deals with a characteristically modern form of adultery: voyeurism. The film begins from the perspective of a peeping tom, but gradually we start to see things through the eyes of the promiscuous woman he spies on, as the conscience of each begins to awaken. Circumspection is required in discussing such a film, and in viewing it - while there is no nudity in the film, it crosses some moral lines. It has been said that it's impossible to make an anti-war film because the medium can't help but make war exciting; likewise it could be said that making an anti-voyeurism film presents challenges because certain things simply must not be displayed regardless of whether the intent is to titillate or critique. Notably, intent is not mentioned in the Catechism's definition of pornography! Watch discussion on YouTube: https://youtu.be/b3MWB6mPRsk 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 good priest is threatened with death for the sins of an evil one. He has one week to prepare. That is the simple premise of John Michael McDonagh's 2014 film Calvary, starring Brendan Gleeson. This portrait of a heroic but very human priest illuminates the crucifixions, mundane or dramatic, faced by good parish priests everywhere, but especially in post-Catholic cultures such as Ireland, in which the film is set. Fr. James Searby (whose preaching and teaching can be heard on his podcast, Holiness for the Working Day) joins Criteria to discuss Calvary and how it resonates with his everyday experience as a priest. Watch discussion on YouTube: https://youtu.be/v9A7oOfpxEQ Links Holiness for the Working Day http://www.holiness.work/ This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

In 1962, inspired by Pope St. John XXIII's outreach to non-Christian artists, a gay communist picked up the Gospels and ended up making a film about Jesus. Nervous yet? But one thing you can't fault Pier Paolo Pasolini for is taking liberties with his source material - the dialogue in The Gospel According to Matthew is drawn entirely from that book of the Bible. The Vatican's newspaper once called this the best film ever made about Jesus. It certainly is one of the most unique adaptations, in the austerity of its approach (almost willful in its refusal to elaborate on Scripture), in its counterintuitive casting, in its portrayal of Our Lord's fierce urgency in delivering His message. There are many interesting moments to discuss, but the core question for Thomas and James is: Does the minimalism of the Gospel account translate well to the screen without embellishment, or does what leaves room for imagination on the page become barren in a visual medium? Memoirist and columnist Heather King (you may have read her work in Magnificat or Angelus) joins the show to discuss this, one of her favorite films. Watch this discussion on YouTube: https://youtu.be/F7tKdAjc2JI Next on Criteria: The 2014 film Calvary, starring Brendan Gleeson as a heroic priest. LINKS https://www.heather-king.com/ This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

In anticipation of Season 2 of The Chosen, the popular TV series based on the Gospels, Thomas and James take a look back at Season 1 and what made it so remarkable. They are joined by Brother Joshua Vargas, a filmmaker, artist, and novice at the Oratory in Philadelphia. The show’s two greatest strengths are its writing, which James calls “an education in meditation on the Gospels”, and Jonathan Roumie’s outstanding, childlike yet masculine performance as Jesus, which Br. Joshua considers “equally as compelling” as Jim Caviezel’s in The Passion of the Christ. (Thomas previously interviewed Jonathan on the Catholic Culture Podcast - link below.) The show’s writers have done an excellent job fleshing out the terse Gospel stories without losing their essence. They seamlessly interweave direct quotes from the New Testament, original writing, and Old Testament references, and pick up on minor details and references from the Gospels, sometimes building them into larger subplots or just using them as minor character details (such as Peter being a slow runner). They cleverly use traditional TV episode structure to incorporate biblical foreshadowing and parallelism. And they make the world of Jews in first-century Palestine come alive. Any artistic rendering of a perfect human being, let alone a Divine Person, inevitably falls short in certain ways, or makes sacrifices in choosing to emphasize certain aspects of Christ. Pasolini’s The Gospel According to St. Matthew portrays Jesus’s stern side. Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ focuses on His physical sufferings. The Chosen, with the luxury of multiple seasons ahead, opts for a more well-rounded portrayal, yet also makes a point of making Jesus more accessible to a modern American audience. This is a laudable goal, and yet a certain amount of the Son of God’s majesty and mystery is lost in adaptation; however, this may be something which is developed in future seasons. Thankfully, the first season does not ring false on a theological level, with one significant exception. Season 2 of The Chosen premieres on Easter Sunday. Watch this discussion on YouTube: https://youtu.be/3RQ7SxPlUNY Links Thomas's interview with Jonathan Roumie on the Catholic Culture Podcast https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-76-playing-jesus-on-chosen-jonathan-roumie/ The Chosen on Apple App Store https://apps.apple.com/us/app/the-chosen/id1473663873 The Chosen on Google Play https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vidangel.thechosen&hl=en_US&gl=US Follow Art by Joshua Vargas on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/MiserereNobisDomine/ Buy Brother Joshua’s work on Etsy https://www.etsy.com/shop/ArtbyJoshuaVargas?fbclid=IwAR3lzPMOPSfTfZphhB5Z02ctqGmVebQpKzXR4ubtWGXeiK0SLAncUu6l_L4 This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

"The aim of art is to prepare a person for death, to plough and harrow his soul, rendering it capable of turning to good." Andrei Tarkovsky Could Andrei Rublev be the best film on the Vatican film list? Andrei Tarkovsky is widely regarded as one of the greatest spiritual filmmakers of all time, and his 1966 masterpiece Andrei Rublev lives up to that reputation. In this deeply moving and at times confounding work of art, we enter into the spiritual and artistic trials of Russia's greatest icon painter, the monk Andrei Rublev, who works in the midst of the immense suffering of the Russian people in the 15th century. It is both a deeply contemplative interior work and an historical epic. Catholic filmmaker Nathan Douglas joins the show to discuss his favorite film with us. After an introduction to the techniques and philosophy of Soviet montage theory, the discussion touches on many of the issues dealt with in the film: How does one avoid burying one's talents, whether from envy, vanity or more complicated motives? How can an artist, and a man, mature through suffering? Can the significance of great works of religious art be reduced to the perhaps impure motives of the powerful and wealthy people who commission them? Is there even a point to making beautiful things in a world filled with brutality and suffering? The film also provides an occasion to discuss the morality of nudity and the treatment of animals in a cinematic context. Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/fJXZ19-LhGA The best way to view Andrei Rublev is with a free trial subscription to the Criterion Channel streaming service. https://www.criterionchannel.com/andrei-rublev It can also be viewed on YouTube, but the subtitle translation is poor. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsEnNDr6YfA Fair warning: this film contains some nudity and violence. Next up on Criteria: Contrary to what was said in this episode, due to a scheduling mishap, the next discussion will be about season 1 of The Chosen, in anticipation of the launch of season 2 on Easter Sunday. The originally planned discussion of Calvary will come out in April instead.  Links Explanation of Soviet montage theory https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtnTs90knro Nathan Douglas https://nwdouglas.com/ 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/