Through a Catholic Lens: Religious Perspectives of 19 Film Directors from Around the World

by Peter Malone (Editor), Rose Pacatte (Contribution by), Greg Friedman (Contribution by), Gaye Ortiz (Contribution by), Maggie Roux (Contribution by)

Overview

Movies are often examined for subtext and dramatizations of social and psychological issues as well as current movements. Studies of well-known Catholic directors, such as Alfred Hitchcock and John Ford, have made the search for Catholic themes a reputable field of examination. Through a Catholic Lens continues the search for these themes and examines the Catholic undercurrents by studying nineteen film directors from around the world. Although these directors may or may not be practicing Catholics, their Catholic background can be found in their writing and directing. Each chapter, written by a different contributor, analyzes one film of each director for its Catholic motifs. With the recent increase of cinema studies, this collection will be of interest to students and academics as well as cinema buffs.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781461718789
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	04/16/2007
Series:	Communication, Culture, and Religion
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	278
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Peter Malone of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart order in Australia has served as president of SIGNIS, the World Catholic Association for Communication. He has written more than twenty-five books on film studies, including the Lights, Camera, Faith: A Movie Lover's Guide to Scripture series (2001-2006), and has reviewed films for various publications for over thirty-seven years. Fr. Malone also lectured in the Yarra Theological Union of the Melbourne College of Divinity.

Table of Contents

Part 1 Introduction
Part 2 Anglo-Celtic Catholicism
Chapter 3 A Song that will not die — the films of Terence Davies
Chapter 4 Two films of Neil Jordan — in an Irish Context
Chapter 5 Revisiting the Devil's playground the films of Fred Schepisi
Part 6 Catholicism, Mainstream American
Chapter 7 Her Household Saints — Nancy Savoca's Saints
Chapter 8 Parables on Screen — John Sayles and Men with Guns
Part 9 Catholicism and the Iberian Peninsula
Chapter 10 The Mother of all Redemptions — Almodovar's All About My Mother
Chapter 11 Solidarity, Sharing and Compassion Walter Salles' Central do Brasil
Chapter 12 Observer of Everyday Life — Carlo Carrera and The Crime of Fr Amaro
Chapter 13 The Son of Man (Facing Southeast) Jesus Christ in Eliseo Subiela's Films
Part 14 Catholicism Beyond Europe: Africa and Asia
Chapter 16 The Legacy of Lino Brocka
Part 17 Catholic, Agnostic, Atheist
Chapter 18 Finding His Place in Society local stories with a universal and spiritual dimension film-making by Gaston Kabore
Chapter 20 Jesus of Montreal — The vision of Deny Arcand
Chapter 20 Sacrilege, Satire or Statement of Faith? Ways of reading Luis Bunuel's Viridiana
Chapter 21 The Christian Moral Vision of a Believing Atheist — Krzysztof Kieslowski's decalogue films
Part 21 Catholic-Jewish Relationships
Chapter 22 Memory's Progress - Ambiguity in Louis Malle's Au Revoir les Enfants
Chapter 23 Roberto Benigni as Director towards an analysis of values
Chapter 24 Land of Promise Reflections on Andrej Wajda's Merchants of Lodz
Part 25 Catholicism Past and Future
Chapter 26 Following his True Passion Mel Gibson and The Passion of the Christ
Chapter 27 View Askewed in Dogma — Kevin Smith — a Funny Guy?

Editorial Reviews

This superb collection explores the powerful ways that Catholic film-makers have reflected upon their religious upbringing and convictions - and their struggle with their own faith traditions - through their movies. In doing so, it also demonstrates the great diversity within Catholicism, by treating films that emerge not only from American Catholicism, but also from Great Britain, Canada, Latin America and Europe. Nor does it shy away from difficult issues, including crises of faith, the tensions among piety, atheism and agnosticism, and the fraught history of Catholic-Jewish relations. Discussion of the films is enriched by a focus on the directors, and analysis of the impact of their personal histories, including their Catholic identities and their political and cultural contexts, on their movies. A fascinating book that will interest movie-lovers of all religious persuasions.

Adele Reinhartz

[A] fascinating collection of essays which should be a first purchase for all academic Catholic libraries....Peter Malone, a respected authority in the field, is to be commended for this excellent contribution.

Catholic Library World

[A] fascinating collection of essays which should be a first purchase for all academic Catholic libraries....Peter Malone, a respected authority in the field, is to be commended for this excellent contribution.

December 2008 Catholic Library World