.
.
with comments by David Bruce

REAL LIFE
Subject: Real life Blow
Date: Mon, 21 May 2001
From: AH

I watched Blow, and later had a discussion about it with the rest of the people I went to see it with. We all agreed that the movie seemed very realistic. In no way was the director telling us to agree with the movie or even to try to relate to it. It was showing us the reality of what happens when we step into that type of situation. I thought it was quite well done, people who are heavily into doing drugs WILL probably start to sell it on the side (dealing). People who are hevily into dealing will probably start getting into "worse" drugs to deal. This movie was in no way telling us that, that is the way we should be living it was showing what this man went through. Once you get involved in that type of thing, if you don't stop fast, it only gets worse. It was showing people that even the large amount of money that George Jung had, he still was not fully happy with life. Becuase of the kind of business he was in, he didn't have any true friends. Eventually even his own mother turned her back on him because of the wrong things he was doing with his life. So in no way do I think that this movie was bad, if anything it should teach people a lesson. Fame and fortune is really not all that it's cracked up to be. Once you get to deep into the hole its almost impossible to get back out, without the proper help. Addictions like this are awful, but like what was shown in this movie, sometimes it's to difficult for the person to get out. So instead of turn on these people because we don't agree with the way they are living their lives, we need to be the ones to support them. By praying for them, being there for them and showing that we really do care. that is what I think this movie was trying to tell us.

ADDICTION
Subject: Blow
Date: Mon, 21 May 2001
From: Aaron

Blow, is a movie about the great addiction of drug usage and dealing. Starring Johnny Depp, as George Jung, a college student that gets into selling marijuana just to make a little bit of extra cash. Eventually he tries to move on to selling bigger amounts of marijuana so he moves on to Mexico, where he purchases a very large amount. He eventually gets caught for trying to smuggle the drugs and he is sent to jail. In jail he meets Diego Delgado (Jordi Molla), who tells him he could do better. Once out of jail Jung meets up with Delgado and starts selling Cocaine. Delgado introduces Jung to Pablo Escobar, a billionaire drug smuggler that lives in Columbia. The movie goes through all the ups and downs in Jungs life and his struggle in the drug world. He later meets Mirtha (penelope cruz), he marries her and they both move further into the drug world. After his first and only daughter, Kristina Sunshine jung, is born, jung vows that he isn't getting involved with drugs again. But he is eventually betrayed by his wife and is sent to jail. Once he gets out he tries desperetly to see his daughter. He gets to see her on the way to and from school, and a couple other times, if its allowed. But he falls back into the drug world, promising himself one last drug involment, but that soon goes bad. All the people that are involved in the drug smuggle are undercover and send him to jail, were he stays for the rest of his life.

SUPERMAN IS JESUS
Subject: Superman
Date: Mon, 21 May 2001
From: "Pete Carrubba"

Hi I always saw the character of Superman as Jesus in disguise. I have a Christian friend who does not believe this, but you have illustrated it most convincingly. I'd love to see your article expanded to a video presentation, using some of the film versions of the life of Christ to punctuate that Superman is actually Jesus, and not just in Superman, The Movie. Even with his recent comic adventures, he died saving mankind from an evil that threatened to end life on Earth, and literally rose from the dead. I also saw a lot of parallels between the 1978 Superman and Disney's Hercules. Thankfully, I don't think there's going to be a "Church of Superman," "Supermanians," or "Latter Day Superheroes" wearing the Superman "S" as their symbol instead of a cross. Seeing this as a retelling of the story of Jesus, one can understand the difficulty in trying to create a worthy sequel without rehashing or repeating oneself. There is no real sequel to the New Testament, so the source material has to be original, and anyone who sees current Hollywood fare knows that originality is a rare commodity.
Pete Carrubba

1. NO DRUG 2. THE PHD 3. THE STABBING
Subject: JacobsLadder
Date: Mon, 21 May 2001
From: Daniel dkp0@hotmail.com

Hi, okay just watched the film, again (over here in the uk) and thought i would try to clear a few things up for you people over there. Obviously I the film is up to interpretation but this is how it is for me.

Firstly, There is no drug. As many have said there was no possible way for him to find out after his death.

Secondly he was called dr because he did his phd, people who are medical doctors study at med school. He could have been a doctor of business for all we knew.

Thirdly his friend stabbed him because of the confusion in battle, both looked shocked to see each other and take note they werent with the others in the fight, they werent high on drugs but adrenaline, and they were scared.

And finally when the medics give up on him because he has died, and say he looks at peace they also say something like "what a battle" they would not be saying that if it had been everyman for himself, they would say something like "what a mess" not gleeming with pride at how good a battle it was. Anyway it was one hell of a film (excuse the pun) and if anyone disagrees/strongly agrees email me.
Cherrs, Daniel
Daniel dkp0@hotmail.com

CLIFF'S TOP FILMS
Subject: top spiriual films My_blank_Films
Date: Sun, 20 May 2001
From: Cliff

hi, cliff from clearwater,

greatest story ever told
the rapture
l ady in white
ben hur
the prophecy
the prophecy II
exorcist
exocist III
the robe
ten commandments
excaliber
lost souls

REPLY TO JAMES ROSENZWEIG
Subject: Lord of the Rings
Date: Sat, 19 May 2001
From: Brian

In reply to James Rosenzweig:
Hello James,
On Tolkien and his wifes tomestones are inscribed the words: Berin and Luithien respectively from the Lay of Berin and Luithien taken from The Silmarillion which gives the History of Middle Earth and loosely parallels Catholic Theology and the Book of Genesis. (By the way I am a practicing Catholic and an Irish Catholic at that! : ) ). Now the Lay of Berin and Luithien told the story of the ill fated love affair between mortal man Berin and Luithien the most beautiful of the female elves. Now to reiterate the point I made in an earlier posting not alone is it not helpfull for mortal man to identify with the elves thereby making themselves as the Angels are, which is an act of rebellion inspired by the evil one, in this story the twist is that mortal man loves not mortal woman but an Angel in her place thus denying mortal woman her created nature as mortal woman and companion and helper to mortal man, as well as placing an impossible demand on the woman to live as his Angel. Man is not content to try to be as the Angels are, he must marry an Angel also! (Although he does acknowledge that true Love alone is sufficient to disarm evil, because God is Love and where true love is, evil cannot be. (Evil being the perversion of the will to love).)

The second dangerous cul-de-sac for Christians that one might rush down on reading the Lord of the Rings is the idea that in and of yourself and even in taking council with your friends, you, a mortal man can defeat an Angel of God (albeit a fallen one) which are the dragons and Sauron in the Lord of the Rings. True for a while Satan will lead you on (all the while laughing at you) then he will destroy you utterly. No mortal man (or Hobbit) can defeat one of even the lowest of the orders of Angels whom God has created and endowed with spiritual powers greater than even the nobest of men. Tolkien indeed acknowledges as much in the Ring Wraiths - the nine mortal men ensnared by the rings - who were for a time great and good before sucumbing to the fallen Angels. As every Catholic theologian should be able to tell you the only solution is to flee and leave the field of battle to the woman to whom victory over Satan is granted by God from the beginning by virtue of the surpassing grace and humility she displayed in giving the world God's only Son Jesus Christ. It is Mary the ever Virgin mother of God who scripture tells us will crush the head of the serpent beneath her heel. Therefore all a Christian can and should do when faced with evil is to flee to the consoling arms of Mary, the scourge of demons. Her humility and submission to God's will defeats even the most terrible of the fallen Angels utterly.

In mentioning that Tolkien was a master of medieval history I merely meant that an Oxford Professor of Medieval Litreature would perforce be a world expert on the history, language and mythology of medieval times also, almost as a by product of holding the Chair in Litreature.

Tolkien, I am sure, was a fine Christian but in his fantasy writing, by virtue of his expertise, his intellect and his mastery of the art of storytelling, he has unwittingly created a work fraught with intellectual spiritual traps for Christians. I first read the Lord of the Rings as a twelve year old. I'm now twenty eight. God in His own time which is good continues to teach me the difference between Truth and non-Truth.
God bless and Best Regards,
Brian

CATHOLIC MEANS UNIVERSAL
Subject: Jesus and his disciples founded the Catholic church Stigmata
Date: Sat, 19 May 2001
From: Alberto

Hi mi name is Alberto from Puerto Rico and I'm part of the Roman Catholic church, I'm a pre-seminarist and I will become a good priest in a future. There's a lot of things that bothers me about this movie.

First of all the Stigmata's victims where deeply religious people and this woman was an atheist. God creates the Catholic Church that means universal and also the document of St. Thomas' gossple is not an Heresy because there's not enought evidence about if it really the true words of Jesus Christ.

I'm only 18 and I have a religious vocation and I will be a good priest in the future and church is not the only thing of salvation, is part of it but the actions are very important, what you learn is to leave it!
thank you very much! everyone that want to e mail me can do it!

ENTERTAINING MOVIE
Subject: Battlefield Earth
Date: Sat, 19 May 2001
From: Argonius

Hi. Whether or not this movie was about Scientology does not really matter to me. What surprises me is how many people thought it was a terrible show. This movie was good classic hard science fiction. My husband, our friends and I loved the fact that it had the old themes of the world needing saving and lots of fun gadgets along the way. Personally, I really enjoyed it. I guess that dissenting opinion is what I wanted to post.

XOXOXO
Subject: InGodsHands
Date: Sat, 19 May 2001
From: Ro

I love surfing so much, all i eva want 2 do is surf but i live in england, i think Matty Liu is one sexy hot guy, i know many guys but none compare to him. I am 15 and i would do absolutely anything to meet Matty !!!!! Every body, if u have a lucky enough chance to be near good surf, please SURF !!!!!!! Matty if u eva read this please contact me in someway or another. I promise it would be somefing u don't wont to miss !!!
Luv ya all xoxox

WEST WING
Subject: West Wing Television
Date: Sat, 19 May 2001
From: Tom

The first episode of "West Wing" set the tone for its take on religion, with H. L. Mencken-esque caricatures of Christians. Since then it has trashed the Bible (with an attack on the Mosaic Law lifted from a homosexual website), and in this season's finale 20 million viewers saw the President rail at God for the tragedies he had endured. Someone on that show has a problem with God, or Christianity, it seems. Question- ing God is nothing new (see Job), but where is the 'bully pulpit' for those who have answers for the questioners?
Tom

ABOUT THE CHURCH WEDDING
Subject: Heartbreakers Church Heartbreakers
Date: Sat, 19 May 2001
From: Tom

Good point, Ben, though in films marriages are almost always either in a synagogue or a Catholic church. Protestantism for filmakers seems to be relugated to the domain of fanatic Bible-thumpers, hypocrites, or, positively, black gospel choirs. But I agree it was interesting to see something different out of Hollywood.
Tom

ATHEIST FANMAIL
Subject: atheist fanmail
Date: Fri, 18 May 2001
From: Kalle

Good evening David. I stumbled across your website one day. As an ex-Christian and vocal atheist I must say that I enjoyed it deeply. You're reviews are thoughtful, well researched and tolerant, even though I don't agree with the conclusions, for obvious reasons. Keep up the good work. I will follow your progress.
Regards

Response: Thank you Kalle, I really appreciate your words. -David

YOUR ANALYSIS OF LOTR
Subject: Lord_of_Rings
Date: Sat, 19 May 2001
From: Thomas Watch tolman2@yahoo.com

Very insightful. I've read OTR maybe 30 times (nearly all after becoming a Christian) and never 'got' much of what you said about Modernism, etc. I would say Tolkien did not consciously set forth these ideas, but that they seeped in. He was Catholic (consider Luthien as a "Mary" figure), not Evangelical, and a perfectionist in his creation of languages and mythologies. He insisted on consistency within his created languages and cultures, perhaps one reason why they resemble Norse and other mythologies. I liked that you said LOTR is neither pro- or anti-Christian. While there are many spiritual insights that can be found in the work(s), there is always a danger it can be used as a substitute for real, active Christian faith (though that can be said of many things). They should be enjoyed, but never made an obsession.
Thomas Watch tolman2@yahoo.com

GODLY? CHRIST LIKE?
Subject: The Patriot
Date: Fri, 18 May 2001
From: Joseph joseph2crisp@netscape.net

Maybe it's because I'm half British, but I have to disagree with those praising "The Patriot" as a good movie with Christian values. God said plainly, "Vengeance is mine" and all this movie is about is revenge. In fact, the director has to keep killing off innocent people just to keep Mel going. God said, "Children obey your parents" but in this movie they flatly disobey (and are disrespectful to) Dad and in the end it says, see your children were right and Mel at last 'sees it their way'. Plus, the premise of the entire thing goes against another Biblical order, "Fear thou the Lord and the king, and do not meddle with those given to change". Had this command been obeyed there would have been no atrocities. A parent taking his children out to kill people deeply disturbed me, it seemed to say that he cared nothing for the welfare of the two younger ones if he could save the oldest. The first boy to die acted foolishly; the equivalent of jumping in front of a moving truck and the oldest son lost his life simply by following in Dad's footsteps and letting hatred and lust for revenge get the better of him. All I saw in this movie was hatred, nothing of patriotism. I pray others will not pattern their lives after the heroes in this movie but will give vengeance to that infinite good and gracious being, "by whom kings reign and princes decree justice".
Email address is joseph2crisp@netscape.net

WEST WING
Date: Thu, 17 May 2001
From: "John H. Pavelko"

I watched West Wing's season finale last night. It was the first time that I watched the show. I wish that I had taped it. Allow me to give you a synopsis of the program in case you missed it. You need to include a review in your section on God in TV.

The President stricken with grief over the death of a close friend, asks the SS to seal off the Washington Cathedral. He then unleashes a long diatribe at God. The Almighty is vindictive for punishing him, the President, with the death of his friend. The President ask why his all of the good works that he had done while in the Oval Office did not count for something? Why didn't they earn him some special favors? The scene concludes with the President lighting up a cigarette taking a puff or two and then putting it out on the floor of the cathedral. The full significance of this act of defiance set up with flashbacks to a time when the President was a young man and his father reprimanded him for smoking during Chapel. This is followed by another flashback that reveals the suppressed bitterness the President still has for his father because of the latter's cruel and vindictive spirit.

This is a poor summation but I am hoping to weave this into my sermon this week so used this email as a rough draft.
John Pavelko
http://www.crossroadspc.org/thebarrel/

EXCELLENT JOB
Subject: You_Can_Count_On_Me
Date: Thu, 17 May 2001
From: Reuben

hi, i just wanted to say that I think that Simon Remark did an excellent job at reviewing this film and it really helped me.
Thanks.

INTERESTING CHURCH CHOICE
Subject: Intersting Church Choice Heartbreakers
Date: Wed, 16 May 2001
From: Ben

Interesting tidbit: The opening scene depicts a marriage inside an Orthodox Christian church, complete with iconostasis and balcony chanters. What an unsual choice considering most people wouldn't recognize it as such (wasn't mentioned in dialogue) and that the film was set in America where Christianity is generally thought of in terms of Protestant/Catholic.
Ben

A GREAT FAN SPEAKS MIND
Subject: Respond to Greg Wright's essay Lord of the Rings
Date: Wed, 16 May 2001
From: James Rosenzweig

Let me say this at the outset -- I am a Protestant Christian who is also a great fan of J.R.R. Tolkien. If these biases concern anyone, they should disregard me.

First, let me say very strongly that Greg Wright has not made a lifetime's study of Tolkien, as I believe he himself would be the first to admit. Let me add to that, with no malice intended, that I do not believe Pastor Wright's answers reveal the humility I think all scholars should have when discussing humans with whom they are ill-acquainted. Pastor Wright misrepresents Tolkien on a number of occasions, and I would like to clarify them.

The comments concerning Lewis are most troubling -- as one poster has already noted, Lewis did not "rub off" on Tolkien, but the other way around! The essay never mentions once that Tolkien is a practicing Christian -- indeed a _devout_ Catholic -- but refers to the "Judeo-Christian worldview" as though Tolkien was a pagan influenced by those around him. On the contrary, he was a Christian who influenced the pagans around him.

More importantly, the suggestion that the Lord of the Rings denigrates or attacks Christian values is absurd. As other posters have pointed out, the trilogy glorifies the importance of supporting good even when it is difficult, and of the pervasive influence of evil which must be defended against at all times. The poster who attacked the elves on angelic grounds is badly mistaken. Few in the community of Tolkien fans "identify" with the elves -- we are all honest enough to see ourselves in men like Aragorn and Boromir, or hobbits like Frodo and Samwise, who have very honest struggles with the ability to do right and wrong. Tolkien himself never compared his character to any of the elves, but suggested that the weak yet devoted Faramir (a man) was the closest image to his own. That said, the elves themselves are filled with struggles -- elves can be evil, and judgmental, and mistaken, three adjectives I feel do not apply to angels (here I hope that "Brian" will agree with me). The suggestion that Tolkien borrowed from the siege of Sarajevo and the Janissaries is too laughable to be admitted -- and the suggestion that he instructed in Medieval History is absurd (Tolkien was a philologist and literary historian, and while he may have encountered medieval history in the course of his research on medieval literature, he was never a Professor of History by any stretch of the mind).

Finally, the question of whether LOTR is an allegorical work is a difficult one, complicated by the fact that few of us (I think myself included) have a solid understanding of the meaning of "allegory". The characters in LOTR are not meant to "represent" anyone or anything -- Tolkien makes this much plain. But as to its being a non-Christian work....Tolkien himself repudiates this. If Greg Wright had consulted the published Letters of Tolkien (a volume easily available at all bookstores, and one that any serious scholar should have consulted before writing an essay on Tolkien he knew would be widely read), he would have found this passage in a letter Tokien sent to an acquaintance in December of 1953:

"The Lord of the Rings is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work; unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision. That is why I have not put in, or have cut out, practically all references to anything like 'religion', or to cults and practices, in the imaginary world. For the religious element is absorbed into the story and the symbolism. However that is very clumsily put, and sounds more self important than I feel. For as a matter of fact, I have consciously planned very little, and should chiefly be grateful for having been brought up (since I was eight) in a Faith that has nourished me and taught me all the little that I know."

If you have read the letters and the biography of Tolkien, you will know that he can be trusted on this account. I come not to praise Caesar with my words: Tolkien was a difficult and grudge-bearing man who had many easily evient faults. But he was also devoted to his faith in God (which can be seen clearly in his letters, especially those to his sons), and if he aimed at putting Christianity into the LOTR (absorbed into the story, not explicitly represented), I have little doubt that it can be found without trouble. I and most other Tolkien fans across the world have very little trouble seeing it: I hope that many more will find Christ through these movies, however badly they represent Tolkien's faith on the face of them.
James Rosenzweig
jwrosenz@sfu.ca

P.S. I should be very glad to have Greg Wright's response to these questions:
"Why did you not consult any work on Tolkien's life before looking for his spirituality in his books?"

"In a world of real struggles with sin, why would you choose to assault a book that glorifies the weak defending truth and goodness? Even if not orthodox in its expressions of truth, is this not a laudable change from the everydayliterature and art we are exposed to?"

"Do you believe Catholics are Christians? Is there perhaps a bias in your own criticisms against Catholicism? We Protestants are often mystified by Catholic spirituality -- does that make their spirituality invalid? If the Lord of the Rings is infused with a Catholic sense of the world, would we, as Protestants, recognize it as Christian?"

I know I come off as a crank, and perhaps an abusive one at that. Forgive me, and feel free to edit or delete any sentence or passage which you feel is too pointed. I have always held that attacking the viewpoint of someone is not attacking their person, and I promise Pastor Wright that I will be civil in our discussion of Tolkien. I hope that I will be forgiven on these grounds: I have studied Tolkien long enough to make him a friend. A friend with real faults and one whose company I cannot always stand, but a friend nevertheless. Pastor Wright's comments about Tolkien's spirituality I took to be an affront to the faith and piety of a man whose Christian beliefs are much admired by me. When it seemed further that these attacks had been launched from largely uninformed grounds, and when some of the comments on the bulletin board seem to indicate that neither Wright nor his readers care how informed he is about this friend of mine.....well, I hope that you can see where I "get off" as they say. Thank you for your time.
James Rosenzweig

WHY DID BERGMAN REBEL?
Subject: Faithless
Date: Wed, 16 May 2001
From: Victor Bloom MD

It is interesting that Bergman himself was that sinner, and that his father was a bishop, a very religious man. Why did Bergman rebel against the teachings of his childhood? Was it because his father was too strict and punitive?
Victor Bloom MD

RACE AND FAITH
Subject: Save the Last Dance
Date: Wed, 16 May 2001
From: Shelley Euverman Gr.11

I saw Save the Last Dance last night with a group of friends. I enjoyed watching this movie very much, and enjoyed watching the dancing that took place on screen. The movie is about a young girl whose mother has died in a car crash. The girl feels responsible for her death because she feels it was the pressure of her dancing that caused the crash. Thn she moves to the city, with her father who she's had no contact with and resents him, and her dancing for the death of her mother. In the city she lives in a ghetto, where she attends an all African American highschool were she starts to adapt of the life in a ghetto. The movie goes on teaching her the value of love for dancing and how she has to overcome her emotions of her mother to keep on dancing.

I think the movie showed a lot about race and keeping you faith in something. She had to learn to adapt to a new place with new people, and had to learn to be accepted. SHe also learn how to come over her emotions from the death of her mother, to continue her dancing. It showed in the movie the young girl had a lot of courage to face her fear of dancing after the accident. She showed that you must'nt give up hope, because sometimes you have to keep on going, and put up a fight. Just like the young man did in the movie. He told her to keep on going. To do what she wanted and not to worry of what others think of her. There was also a lesson about love. That a true relationship isn't based on what people think of you when you're together, but really what you think of one another.

I thought the movie was well done, and showed many teenagers how hard life really is. The movie could have been made better with the girl putting her faith into God and church instead of her dancing in the young men, but it's hollywood so what can we expect. I still think the movie has a lot a good values for teenagers today.
Shelley Euverman Gr.11

I WAS MOVED...
Subject: Left Behind
Date: Tue, 15 May 2001
From: suzan

I am reading all these negative comments on the movie. Personally, i was very moved by this film. I honestly enjoyed this film very much. I sunk into the story and didn't notice the "bad acting" and "terrible camera shots"... as for this film being watched by secular people, i'll leave it up to God to decide if they would be touched by this film or not. it might or might not be effective at all to them... but that's up to God. i WOULD recommend it just because i want to have the Gospel of the Lord available to them in many ways as possible. It's not just about entertainment, it's about being saved...

GREAT
Subject: Superman
Date: Sat, 12 May 2001
From: "Randy

great analogy

BIBLE NOT ALLOWED
Subject: Comments on comparison Hannibal
Date: Sat, 12 May 2001
From: "John DeVore"

It is not all that suprising that you could find all of these similarities. If you want to try, you could probably find similarities in just about anything. In fact, my comp 2 teacher told us that we were not allowed to compare any of the literary works we read to the gospels because it's been done so much. In my own experiance, the Bible can be used to defend any point of view at all. In fact, Marilyn Manson uses it frequently. Reviews like this just seem kinda silly to me.
John DeVore

Response: So your Comp 2 teacher does not allow you to use the Bible? Interesting? The very foundation of our very culture and our traditional understandings center on the Bible. Over used? Hmm. Most people are biblical illiterate. It seems your teacher wants to impose censorship on certain reference material (the Bible). More curious is that you bought into this. NEVER allow anyone to impose any form of censorship on you. I would guess that the dictionary is used more even than the Bible in your school. Should it be banned? And, your logic, regarding Maryln Manson's use of the Bible seems to suggest that we should not use the Bible as a reference tool at all. Has your teacher made you into a censorship lover? Challenge your teacher! Question authority! -David

Your Private Comments.
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