Post by Brad Nelson on Oct 13, 2020 8:32:51 GMT -8
Corpus Christi is a Polish film of recent vintage (2019). The film itself completely satisfies the purpose of a movie: It’s entertaining. And I wish many others could watch this so we could discuss the content and themes.
A juvenile delinquent (he looks not so juvenile in this film) is paroled with a job waiting for him at a sawmill. We see that the 20-year-old delinquent, Daniel, is interested in becoming a priest. He regularly attends the services at his youth detention center and even sings at the service. He has his own dog collar but he is told by his priest that because of his background (apparently he has murdered someone, among other crimes), there is no chance in being enrolled in a seminary.
So Daniel sets out for his job at the sawmill. He stops into the church of the town where the sawmill is located. He sees a girl inside and asks her a question about something. She asks him who he is. He says he is a priest and pulls out his dog collar from his traveling bag to show her. She (apparently a nun, although you never see her in a habit — I assume she was joking but I still don’t know) then introduces him to the parish priest.
The priest is not well and needs to go away for treatment for a few weeks. He asks the yute if he will fill in for him. Daniel agrees. Daniel crams in order to be able to hold mass as well as to learn the rudiments of hearing confession. For this traditional town, his approach is somewhat fresh, even spirited, but sometimes sacrilegious as well. He’s a mix that is sure to tick off at least half the viewers at any one time.
All in all, this is not an anti-Catholic movie which is astounding enough. Yes, it clearly takes an anti-celibacy stance regarding the priesthood. (And there probably is solid backing for this position, the contrary position probably being little more than an arbitrary position, if not a calculated one for reasons other than sainthood.) But the movie immerses you in Catholicism rather than the Catholicism being the punchline for every joke.
Daniel finds himself from the get-go confronted by a town grieving and torn apart by a recent car accident that caused seven fatalities. There’s a lot of blame going around. Six teenagers were lost. There apparently is no good evidence about who caused the accident but the town blames the husband of this one woman.
Daniel steps into this hornet’s nest. Sometimes he brings a fresh, even Christian, perspective. Sometimes he’s just unorthodox in the faux-Christian way popularized these days by those who equate “traditional” with stodgy and repressive. But Daniel often does have a point. And given his need for redemption and forgiveness in his own life, he has an acute perspective on the subject.
Daniel is often a charismatic priest, and in a good way. But always in the background is the fact that he is a fake. Still (and this context is in no way included in the movie), given the faux Pope of today and a priesthood corrupted by the Pink Mafia, your sympathy (certainly my sympathy) will be with someone who has an intuitive understanding of the gospel vs. being just a well-trained bureaucratic monkey.
Does this all blow up in his face or does this set him on a new life path? Well, you’ll have to see this for yourself. But it did hold my interest from start to finish. That is very rare for a movie.
A juvenile delinquent (he looks not so juvenile in this film) is paroled with a job waiting for him at a sawmill. We see that the 20-year-old delinquent, Daniel, is interested in becoming a priest. He regularly attends the services at his youth detention center and even sings at the service. He has his own dog collar but he is told by his priest that because of his background (apparently he has murdered someone, among other crimes), there is no chance in being enrolled in a seminary.
So Daniel sets out for his job at the sawmill. He stops into the church of the town where the sawmill is located. He sees a girl inside and asks her a question about something. She asks him who he is. He says he is a priest and pulls out his dog collar from his traveling bag to show her. She (apparently a nun, although you never see her in a habit — I assume she was joking but I still don’t know) then introduces him to the parish priest.
The priest is not well and needs to go away for treatment for a few weeks. He asks the yute if he will fill in for him. Daniel agrees. Daniel crams in order to be able to hold mass as well as to learn the rudiments of hearing confession. For this traditional town, his approach is somewhat fresh, even spirited, but sometimes sacrilegious as well. He’s a mix that is sure to tick off at least half the viewers at any one time.
All in all, this is not an anti-Catholic movie which is astounding enough. Yes, it clearly takes an anti-celibacy stance regarding the priesthood. (And there probably is solid backing for this position, the contrary position probably being little more than an arbitrary position, if not a calculated one for reasons other than sainthood.) But the movie immerses you in Catholicism rather than the Catholicism being the punchline for every joke.
Daniel finds himself from the get-go confronted by a town grieving and torn apart by a recent car accident that caused seven fatalities. There’s a lot of blame going around. Six teenagers were lost. There apparently is no good evidence about who caused the accident but the town blames the husband of this one woman.
Daniel steps into this hornet’s nest. Sometimes he brings a fresh, even Christian, perspective. Sometimes he’s just unorthodox in the faux-Christian way popularized these days by those who equate “traditional” with stodgy and repressive. But Daniel often does have a point. And given his need for redemption and forgiveness in his own life, he has an acute perspective on the subject.
Daniel is often a charismatic priest, and in a good way. But always in the background is the fact that he is a fake. Still (and this context is in no way included in the movie), given the faux Pope of today and a priesthood corrupted by the Pink Mafia, your sympathy (certainly my sympathy) will be with someone who has an intuitive understanding of the gospel vs. being just a well-trained bureaucratic monkey.
Does this all blow up in his face or does this set him on a new life path? Well, you’ll have to see this for yourself. But it did hold my interest from start to finish. That is very rare for a movie.
