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Doubt (2008, Director: John Patrick Shanley): Directing his own Tony award-winning play, John Patrick Shanley is helped enormously by a stellar cast, including Philip Seymour Hoffman, Meryl Streep, Amy Adams and Viola Davis. All four were recently honoured with Golden Globe nominations, as was Shanley’s script. The film, set in 1964 at a Catholic school in the Bronx, is essentially a battle of wills between Father Flynn (Hoffman), the charismatic and progressive parish priest, and Sister Aloysius (Streep), the authoritarian principal of the school. There are many reasons for their enmity, including the general segregation of priests and nuns and their differing views of tradition, but something causes her to suspect Flynn of sexually abusing a young black student. The title has many shades of meaning, but most obviously, it is a seed planted by the older woman in the mind of Sister James (Adams), and idealistic young nun who looks up to Flynn.
There is much in the script to savour, and by the end, we’re really not sure what to think of each of our players, but the combination of an intelligent script and a cast of first-rate actors make this compelling from start to finish. And surprisingly, for a film dealing with such a heavy topic, there’s quite a lot of humour. Shanley’s deft touch is not surprising, considering he’s working with his own material, but the art direction and cinematography are just right as well, making this much more than just a filmed performance of the play.
Though I’m sure this will reward multiple viewings, it was interesting to me that the children in the film, especially the one at the centre of the allegations, are curiously pushed to the sidelines as the battle of wills plays out. As well, there is very little discussion of faith in God, since it seems to be more about some of the institutions of the Church. One of my half-formed theories is that the rigid separation of men and women in the Catholic clergy naturally leads to suspicion and jealousy on the part of the women, who have less power. As well, Sister Aloysius stood for a kind of virtue that has nothing to do with compassion, while Flynn was the man of weakness who can empathize with his congregation. I’ll be very curious to see how the Christian community responds to the film.
If I have just one pet peeve, it’s that almost every single time you hear of a Catholic priest nowadays, it’s in relation to some past sexual abuse allegation. It’s a shame that this stereotype ignores the many many fine men who served their congregations and schools selflessly. I grew up attending Catholic schools in the 1970s, and happily have no horror stories to report. I’m sure I’m not the only one.
Official site of the film
Trailer on the Apple site
(9/10)
Tagged as:
christianity,
faith
Silent Light (Luz silenciosa) (Director: Carlos Reygadas): Another one of my previewed films that made the final cut, Silent Light is a bit intimidating to write about. Beginning with a stunning six minute shot of the sun rising over a Mennonite homestead, the film alerts us that it is going to require patience and a certain sense of contemplation. And it establishes right away that everything that follows, the human story, is secondary to the cycles of nature, to the circadian rhythms of the natural world, to the pulse of life that beats deep down in the earth and that echoes throughout the universe. I’m sorry if I’m using high-flown language; it’s the effect of this strangely haunting film.
Johan is a simple farmer who’s lived his whole life among the Mennonites of northern Mexico. They don’t communicate much with outsiders, and speak their own Plautdietsch dialect of German. He lives with his wife Esther (Canadian novelist Miriam Toews in a surprising role) and their large family. The film’s crisis comes when we learn that Johan has been carrying on an affair with Marianne, another woman in the community. He’s been honest about it with Esther from the beginning, and has tried to break it off, but deep in his heart he feels that Marianne is his “natural woman” and that marrying Esther was a mistake. Though he clearly loves her and his children, he’s torn by the power of his passion for the other woman as well as his conviction that she is his intended match. Reygadas’ decision to use authentic Mennonite non-professionals has mixed results. Though it’s clear that these are stoic people who use few words, in places the dialogue still felt excessively mannered. He is able to achieve more with the camera than with any spoken dialogue, and that’s where the film finds its emotional power.
The cinematography and sound design are almost Dogme-like in their simplicity, which makes the film’s climax all the more surprising for some. Without giving anything away, all I’ll say is that unlike many, I found it completely natural and moving in its simplicity. And although this is supposedly a community built on Christian faith, I found something closer to pantheism beating at its heart.
Here is the Q&A with director Carlos Reygadas from after the screening:
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Duration: 23:58
Trailer
Official Site
(8/10)
Tagged as:
adultery,
christianity,
faith,
mennonites,
mexico,
religion,
spirituality,
TIFF
Toronto Star film critic Geoff Pevere is giving a free lecture tonight at Regis College (affiliated with the University of Toronto) entitled “The Transcendental Screen: Spirituality in the Movies”. It’s part of Regis College’s Lenten Lecture series and takes place at 7:30pm in Elliott McGuigan Hall (67 St. Nicholas Street, near Yonge and Bloor). Full details here.
NOTE: If previous lectures are any indication, the lecture will be podcast and available from the web page a few days later.
Tagged as:
christianity,
faith,
geoffpevere,
religion,
spirituality
The nominations were announced for the Oscars yesterday. I’ve been seeing fewer feature films lately, but I do manage to catch more documentaries. Of the five nominees, I’ve only seen two so far, but I plan to try to see all of them if I can before the Academy Awards are handed out on February 25.
The nominees for Best Documentary are:
It’s nice to see that documentary film is serving some of its most important purposes in these films: to bear witness, and to kick us in the conscience. It’s interesting to note that two films deal with Christianity (both deal with forms of toxic Christianity, in my opinion), two deal with the Iraq war, and one with a global crisis. No uplifting films, this year, sadly. Times are tough.
If you’ve seen any of these, what did you think? Who’s your bet to win? My money is on Al Gore’s sobering PowerPoint presentation on climate change. Not the most creatively filmed, but certainly the most urgent, and it managed to present information in an entertaining and mostly guilt-free way that made me want to make some changes to the way I live.
UPDATE: In a bit of cross-blog linkery, I’ve listed the losers in this category for the past few years over at Runner-Up! Check ‘em out!
Tagged as:
christianity,
environment,
faith,
iraq
