WHAT'S HAPPENING IN CHICAGO CATHOLIC FILMMAKING??

The short, "To Be Born," premieres Sunday, May 1st, 7pm, at Marcus Theater, 16350 South Lagrange Rd., Orland Park, IL, 60462. http://www.marcustheatres.com/Theatre/TheatreDetail/153/

$10 includes a DVD of the film (in English, Spanish, Polish).
There will also be a Q & A with the cast and crew.

“To Be Born” is a 15-minute short by Chicago filmmaker, Rob Kaczmark and Spirit Juice Studios (http://www.spiritjuicestudios.com/). It will be available in English, Spanish and Polish. It’s a layered look at the terrible decision that faces many women: an unplanned, unwanted pregnancy.

Why are there so many “unplanned, unwanted pregnancies” in the first place? How can there be a “decision” to be made when a human life is already in existence? These two questions--important as they are--are not the focus of the film. The sad fact is that abortion is legal in the United States, and “the law is a teacher.” Unfortunately, not everything that is legal is good. Far from it. The fact that abortion is legal makes it a quick, easy option, a concrete possibility, when a law-abiding woman (or man) is under duress.

The film is beautifully shot and the young woman’s plight sensitively and compassionately presented. The story weaves in and out of reality, allowing any woman, any person to vicariously step through the stages of abortion and give it some hard thought. Is this really the best way? Do I really want this regret? What is the alternative?

Too often it seems, people are not really informed about what an abortion is. There is a vague notion of removing “tissue.” There are walls of denial and intentional suppression of the facts. “To Be Born” removes the wall and reveals the facts. This is not a condemnatory piece. It is filled with the power of love and hope. It’s a unique addition to pro-life filmography, and the fact that it is brief (in our short-attention-span society) makes it all the more valuable. (It will be available on YouTube.) It tells a rich, visual story. Although textured, there is also a simplicity and quietude to every second of imagery. We make our best decisions not in haste and panic, but in moments of calm reflection and often solitude.

"To Be Born" has elements of the horror film genre, in order for the audience to enter into the personal and real horror (for parents and child) that marks this momentous decision. Although it can't be controlled who sees what these days, especially on the internet, the intention is that "To Be Born" could be a preventive tool for young (and not so young) people to stop and think BEFORE finding themselves in crisis.

How might post-abortive mothers and fathers react to “To Be Born”? If they have not begun to seek healing, “TBB” could definitely be a catalyst. If shown in a group-setting, it might be helpful to have post-abortion counselors available (and introduce them before the screening).

“To Be Born” includes a brief depiction and verbal description of an abortion procedure. There is blood, but no nudity or pictures of aborted fetuses.
Suggested age of viewer: 13 and up.

www.ToBeBorn.com (the film will be available for viewing on this website after May 1, 2011. DVDs will also be on sale.)

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MOVIES: "SOUL SURFER"

SISTER SEZ: ONLY WATCH THE ABOVE TRAILER. THE OTHERS DON'T DO IT JUSTICE. OPENS: APRIL 8. SAVE THE DATE. BEST MOVIE OF 2011.

I am very, very, very excited about this movie. It has been a while since I really lost myself in a movie and forgot that a) I was watching a movie b) I was supposed to be reviewing a movie c) I don’t usually lose myself in movies. “Soul Surfer” is the true story of Bethany Hamilton, the 13-year-old Christian surfer girl in Hawaii who had her arm chomped off by a shark. And she got right back out there and kept surfing: her love for Christ and surfing stronger than ever.

The story of how “Soul Surfer” was made is almost as exciting as the story of Bethany and her amazing family. At the screening I attended, a Christian VP of marketing for Provident Films (a division of Sony) told us that some Christians convinced Sony to tell the real story of Bethany (which is inseparable from her faith in Jesus), and to do a big budget film: $20M. Sony’s money was well spent. “Soul Surfer” looks and feels big budget, and is just a fabulously successful film all around. The sweeping aerial, under-water, over-water, all-water cinematography of Hawaii and surfing is MESMERIZING and BREATHTAKING. Hawaii’s tourism industry and the hang-ten sport should shoot up like a Blue Whale blowhole after this film hits 2,000 screens April 8.

Director Sean McNamara did a swell job here. If I knew how to say “swell” in Pidgin English, I would. Da kine. “Soul Surfer” is a family drama; a sports movie (all-girl surfing!); a story of faith, hope and love; and, well, almost a nature action film. I’ve never really seen anything quite like it. I liked the movie more and more and more as I watched. The crisis sequence (you get so wrapped up in the story and the gorgeous scenery you forget what’s coming) is one of the best I’ve ever seen. Not gory, not overdone, but pulls no punches at the same time. The pacing, emotions and reactions are perfect.

Helen Hunt—looking tanned and beautiful--plays Bethany’s mom. Hunt has never particularly been one of my favorite actresses, but this role fits her like a glove (perhaps because in real life she surfs!). She’s a joy to watch. Dennis Quaid plays Bethany’s Dad. Kevin Sorbo is Bethany’s best friend’s Dad, Carrie Underwood plays her youth minister, and Bethany is played by the truly luminous AnnaSophia Robb. Bethany, her parents and her two brothers all surf, so all the actors had to learn to at least stand up on a surf board, but from there on out, professional surfers do the fancy stuff, including the real Bethany! The family dynamic is realistic and FUNCTIONAL. A functional family on the big screen! Take a picture! Oh wait—it is a picture! (Sorry—couldn’t resist being a tad sarcastic.) Parents talk to teens like they are human beings. Teens talk to parents like they actually love them, and might even like them. Family members help and care for each other. Christianity is just a taken-for-granted, matter-of-fact factor in the life of the Hamiltons (as it is for millions of non-surfing families). It is not portrayed fakey-like, and “We are Christians, Praise Jesus!” does not pop up every five minutes, although as a Jesus freak myself, I wouldn’t have minded that.

This is not a movie that you will need to go to the theater to “support,” because it’s a “good, Christian film and we hope they make more like this.” You will love this film. It is the best film of 2011. You will not be ashamed to take your friends, Christian or non-Christian. It is a very cool film. Your friends may not even be cool enough to see this film. But go and “support” it any way, especially on opening weekend--April 8--because that’s what counts when Hollywood is crunching numbers.

Just when you think “Soul Surfer” might be going to get a little hokey…it doesn’t. Best. Epilogue. Ever. Tons of footage of the real Bethany through the years and today. (You’ll also glimpse how faithful the movie was to the real events of her life.) I hope there’s a “making of” documentary on the DVD/Blu-ray.

OTHER STUFF:

--Is this a chick flick? If you consider a Something-For-Everyone film that deals with life’s Big Mysteries and Questions and entertains with Non-Stop, Mind-Blowing Photography and Action and features some of the World’s Coolest Surfer Grrrl Chicks a chick flick, then, yes.

--Evidently, the actors were FREEZING and turning blue, but had to look like it was balmy.

--THEOLOGY OF THE BODY? There is, naturally, a preponderance of teens in bikinis—true to Hawaiian surf-and-turf-wear--and although the girls talk about wanting to look good on the waves (as well as the fact that they have company/product sponsorships), they are first of all athletes sold out to their sport, and not into flaunting their 0% body-fat buff bods. I would welcome a guy’s take on this who has seen the movie. Otherwise, a glorious celebration of the human body and the grace it is capable of and how good it can look when you exercise a lot and don't eat lots of transfats. Also, and more obviously (even though BJP2G says that his TOB doesn't take up the experience of bodily suffering and death), Bethany's bravely accepting the challenge of what happened to her body could be considered some "theology of the body."

--How did they get rid of the actress’ arm? Wrapped it in green screen stuff.

--Great conversation between parents about whether it’s better for her to continue surfing or not. Great. --Magnificent, creative twist to “love your enemies.”

--This movie shows a kind of lack of sense of horror on the part of Bethany. It reminded me of what Antoine de St.-Exupery (author of “The Little Prince”) said in his book “Wind, Sand and Stars” when it seemed his plane was crashing. How there was no horror to it at all. He was very calm and just looked death in the face.

--If you search for “Soul Surfer” on YouTube, you’ll find tons of stuff on Bethany. She works with amputees, also: “Friends of Bethany.” But DON'T watch those other lame trailers!

--OK—you know how the story ends. Sort of. Like you know how “Secretariat” ends. But you'll WANT to see “Soul Surfer.”

--“BEST MOVIE OF 2011!”

--“MESMERIZING!”

--“BREATHTAKING!”

--“EXULTANT!”

--“GLORIOUS SEASCAPES!”

--“NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, EAT YOUR HEART OUT!”

--“YOU TOO, ESPN! (UNLESS, OF COURSE, YOU HAD SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE MOVIE!)”

--“HELEN HUNT IS A GNARLY SURF-MOM!”

--“A FUNCTIONAL FAMILY!”

--“BEYOND INSPIRING!”

--“NO EASY ‘GOD’ ANSWERS!”

--“TIMMY, BETHANY’S BROTHER, REALLY DOES EAT LOTS OF SPAM!”

--“HEARTFELT, GENUINE EMOTIONS!”

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MOVIES: "HOP"

The new Easter movie, “Hop,” is a far-fetched, kid-friendly, eye-poppingly colorful, modern fairytale. Since the Easter bunny has no real back story (history), Universal Pictures has made one up. Will this be the first in a long line of (totally secular) Easter movies, much like the filmography of Christmas films? Will “Hop” become an Easter classic? Time will tell.

Fred (James Marsden) is the adult slacker son of a disappointed father. E.B. (voiced by Russell Brand) is the unwilling teenage heir to his official Easter Bunny father’s title and job. (He wants to be a drummer and his father doesn’t approve of his dreams.) The two cross bunny trails and wind up helping each other achieve their latent potential.

Does it work? Actually, yes. James Marsden proves himself an incredibly generous actor who invests in the role to the hilt. He really plays it up for the kids without overplaying it. Fine acting and fine voice acting for all the characters. “Hop” seamlessly holds your attention in both the animated, Willy-Wonka-like, “Easter Island” candy factory (E.B.’s world), and the real Beverly Hills, (Fred’s world).

I think we have become so used to such high quality animation that we may not realize how perfectly the animated bunny is integrated into the real-people, live-action world. James Marsden looks like he’s truly interacting with E.B. at every moment.

Any mention of “the true meaning of Easter”? Not a whit. We are told that the Easter Bunny tradition goes back “4,000 years.” However, we must remember that “Easter” takes its name from “Eastre,” the pagan goddess of Spring, and that certainly there were lots of pre-Christian rites of Spring involving bunnies and eggs and chicks and the perennial resurgence of new life on earth. But there will certainly be some backlash regarding “Hop”: a backlash against the further secularization of a now unmistakably Christian feast. To paraphrase Isaiah reprimanding King Ahaz: “Is it not enough for you to weary Christmas? Must you also weary Easter?”

At least Christmas’ giving of gifts and Santa Claus has some basis in salvation history (the Magi and St. Nicholas). The Easter Bunny mythos is thumping on very thin ground. Fantasy is a wonderful play-space for the moral imagination of both children and adults, but what happens when parents tell their children about the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny and the Resurrected Jesus all in the same breath? Perhaps we need to find ways to connect every celebration/tradition in which we participate, secular and religious, to unchanging Reality that will grow with us and Who will go with us for the long haul.

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WANNA HELP NUNS MAKE A MOVIE? JUST BUY A COOKBOOK!

See that movie on the left of this blog that we nunnies wanna make?

You can help us in an easy, fun, yummy way!

Just buy this cookbook!

"Bless Us, O Lord...."

Only $20 (includes postage)!

GREAT MOTHER'S DAY GIFT!!!

This cookbook includes 640 unique recipes from 40 countries and comes with a built-in stand!

(Compiled by the Knights of Columbus Ladies Auxiliary, Palatine, IL)

Send cash, check or money order (we also accept Visa/MC) to:

Sr. Helena Raphael Burns, fsp

Pauline Books & Media
172 N. Michigan Ave.

Chicago, IL 60601

helraphaelfsp@aol.com

Checks payable to: Daughters of St. Paul

(memo can be: Alberione Film)

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SR. CECILIA'S FINAL WISH

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HILARIOUS 4 MIN VIDEO BY CATHOLIC STUDENTS!

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MOVIES: "RANGO"

I pretty much hated this movie. And I really thought I was going to love it because of the hilarious trailer. The tone of the trailer is NOT maintained throughout the movie. If the movie-makers had stayed with the offbeat humor of a Hawaiian-shirt-wearing lizard and his trial-laden meanderings in the desert, “Rango” would have worked. Splendidly. Instead, Rango, the lizard (Johnny Depp proves he is also a consummate voice-actor), gets stuck in a tedious, episodic, cerebral Western, jam-packed with rabid, non-stop, too-smart, supercilious, constantly-risque dialogue that looks down on us, the audience (like, “you’ll never understand this, but we’re gonna say it any way).


The movie spins out of control like a mutant Cecil B. DeMille epic: Casts of thousands spring up from below the earth! Bats mounted with gun turrets descend from the sky! Battles! Explosions! Chases through the desert!




(INTERNATIONAL POSTER)

“Rango” is definitely a next level of CGI, especially the first act: Rango getting hit by a car(s), meeting the armadillo wisdom figure, and his first encounter with a hawk. We are on notice: the bar has been raised!

“Rango” is a post-Judaeo-Christian, postmodern film. If I had a dollar for every time Rango says: “Who am I?” or is asked “Who are you?” (which should have remained unspoken subtext, IMHO), I could by a tank of gas. With today’s gas prices. It could have been a GOOD postmodern film, if the story’s events were kept, well, smaller. Rango is an aspiring actor/director (a very funny schtick which works best in a great saloon scene when Rango has to win the respect of the local tough-guys).

“Rango” should have stayed focused on Rango. Instead, we almost lose sight of him in an ever-burgeoning introduction of other new and fascinating animal-characters. The fact that Rango is an actor is a double-whammy of “Who am I?” (As Denzel once said: “I’m an actor, therefore I’m a schizoid.”) But Rango turns out to be a very good actor. And aren’t we ALL actors in the dramas of our own lives? The ancients saw this and believed that we need to be brave and play our assigned parts well.

There’s a certain Buddhist/Eastern feel to the film (I believe because Hollywood itself is getting more and more Buddhist), but it doesn’t quite follow through on it. “Rango” reminded me of both “Warrior’s Way” (a failure of a martial arts Western)—the set design is very similar, as are several scenes; and “Kung Fu Panda” (a consistently Buddhist film)—even down to the tortoise character. Oh yes, and “Chinatown”—(the issue of water).

There’s another good scene, kind of a dream or “enlightenment” sequence involving a golf cart and “The Spirit of the West” (a person). But instead of zen-like maxims, we get some good old-fashioned, “be a man,” almost “Theology of the Body for men” instructions! American pragmatism wins the day. However, as with many Hollywood movies, there’s still a sense that after all is said and done, there really is nothing to “believe” in. Perhaps not even ourselves, but we must act “as if” (Kant) and keep pushing that absurd rock up that hill (Camus) without really having a reason to do so.

OTHER STUFF:

--The jokes are intellectual and overachieving. You’ll get most of them, but you won’t laugh. OK, I laughed once: the scene where Rango swallows the lit cigar.

--Isla Fisher also does a fantastic job voicing “Beans,” the female lead.

--Tons of psycho-babble. As humor.

--There’s an intellectually hysterical Greek chorus of Mariachi owls, and a marvelous Mexican music soundtrack. (Probably Ferruginous Pygmy Owls.)

--Trapped in subjectivity: “We see what we need to see.” AAARRGGGGHHHH

--I am so tired of the “Believe!” “Hope!” theme in movies (especially Disney movies). It makes me sad that “Hollywood” thinks people are shallow enough to be satisfied with “any dream,” and just believing in “something rather than nothing.” People are smarter than that. People have deeper desires than that.

--The story is static. Plot, character and stakes stall early on, after the bar scene.

--AWESOME LINES:
“If this were heaven, we’d be eating pop tarts with Kim Novak.”
“No man can walk out on his own story.”

--“Rango” is a very expensive, very clever film—the smartest film in the room and knows it—but it ain’t got no heart.

--I AM MORE AND MORE CONVINCED THAT THE MASCULINE GENIUS IN HOLLYWOOD HAS EXHAUSTED ITSELF AND GONE STALE AND IS IN DESPERATE NEED OF THE FEMININE GENIUS. IT’S ONLY WHEN THE TWO WORK TOGETHER THAT THERE IS TRUTH AND SOMETHING ALWAYS NEW AND BEAUTIFUL AND FRUITFUL.

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