Posted on 11/03/2005 10:28:48 PM PST by TheMadLurker
Just offering the information. I'm a stickler for fidelity to the text, and therefore I'm rarely happy with a movie made from a book I've liked, but that doesn't mean it's not a good movie -- just that I'm a crank!
I read "The Bridge on the River Kwai" after I saw the movie, or I'm sure it would have ruined it for me :-).
Good point.
Good place to be *from* ...
I appreciated, thanks.
It's a matter, (overt expressions of Christian themes), that doesn't play too well with today's audiences. I'm wondering if that is the reason it was muted.
The reviewer nearly lost all credibility though when, referring to the Passion, he said: but without the troubling arguments about anti-Semitism or the almost unbearable brutality. ("Hit piece coming...")
I admit, there were elements of the movie I didn't much like. As the reviewer noted, Peter seemed a bit too hesitant. I, for one, did not much like the portrayal of the White Witch; she was little like what I'd imagined when reading the book. (She seemed too much 21st century American in some way I can't describe.) I thoroughly disliked the portrayal of her castle.
And yet... the Edmund of the movie was generally more credible than the nasty creature I'd envisioned when reading the book.
There are many minute points on which I disagree with the reviewer. Was it 100% faithful to the book? Not to my memory. And the battle scenes seemed almost to be lifted from LOTR.
But somehow this movie is not (yet) displacing the mental images I'd formed as a boy on first reading the book. Sad experience has taught me generally to avoid movies based on books I have already read. But I was not disappointed at seeing this.
(I keep wondering, though, if somebody wasn't having a wee bit of fun at Sassenach expense: the pennants in the camp had a "lion rampant gules upon a field or" -- upright red lion upon a yellow background -- the flag of Scotland!)
There, fixed it.
I thought there were lots of arguments over anti-Semitism in "The Passion," which I have not seen, due to a low tolerance for brutality. It didn't seem to me that Mr. Greydanus was saying that the film was anti-Semitic, just that there were arguments.
I don't think was of either tribe - he only converted to Christianity in adulthood.
You could be right. Religious themes, especially Christianity is poorly received by the intelligentsia and movie critics. Sometimes, it's better to show something a bit subtle and get a good audience.
Interesting. I've not read any books for the first time after seeing the movie on which they're based...
In reading the review posted above, that Hollywood influence kept nagging at me.
"... because of Hollywood ..." a voice kept saying...
People are going to find ways to be sensitive IMO if they want to.
"The Passion" was followed pretty close to what the Bible says.
Was brutal, but is the history anti-Semitic considering Jesus was a Jewish Rabbi? I don't think so.
Wouldn't just about everyone in Northern Ireland be "culturally" either Catholic or Protestant? Even if you're not a religious believer, a polarized environment promotes taking sides based on *some* distinction.
In Ireland, any of the terrorists participating in the killing would not be any form of Christian in fact, they just think they are.
Most films aren't, it is impossible to fit the entire contents of a book into a couple hours of film, plus there are liberties taken to 'sex-up' the film!
No, I don't think the gospels are anti-Semitic, and I didn't get the impression that the film reviewer thought so, either. It's just that there was that big rumble about it. Very tedious, in my opinion.
Excellent points. I'm sure that's George Bush's fault, too.
I enjoyed the Narnia movie. I am going to have to reread the book (it's been probably 20 years since I read it) because I couldn't remember if some of the scenes in the movie happened in the book.
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