Friday, March 29, 2024

Movie Review: The Jeweller's Shop (1988)

The Jeweller's Shop (1988) directed by Michael Anderson based on the book by John Paul II

This intergenerational story starts in Poland 1939 as young people head off on a mountain hike. Friends Andre (Andrea Occhipinti) and Stephane (Ben Cross) are taken with Therese (Olivia Hussey) and Anna (Jo Champa). The two couples are interested in marriage but face the looming prospect of World War II. Stephane and Anna move to Canada where he can finish his medical studies and start their married life. Andre and Therese stay in Poland, visiting the titular shop kept by an enigmatic and wise jeweller (Burt Lancaster) who sells them wedding rings and gives them advice on their future lives. Andre dies in the war. Therese is pregnant. She moves to Canada after the war to build a new life as a piano teacher. The children of the two couples grow up and become enamored of each other. The 1960s are a very different time and they face hard challenges as they consider getting married.

The story is an interesting melodrama and has a lot to say about marriage and marital happiness. Stephane and Anna struggle as their family grows, drifting apart from each other even as they work hard to provide a home to their children. Their daughter is worried that all marriages are like her parents' marriage and does not want to go down a road to unhappiness with Therese's son. He struggles without a clear example of what it means to be a man and a husband, that is, without his father's presence. These genuine, real world problems are viewed through the lens of John Paul II's theological musings on the family (the book was written before he became pope), showing an understanding that acknowledges the hard work needed for marriage and the greater beauty that can be found in a healthy, fruitful marriage. No marriage is ideal and no marriage is doomed to misery. But marriage is important and must be taken seriously. The view is refreshing and hopeful.

Recommended.

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Book Review: The Witness of Early Christian Women by Mike Aquilina

The Witness of Early Christian Women: Mothers of the Church by Mike Aquilina

Aquilina has written many books about early Church history. Here, he profiles many women who were examples of the radical shift in attitudes towards women instituted by Jesus Christ. In the ancient world, women were, at best, secondary people. They had no direct influence over government and could not testify in court. They were esteemed for their beauty and their ability to bring new men into the world. By contrast, Christ treated women as equals and ministered to them as much as to men. Only one male disciple was at the foot of the cross; four to six women were there (including His mom). In the first four centuries of the Christian era, many women witnessed to their Christian faith in diverse ways.

Aquilina groups these mothers of the church according to those ways. Some were martyrs to the faith, including popular ones like Saint Agnes, Saint Perpetua, and Saint Felicity. Others are less famous, like Saint Thecla, who was a contemporary of the apostle Paul. Her story comes down from the earliest centuries though The Acts of Paul and Thecla are not canonical. Like many other virgin martyrs, she defied her parents' and her society's wishes, refusing to marry and instead following a life a prayer into her old age.

Other women were writers and thinkers, roles almost unheard of for women in antiquity. Proba the Poet wrote an epic in the Roman style but she retold Christ's life. Saint Marcella started a monastic group for herself and other women, learning and praying together. Aquilina includes Saint Monica in this group, who not only prayed for her son Augustine's conversion but also argued with the great doctor of the Church. 

The final group is independent women, of whom Saint Helena is the most famous. She was the mother of Emperor Constantine, the ruler who legalized Christianity in AD 313. Helena embraced the Faith and went to the Holy Land to find the sites where Jesus lived and died. She ran the expedition herself, the first archeological effort in Israel, which had fallen into ruin. I found Egeria the Tourist the most charming. She wrote letters to her community at home (southern France), describing her pilgrimages to holy sites around the Mediterranean. She was free to travel and had no regular group with her. No male companions are ever mentioned. She climbs Mount Sinai and visits Thecla's tomb, drawing inspiration and grace from her adventurous life.

This book is a quick read at 160 pages. It provides a lot of interesting insights into how the world changed for the better with the coming of Christianity and how women played important roles in the early Church. Aquilina's style is easy to read and he presents many passages from ancient texts describing these mothers of the early Christian Church.

Highly recommended.

Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Review: Holy Women You've Never Heard Of

Holy Women You've Never Heard Of by Dr. Elizabeth Klein and Dr. Jessica Murdoch

This original content from Formed (a Catholic video streaming service) caught my eye. Doctors Elizabeth Klein and Jessica Murdoch host a short series about female saints from the past two thousand years you probably have never run across. I knew about two of them, so I met three new sisters in the Lord through this series. The visual is just the two doctors at a desk having a conversation, describing the lives and virtues of these women who should be better known. 

Episode One is about Saint Macrina the Younger (died 379). She's actually the older sister of Saints Basil the Great and Gregory of Nyssa. The family is described as the "second holiest family" by the hosts. Basil and Gregory are famous especially in the Orthodox and eastern churches. Macrina took over managing the family's affairs when their father died. She was engaged but her fiance died before the wedding. She took this as a sign that she should be devoted to a life of virginity and Christian perfection. She took care of their mother and managed their various estates, paying taxes in three different provinces and to the imperial government. She turned the main estate into what today would be a retreat center. She developed a semi-monastic prayer life and gave hospitality to other Christians who would visit. She often gave good advice to her brothers. Her life story is known through The Life of Macrina by her brother Gregory.

Episode Two is about Saint Mary of Egypt (344-421). Her job was prostitution, which she enjoyed a lot, living the life of a party girl. She decided to leave Egypt on a sort of anti-pilgrimage to Jerusalem where she would be a temptress for actual pilgrims. She tried to enter the Church of the Holy Sepulcher but was prevent by an invisible force. She had a moment of conversion, confessed her sins, and went into the desert beyond the Jordan River to live an ascetical life. Years later, a priest discovered her and gave her communion after hearing her life story. She asked him to come back the next Easter so she could receive again. When he came back, she was dead with a note to the priest. He spread her story, which is very popular in Eastern churches. The commentators brought up the insights that no matter how decadent you think modern times are, there's been plenty of similarly decadent times before. More important, no matter how vile a lifestyle one has, God always offers forgiveness and redemption. He loves all of us, even the most hardened sinners.

Episode Three is about Saint Scholastica (480-543). She was the twin sister of Saint Benedict, the founder of western monasticism. Benedict went to live as a hermit in the Italian hinterlands only to be followed by others who wanted to imitate his holiness. Scholastica also went into the wilderness and drew a crowd of women. Benedict made his famous Rules for a monastery; his sister used them for hers about five miles away. They would meet in a farmhouse once a year for pious conversations. At their last meeting, she wanted him to stay, but he demurred. She then prayed to God. A sudden, violent storm came up, preventing Benedict from returning to his monastery.

Episode Four is about Brigid of Sweden (1303-1373; also known as Bridget or Birgitta). She was the daughter of royalty and had a vision of Jesus as a ten-year old. She raised a family with a pious husband. They had eight children, including a saint. She had a good reputation in their society. She and her husband split up so he could join a monastery while she founded a new order, the Bridgettines. She went on a pilgrimage to Compostela and had more visions. She even advocated for the pope to return from Avignon to Rome, much like Catherine of Siena. She had two vocations, an unusual situation. As her life circumstances changed, she changed with them. She did what God wanted her to do in her life.

Episode Five is about Blessed Marie-Anne Blondin (1809-1890). She grew up in Quebec on a farm. She learned to read and write at the age of twenty. She formed an order to teach the rural poor so they could benefit from getting an education as she did. The order grew quickly. The bishop assigned a young priest to help but he turned out to be controlling and made false accusations against her. The bishop eventually sided with the priest and asked Marie-Anne to step down from leadership of the order. She was very reluctant but obedient. She spent the last forty years of her life in humble service to the order. She carried a bitter cross for a long time. She is a great example of living a mundane life with charity. A subsequent chaplain found out about her heroic virtue (this was after she died) and gathered a lot of information about her, the beginning of her canonization process.

I found the series very entertaining and easy to watch. The set-up with just two speakers talking to each other is fine since each episode is ten to fifteen minutes long. It would have been nice to throw up some icons or other images on the screen, but it was not really necessary. 

Recommended.

The series is available on Formed, a Catholic streaming website. My local parish sponsors subscriptions for parishioners; maybe yours does too?
 

Tuesday, March 26, 2024

Merriweather Sculptures

Merriweather Post Pavilion is a concert venue in the heart of Columbia, Maryland. The outdoor stage has a large lawn in front of it and a lot of concession booths on the perimeter. The area also has several interesting sculptures on the outer edge of the lawn. They have been put up relatively recently (since 2015; the venue was built in 1967).

Right by the lawn is Madre della Pace, or "Mother of Peace." It was crafted by Washington, D.C., artist Robert T. Cole for a 2003 competition in Florence, Italy. His sculptures came back to the United States the next year. Personally, I would never have guessed the title of the piece, though clearly it represents a female. She does not seem particularly peaceful.

Madre della Pace

A slightly different angle

Nearby is another of Cole's works from the Italian competition. Padre del Tempo translates as "Father Time." He's looking back at Mother though his motorcycle is pointed the other way. I wonder if Cole had this positioning in mind when he made the sculptures.

Padre del Tempo

Ready to role

French artist Bernard Pras was commissioned for some sculptures of musical artists. His style uses abandoned objects and seemingly random bits of junk. This first one is Dolly Parton, though her image is only visible from a certain angle. I like forced perspective art for its imaginative use of objects to create an image if you are in just the right spot.

Where is Dolly?

Looking from the right angle

Another forced perspective sculpture is Jimi Hendrix, the famous American guitarist and rock star. The work is a homage to his Isle of Wight album cover.

Is that a car wreck or...

...Mr. Hendrix?

The lead singer from Led Zeppelin, Robert Plant, is less mysterious, though still cobbled together from a lot of bric a brac.

Robert Plant

Miles Davis, the famous Jazz trumpeter and innovator, is also on display.

Miles Davis

Not too far away is Tina Turner, another music icon who has played here at Merriweather.

Tina Turner

I was curious about the sculpture behind her on the hill. I guess it is a music fan?

No matter which perspective you use, it still looks like a fan, not a person

View of the stage from the fan

Monday, March 25, 2024

Book Review: Justice League Dark Vol. 3 by J. Lemire et al.

Justice League Dark Volume 3: The Death of Magic written by Jeff Lemire and Ray Fawkes and art by Mikel Janin

John Constantine and the rest of Justice League Dark mount a rescue operation to get Zatanna and Timothy Hunter from an alternate dimension where magic is abundant. When the crew gets there, they are all affected by the magic, including Deadman becoming alive again, Madame Xanadu becoming old (she's been living for centuries and now starts looking like it), and Constantine becoming uncharacteristically honest (with comic results). Only Frankenstein's Monster is unaffected, presumably because he is a creature of science, not of magic. The alternate dimension has a crusading army of scientifically-advanced people who fight with all things magical, thus making them enemies of Justice League Dark. Meanwhile, Timothy has been hailed by the local magical creatures as their king. He leads them as an army against the science people. The story is exciting and filled with lots of drama and fun action.

A second story details the theft of Constantine's House of Mystery, which causes all sorts of nightmarish horrors all over the world. The Justice League Dark has to set things right, with some help from The Flash and Swamp Thing. This story is interesting but does not have the epic feel of the first story, though they try to pass it off as such.

Mildly recommended.

Friday, March 22, 2024

Movie Review: Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023) co-written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie

Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) has a new mission--he needs to track down half of a special key that is part of a larger conspiracy that threatens the whole world though his employer doesn't know what the key unlocks. Just it is a big threat. Viewers have seen where the key goes in a pre-credits sequence where a new AI system on a stealth Russian sub goes rogue and scuppers the sub. The AI has been infiltrating many intelligence agencies from many countries, making it a valuable weapon for whichever country can get control of it. Ethan's mission is to find the key and return it to HQ. Ethan, who has had a problem with going rogue before, decides he needs to destroy the AI if he can find the original source code. A lot of action and hijinks follows with an unresolved cliffhanger ending (not a spoiler since the movie's title ends with "Part One").

The plot is the usual over-the-top nonsense that comes from this franchise. The execution is so much fun, it makes up for the daftness of the story's core. Ethan has to get the old band back together, so Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, and Rebecca Ferguson are back. Grace (Hayley Atwell) is an exceptional thief who is also after the key for a mysterious employer (guess who?), so Ethan crosses swords with her before he winds up working with her and recruiting her for the Impossible Missions Force. The action sequences are fun and over-the-top, so fitting with the story and the series as a whole. Cruise is his usual charming self and the rest of the cast also shines. The movie is an entertaining popcorn romp. Even though it is only half the story, it is still almost three hours long. I never found myself bored watching it, so it is like the Peter Jackson King Kong, which was way too long but I find it hard to recommend what to cut out.

Recommended.

Thursday, March 21, 2024

TV Review: Post Mortem: No One Dies in Skarnes (2021)

Post Mortem: No One Dies in Skarnes (2021) co-written and co-directed by Petter Holmsen

Live Hallangen (Kathrine Thorborg Johansen) has been killed in a remote area outside the small Norwegian town of Skarnes. Her family runs the local funeral parlor so they are used to dealing with death. The one thing they were not prepared for was Live waking up on the autopsy table. The police (Kim Fairchild and Andre Sorum) are apologetic about the mistake; Live's dad starts acting strange at the revelation. His behavior is not nearly as strange as Live's--her senses are very heightened and she has an insatiable urge for human blood. She works as a nurse at an old-age home, so maybe she can get her fix on the side?

The show starts off as a horror-comedy hybrid with some genuinely shocking and uncomfortable horror moments. Initially, the police are comic relief though the more viewers get to know them, the less funny they are. Their switch into serious characters gives them a lot more humanity and thereby sympathy. Unfortunately, Live's story arc goes from the tragic victim of the situation to a somewhat unsympathetic woman trying not to get in trouble for the things she does, some of which are not in her control. She finds out her mother had a similar problem that led to her suicide. Live's dad knows about what's happening and tries to cremate Live to stop the problem. She escapes and accidentally kills him, causing a lot of problems. The funeral home has a lot of debt and her brother Odd (Elias Holmen Sorensen) has a very hard time managing the situation. He's the most sympathetic character, struggling to keep his wife happy and his family business together. The situations slowly spiral out of control. The show has a lot of plot holes and very unbelievable moments (like her escape from the crematorium's incinerator) that don't help in enjoying the proceedings. I found the happy ending a little forced and unlikeable. It seems like there's room for a sequel but I have no interest in watching more.

Not recommended.

Currently (March 2024) streaming only on Netflix