Saint Ralph (2004)

Not a great movie - I wanted to see it since it was about a marathoner (albeit fictional) and it's Canadian - how bad could it be? It is quite contrived, poorly acted, but not without some charms.

Ralph is in high school and his mother is dying. He wants a miracle, so he prays to the saints, decides he needs to work on his faith and decides he'll win the Boston Marathon... And there are a few laughs too.

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The Christians (1977)

 One of my recent interests has been church history. A long standing passion of mine is Christian theology, which is illuminated by church history. Documentarian Bamber Gascoigne produced this 13-part made-for-TV series on the history of Christians. Stylistically, it is marked by the era in which it is made (the 1970s), but the era also impacts the approach that Gascoigne takes in presenting the Christians. In recent decades we have seen the emergence of a rather vocal Christian right in the United States, a steep decline in the practice of Christianity in Europe, and the renewed popularity of atheism and interest in other world religions. This has led to Christianity being looked down upon by the popular culture (I just heard a man singing on the radio about how Christianity makes no sense to him, so he's picking hell - yes, it is ironic). When Gascoigne makes this 11 hour documentary, Christianity is still has a strong western presence and it is treated with respect.

The series begins in first century Jerusalem and follows the gradual geographic, cultural, political, and theological iterations over the next 20 centuries. Mr. Gascoigne narrates throughout and does a remarkable job presenting each major change in Christian culture by highlighting both the remnant architectural and artistic features from each era and the denominational representations from those changes (ie. the Amish are portrayed when speaking about Anabaptist history or Guatemalan Catholics are portrayed to show the colonial missions in Central and South America).

Because of its length, the series ensures that adequate depth is allocated since the breadth of the story is so great.

I highly rate this intricate telling of Christians' story. I would gladly watch the series several more times.

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Divorzio all'italiana (1961)

Since the Roman Catholic Church forbids divorce, the only way to get out of a marriage is the either the unfaithfulness or death of one's spouse. When Ferdinando falls in love with his nubile cousin, he devises a ploy to get out of his marriage.

The film is quite clever in its portrayal of the very inept Ferdinando and we are completely flabbergasted that his cousin falls for him and at the grossly inept Italian justice system. But we laugh a lot thanks to ingenious acting.

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The Two Escobars (2010)

When I saw the opening credits state that this was an ESPN Film, my hopes dropped. Wow! Was I ever impressed. This documentary chronicles the lives of two of Columbia's most prolific men: Pablo Escobar the drug lord and Andrés Escobar the soccer star and the amazing symbiotic relationship they both had with their nation and each other.

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Blaise Pascal (1972)

As my son is named after this theologian/philosopher/scientist, a work buddy lent me this made for TV bio-pic, now a part of the Criterion Collection. The production is both elaborate in its sets and costumes, and yet quite simple in its script. The film essentially follows Blaise Pascal from his late teens through to his death giving him opportunity to speak some of his writings out loud and with props. There is little story or character development. In fact the setting draws the viewer in most as we are exposed to Catholic politics, scientific rivalries, provincial taxation, and superstitions.

The movie is slow, but full of Pascal's genius, so it's well worth the 2+ hours of view time.

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The Bicycle Thief (1948)

What a heartbreaking film! A desperate labourer is robbed of his bicycle and spends the next day trying to find his bike and thus save his employment in postwar Italy. The film was a powerful display of what life is currently like in many parts of the world and I was surprised at how similar late 1940s Rome looked to current Guatemala City.

As painful as the story is, it is a beautiful image of a family working hard to make ends meet.

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Cinema Paradiso (1988)

Sweet, sweet nostalgia in romantic Italy with a fairytale ending - what could be better?

Toto's father is killed in the war and is sort of adopted by the local projectionist at the village theatre. The two form a close bond and we watch Toto mature and ultimately leave the village only to return decades later.

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El Superstar: The Unlikely Rise of Juan Frances (2008)

A friend of mine recommended this teenage boy level mockumentary about a white American becoming a music superstar in the Latin scene. It has a couple laugh out loud bits, but on the whole become quite tiresome as the actors are on par with a Mexican telenovela and the circumstances are way over the top.

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Il divo (2008)

Well, I can't say I had much of a clue as to what was going on as I watched this stylish bio pic on Giulio Andreotti, a corrupt Italian parliamentarian. But I thoroughly enjoyed this visual feast!

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Breakfast on Pluto (2005)

The Crying Game still haunts me even though I saw it nearly 2 decades ago. Its director delivers this true tale of an Irish transvestite's coming of age in a time of political, familial and religious turmoil. Cillian Murphy convincingly plays Kitty who is in search of his mother in London and meaning in his life.

Quite a beautiful film.

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Hunger (2008)

In 1981, British Northern Ireland prisons took in Irish Republican Army soldiers (some would call them terrorists). To draw attention to their cause, several of these prisoners decided to end their lives through a hunger strike. This film chronicles the final weeks of Bobby Sands in an unprecedented realism from the beatings delivered by the guards (of whom we get an intimate portrait as well) to the shut down of Sands' body functions. Hunger is terribly affecting and the film presents the Irish struggle in a balanced way.

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Ce qu'il faut pour vivre (2008)

The Necessities of Life is a gorgeous film, deeply rooted in goodness. It tells the story of Tivii, an Inuit man who is taken from his family on Baffin Island to have his tuberculosis treated in Quebec City. His language and absent knowledge of this new world isolate him from everyone else in the sanitarium, but the kindness and attention from a nurse give him hope.

The depiction of aboriginal people is not overly romanticized. Instead they are treated as humans with dignity and gifts. Also of note is how the Quebecois are depicted: not perfect, but not as native hating villains either. A wonderfully balanced film making the story that much more beautiful and telling of the human condition.

The protagonist is extraordinarily played by Natar Ungalaaq of Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner fame.

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Into Great Silence (2005)

This really long documentary isn't entirely silent. For a few minutes the monks are sitting on a patio and chatting, but yeah, aside from that, pretty quiet...

I enjoyed it, but it was more experiential than expository. I like the notion of work in the film.

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Hoop Dreams (1994)

Clocking in a nearly three hours, this documentary doesn't quit. I didn't take my eyes off the screen the entire time.

Hoop Dreams follows two inner city kids in Chicago over their high school career as they lead their basketball teams to championships and try to catch the eyes of university talent scouts so they can eventually make it into the NBA. The power of the film is the dynamic between each of the boys and their family, their coach, their academics, and their dream of pro basketball.

The film was snubbed by the Oscars, but praised by critics as the best film of 1994. It should have at least taken the Best Documentary category and a nod from Best Picture.

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Goya's Ghosts (2006)

Stacked with very fine actors and a compelling story, this film ultimately doesn't satisfy because of the multi-layered melodramatic threads in the fictional tale.

Francisco Goya, the famed political artist, is witness to the horrors of both the Catholic Inquisition and the invasion by Napoleonic forces into Spain. Caught in the midst of the worst kind of injustice is the daughter of one of Goya's patrons.

The film is not horrible, it just fails to bring much hope nor does it make the hopelessness palpable.

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Angels & Demons (2009)

This is Dan Brown, Ron Howard and Tom Hank's follow up story to the controversial title The Da Vinci Code that takes the viewer into another mystery at the heart of the Vatican. Full of outrageous clues and an insane plot, the film is a barrage of incoherent information, gruesome murders and fast camera movements. It's hard to know how the actors kept a straight face during the shoot.

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Capitalism: A Love Story (2009)

Another polemic and necessary film from Michael Moore. This time he indicts the worship of capitalism and the evils that stem from it. In particular he attacks the privatization of public works, the domination of investment banks, the foreclosure epidemic and the mistreatment of employees by corporate giants.

He again does a fine job organizing the information in a humourous way, still infusing it with stunts of his own (like trying to make a citizen's arrest of bankers on Wall Street). Plus he fuels anger many people have against this rotten system that doesn't distinguish between free market and capitalism.

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Brideshead Revisited (2008)

This film is based on a book that, again, must be a much better read than a cinematic experience. It is another restrained British period piece.

The opening lines of the film deliver a lot of promise that our atheist artist protagonist will undergo some transformation, but in reality he undergoes an infatuation and suffers the consequences. This young and impressionable middleclassman enters the world of the British upper crust - a very Catholic family living at Brideshead, a posh palace. There he is enchanted by the homosexual son and then by the lovely and confident daughter, but ultimately by the riches associated with the family.

The cinematography deserves some mention as it became a part of the story in the way it brought our attention to some of the small details, as a writer might describe a setting.

Because the characters are so literally detached from reality it makes it difficult to connect with them. A decent movie, but nothing to be infatuated with.

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Henry Poole is Here (2008)

More a story about healing than a story of faith, Henry Poole is Here is an unrepentant moral tale whose characters fail to compel us.

Henry is sad and he's just moved into the neighbourhood. He's about to drink himself to death when the locals discover an image of Christ on his house's stucco. They begin to interfere with his life, forcing him to face his own doubts.

Yeah, this movie wasn't so good - though there were a couple moments that shined. It had a lot of potential as the actors are of a high enough calibre, but the writing and pace of the film fell flat.

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Nacho Libre (2006)

Jack Black becomes a man of the cloth and a luchador of the ring in this zany collaboration with Mike White.

Ignacio (Nacho for short), a junior monk in Mexico is faced with either finding a way to earn big money fast or continuing to feed slop to the orphans in his care. Finding some inspiration from a new and hot nun, Nacho teams up with a violent vagrant to become a local masked wrestler. He faces some moral compromises along the way.

The film is elegant and understated from the costumes to the music allowing Black to truly shine as a stout hearted athlete.

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