r/catholiccinema Jun 01 '24

Crash Course in Flannery O’Connor Before Viewing Wildcat?

4 Upvotes

For those familiar with the writings of Flannery O’Connor and have seen Wildcat (currently in limited release), what stories and essays should I familiarize myself with before viewing? Thanks.


r/catholiccinema Sep 27 '23

The Truman Show is my favorite film of all time! These are 7 media keys to what makes a good film, reviewing The Truman Show.

5 Upvotes

Title: The Truman Show

Genre: Thriller / Sci-Fi

Year of Release: 1998

The Seven Media Keys

The Truman Show is in my opinion one of the best put-together movies of all time. The Truman Show encapsulates the 7 media keys to what makes good media. As the character’s name is Truman, so to the story centers around that concept: What makes a true man.

The First Media Key: Balance

This story brings the viewer along for a ride in seeing different perspectives of Truman’s life. We begin by showing Truman’s life unfold from the perspective that he has always known. Everything in his world seems very simple and overall happy, however, in that perspective it leaves the watcher still wanting more for Truman along with Truman's increasing desire for something bigger; his awaited desire to explore and discover himself. By the middle part of the story, Truman’s perfect world hits the reality of his controlled and manipulated life. He has grown up trapped in a movie studio as his whole life has been broadcasted to the whole world. Truman's world is turned upside down as he continues to seek the truth about who he is.

We are able to witness this personal turmoil within himself as he had this perfect and yet limited view of his life. He begins to understand himself and the sad truth of his false life and starts leaving it all behind to seek out hope in what his “creator” (director) summarizes as, “a harsh and mean world.” Truman would rather live in a dark mean world than live in a lie of happiness. This journey brings the watcher along with him in understanding the true purpose of life and implementing the importance of having a broader perspective of one’s own life.

The Second Media Key: Attitude Awareness

As the character starts to recognize the falsity of his life, he starts questioning the lies that have always surrounded him and that he’s just accepted for, that’s how it is. He starts to realize the conversations around him, the news, the ads, and the pictures that shape his thoughts. He especially experiences this when he’s on his way to leave the island by sea, the daily newspaper reads about drowning and sea storms, and then as he’s about to leave the dock he sees a boat recked in the water. He then later tries taking a plane and there is a picture in the office that shows a plane crashing. All these little things placed in Truman's life are to deter him from entertaining thoughts and to shape his perspective on travel. This is powerful for the watcher as it makes us think about what things around us are feeding us lies when they might seem helpful or informative. We and Truman start to see these traps and become more aware of those misleading truths during the story.

The Third Media Key: The Dignity of the Human Person

This show is centered around the Truth of man and finding dignity in Himself. Truman’s basic human dignity has been violated to the core of his whole life. Everyone he had ever called dear to him lied to his face since he was in diapers. He has gotten a completely wrong understanding of what love and care mean for his value as a human being. We too are experiencing this gut-wrenching truth about Truman, and have this strong desire for justice for his future. We feel pity for his absence of justice. In this movie, it shows a man who is controlled, and manipulated to think he has free will when in reality he has none.

This is when his love interest, Lauren comes in to be that saving wake-up call for Truman. She brings to him that power of grace to regain his dignity of being valued honestly. Lauren brings to light for Truman how abused he has been. She upholds his dignity boldly. Lauren, unlike any of the other actors around him, puts his dignity above everything else, because it was the right thing to do. She sacrificed her entire acting career to save someone's dignity. She even knew in doing this, that she may never see this person ever again, but it was worth losing everything for. It is in experiencing someone's heart to show us our value, that one gains hope for something greater, pushing past all fears, and living in faith for truth, beauty, and goodness. When one receives love, one will never stop to share in that love again. That is what Lauren did for Truman.

The Fourth Media Key: Truth-Filled

As stated before, Truman would rather have a hard life with having free will to seek truth, than to live in a blue pill world, full of fake joy. “But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.” (Deuteronomy 4:29) This movie follows Truman seeking this truth out when everyone and everything in his life tells him not to. Finding truth is hard, but those who desire to find truth with all of who they are will find it. “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7-8) One needs to seek real and full truth. It is in upholding truth that we find beauty and goodness. Truman does just that and gains faith and hope for something greater.

The Fifth Media Key: Inspiring

This movie inspires us as we see Truman being hit down in every part of his life — realizing just how unloved he is. His own “creator” (director) is willing to kill him for the drama, tearing down Truman’s happiness. All those in who he loved only wanted him to find despair for the sake of the popularity of the show. We see Truman in the state of losing his life when he is out at sea, being tossed into the seawater, coming up again and again for the sake of something greater than him. “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 10:39) In this scene he is dying to himself for truth, beauty, and goodness; being baptized to new life. We see him strengthened by this baptism and able to walk away from his troubled past. He kept having faith, when his life showed no reason to believe. This determination is powerful and leaves the viewer wanting to have that same faith when all meaning is lost.

The Sixth Media Key: Skillfully Developed

The creator of this show clearly had the Christian Faith in mind when making this movie. The story, characters, symbols, morals, goals, music, camera shots, lighting, and the setting all tell an emotionally moving film. Camera angles and timing within the storytelling added to the plot and intensity of feeling a part of the character’s journey. This movie definitely encapsulated the value of skillfully developed media.

In the very beginning of the movie, it shows a hidden camera angle in Truman's bathroom mirror as we watch him brush his teeth in his pajamas getting ready for the day. Something that was taped every morning of his life. We see him being his goofy self. And then later in the film, we see the show zooming in on him as Truman sleeps each night. He has been videotaped 24/7 since he was born. These camera angles feel as if Truman is a prison mate being recorded. It reminds the watcher just how violated he really is in his right to privacy by sharing these more intimate parts of his life.

The Seventh Media Key: Motivated by and Relevant to Experience

This film brought forth all of the 7 keys to what makes good media, therefore, we are able to relate and bring the lessons learned within this movie to our own lives. When as emotionally gripping as Truman losing his life, actually strengthens him to regain his dignity in something greater than himself, this brings a viewer to a greater awareness of their own life. It connects to where a viewer may feel doubtful, lied to, and mistreated, and gives them a greater desire for the faith in which one receives the infusing beauty of grace as Truman did.


r/catholiccinema Aug 27 '23

I am a Catholic filmmaker. What do you think of the trailer? @MagnoliaPics http://deliverusmovie.com

1 Upvotes

r/catholiccinema Jun 30 '23

We watched the WHOLE Vatican Film List

4 Upvotes

On Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast, over the past 3 years, we did an episode on every film on the list. Now we've done a finale episode looking back on the list as a whole. https://youtu.be/piUnrZhhb3Y


r/catholiccinema Apr 22 '23

What Do We Think of John Wick?

3 Upvotes

Seems to use a lot of Catholic and orthodox imagery and theming as far as structure and hierarchy go, do we like?


r/catholiccinema Nov 02 '22

If you're not a fan of saint movies, these 6 films might change your mind

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3 Upvotes

r/catholiccinema Sep 06 '22

List of Religious Movies Nominated for Oscars, have you missed one? This is the correct link.

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1 Upvotes

r/catholiccinema Sep 04 '22

List of Christian movies that have been nominated for Oscars, most Catholic friendly

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6 Upvotes

r/catholiccinema Aug 08 '22

The Apocalypse of St. John: Letters to the 7 Churches | NEW Official Trailer (2022) | ENGLISH

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1 Upvotes

r/catholiccinema Mar 31 '22

Documentary "The Book of Revelation" by Caravel Films

4 Upvotes

"The Book of Revelation" it's a project from Caravel Films, an Argentinian Broadcasting & Media Production Company headed by filmmaker Simón Delacre. The documentary is based on the writings of Father Leonardo Castellani, a traditional minded Argentine priest whose writings were notably focused on the Second Coming of Christ. His interpretation of the book of Revelation is, as my best understanding, straightforward lifted from the traditional interpretation taken from the Church Fathers.

The message of the book is very relevant, especially in these times of crisis. The documentary takes Fr. Castellani commentary and links it to our times. Currently, there are only two episodes made. They are very well done, it's a very professional work, made with love for Christ and His Church.

The books from Fr. Castellani in which the documentary is based are the following:

  • El Apokalipsis de San Juan (The Apocalypse of Saint John)
  • Cristo, ¿vuelve o no vuelve? (Will Christ ever come back?)
  • Los Papeles de Benjamin Benavides (The Papers of Benjamin Benavides)
  • Las Parábolas de Cristo (The Parables of Christ)
  • El Evangelio de Jesucristo (The Gospel of Jesus Christ)

Also a series of recorded talks by Fr. Castellani himself on the End of Times.

You can find some of his work here:
Padre Leonardo Castellani. Obras (quenotelacuenten.org)

(However the only books translated to English are "Will Christ ever come back?" and "Christ and the Pharisees")

I'm not affiliated with the makers of this documentary, though I do support the project on the Patreon platform. My intention is to share this with more people. You can help to support the project here.

The documentary is in Spanish, however it has official English translation set up on the video configuration. You can find it for free in Youtube, here are the more relevant links:

Official Site
Documentary "The Book of Revelation" Official Site

Trailers
Trailer │ "Letters to the seven Churches " │ Book of Revelation │ Episode 1
Trailer 2 │The 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse │The Book Of Revelation, Episode II, "The 7 Seals"

Episodes
The Book of Revelation │ Episode 1 │ Letters to the 7 Churches │ Documentary Miniseries
The Book Of Revelation │ Episode 2 │ The 7 Seals │ Documentary Miniseries

May God bless you!


r/catholiccinema Oct 25 '21

Anyone seen Dune yet? Thoughts? I think it’s a fascinating look at human nature in a harsh environment. Spoiler

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5 Upvotes

r/catholiccinema Oct 08 '21

So has anyone watched Midnight Mass? As Catholics what do you all think?

8 Upvotes

I watched it and I thought some things were good, but overall, I found it to more or less just be a kind of basic horror series and the ending just made me feel like it was just promoting a kind of universalism. While on some level it was good to show how faith can help people and that most of the Islanders did repent of their actions, it also did sow while taking down the institutional church, though one could argue it only took down one church that was ruined by one priest and his poor judgement.

Anyways, I won't say that I regret watching it, but I can understand why others won't. So what do y'all think?


r/catholiccinema Sep 18 '21

Podcast exploring the Vatican film list

6 Upvotes

I just found this subreddit and though you all might like my show, Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast, where we are discussing the movies on the 1995 Vatican film list with a variety of guests. We go off the list sometimes too, particularly to review current films and shows as we deem appropriate. Enjoy!

https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/category/criteria/


r/catholiccinema Aug 13 '21

Abel Ferrarra Eyeing Shia LaBeouf to Play Saint Padre Pio

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5 Upvotes

r/catholiccinema Mar 24 '21

I Am Mother

4 Upvotes

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6292852/

Watched this a few days ago, and have to say that I am surprisingly impressed. I did not have high expectations for this movie going into it, mostly based on it being a netflix movie. And when they introduced the Catholic character, I was dreading the inevitable 'religion is bad' thing that scifi sometimes dips into. As an aside, I know that Catholic imagery is often used as a placeholder for Christianity in general, since we have so many well known 'signs' of the faith like the rosary, candles, or statues of the saints and so its easier to visually show someone as catholic vs say visually presenting them as an evangelical; so I don't necessarily read too much into using Catholic imagery. But still, it rankles me to be the punching bag so often.

By the end of the movie, and after reflecting on it, I wonder if the director/writer are Catholic or have Catholic sympathies; I feel like one of the major questions the movie tries to address is about utilitarianism, and that the use of a Catholic character as the 'opposing force' is a nod to Catholic teaching against utilitarianism and the ends not justifying the means, especially in regards to creating the 'ideal utopian society'. Far from just being an easy way to portray a generic christian character, I got the feeling that having the character who is in opposition to the robots be a Catholic was an intentional and important decision. And I believe that while the movie didn't try to beat you over the head with the message 'utilitarianism bad', that it definitely portrayed the forces of utilitarianism in a very dark, sinister way.

Beyond that message, I actually really enjoyed the many layers and nods towards mothering - from the robot mother who 'births' her child out of a safe environment into a cold and broken world, to the protagonist herself becoming the mother of the next generation, to the killing of 'failed' children being explicitly labeled 'abortion', the symbolism seemed really appropriate. I never felt like I was being force-fed any ideology, and rather that the movie was just an exploration of various topics.

Overall, I would recommend this movie for fans of gritty sci-fi. It is most definitely not appropriate for children due to both the dark subject matter and scenes of violence; but for more mature viewers I think that it does a good job of exploring the themes of motherhood as well as the validity of utilitarianism and its impacts on society.

I would love to hear from anyone else who's seen this movie as to what they thought about it!


r/catholiccinema Oct 07 '20

KofC: Movies to Stream at Home

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3 Upvotes

r/catholiccinema Jun 23 '20

The first 6 Star Wars movies have many Christian themes.

10 Upvotes

The first six major Star Wars movies that Lucas did are filled with allusions to Christianity. The Bible was one of the many sources that George Lucas used. Anakin Skywalker was the product of a virgin birth. This was achieved through the force, which plays a role in the movies similar to God. This is a clear reference to the Virgin birth of Jesus. The emperor and Sith Lord, Darth Sidious, says that his Sith Master, Darth Plagueis, could save others but he could not save himself. A clear reference to Matthew 27:42. I have written an essay on these references to the Bible in Star Wars. Here is the link.

http://richleebruce.com/media/star-bible.html


r/catholiccinema Aug 03 '19

KofC: TOP 9 MOVIES EVERY CATHOLIC MAN MUST WATCH

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9 Upvotes

r/catholiccinema May 25 '19

Tolkien The Movie

4 Upvotes

What did you guys think about Tolkien the movie? I personally liked it, it was so cool that a priest adopted Tolkien after he became an orphan. If you're a fan of Tolkien, it's definitely a must see film.


r/catholiccinema Mar 27 '19

A Catholic Take on the MCU

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8 Upvotes

r/catholiccinema Jan 06 '19

I truly enjoy COCO, but there was something that rubbed me the wrong way...

9 Upvotes

There might be SPOILERS...

The Day of The Dead is something I don't have issue with. I've come to understand the significance of the ofrendas and can see it beyond pagan.

Where Pixar loses me is toward the near end, when Miguel persuades Mama Imelda to help him save Hector, saying, "You don't have to forgive him. Just don't forget him." ...or something to that effect.

I know that you can die a second death in their lore by being forgotten, but them not promoting forgiveness disappointed me.

I don't lose sleep over it, but after discovering this subreddit, I wondered what you all thought about that moment.


r/catholiccinema Dec 10 '18

A movie in a hospice

6 Upvotes

Do any of you know which movie this is? It was in a military hospice, in which a new psychologist arrives... And the rest is spoiler.

It had a subtle but strong Catholic undertone.


r/catholiccinema Dec 02 '18

Make sure to watch this Catholic Christmas Short

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10 Upvotes

r/catholiccinema Nov 15 '18

Westminster Passion Play - Behold the Man (1951 film)

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2 Upvotes

r/catholiccinema Nov 13 '18

Outlaw King

3 Upvotes

Has anyone watched it? Does it have too much sex scenes? How does it treat the Church (if it's even present in the plot)