Father Stu
Writer/ Director: Rosalind Ross * Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Mel Gibson, Jacki Weaver, Teresa Ruiz (124 minutes)
A fun loving boisterous, agnostic amateur boxer from a dysfunctional family, chaser after earthy glory and pleasure, Stuart Long was the least likely candidate for Catholic priesthood. But that is exactly what this film tells us about! Stuart Long was brought up in a dysfunctional family that suffered the trauma of the death of one of the children in childhood, a mostly absentee, alcoholic, abusive father Bill and a naïve, failed mother Kathleen. Religion was never in the picture. Yearning for recognition, he becomes an athlete specializing in boxing, but sustaining lot of injuries and not much money. He moves to Hollywood, dreaming of stardom and makes a living working in a supermarket, where his meeting with a Latino Sunday school teacher named Carmen changes his life. She insists that she will only date a Catholic, which makes him pretend to be interested in the church. He joins a catechism programme to impress her. Soon he gets serious with the faith and gets baptized and begins dating Carmen. Still struggling with his alcoholism, Stu gets involved in a deadly road accident and is near death. During this trauma he has a vision of Virgin Mary which lifts up his spirit and heals him. Stu develops a feeling that God has given him a second chance. He feels he is called to priesthood so he could help people like him. He prefers marriage with Carmen to the priesthood, but after prayer and discernment decides to pursue the seminary. Carmen discourages him. His parents are scandalized. Unfazed by the initial rejection by the seminary authorities, Stu’s personal appeal to the rector succeeds. Half way through his seminary studies, he is diagnosed with a rare debilitating disease, disqualifying him for ordination. This opens a new chapter of questioning God and of eventual acceptance of suffering as a gift, with grace and dignity. Forced to leave the seminary, he returns home, to be cared for by his parents. However, even in his disease, he refuses to give up hope and under the petitions of his fellow parishioners, he is ordained and serves as an exemplary pastor. He served as priest and counselor till his death in 2014 aged 50.
The Cut
Director: Fatih Akin * Tahar Rahim, Simon Abkarian, Hindi Zahra, Kevork Malikyan (2014; 128 minutes)
Set against the historic Armenian Genocide of the World War I, the film presents a variety of themes including religious persecution, racism, separation and loss, crisis of faith. The film is focused on the problem of evil that infects the victim and the victimizers. In 1915 the disintegrating Ottoman Empire unleashed brutal persecution and extermination of Armenian Christians. The young blacksmith Nazareth Manoogian living peacefully in the village of Mardin with his wife and two girls is arrested one night by armed guards and taken to a slave labour camp in the desert where he experiences the savagery of the Ottoman cruelty firsthand. One night a Turkish officer offers to free those who convert to Islam. The few who accept are taken away. Those who refuse, including Nazareth are taken to be killed. Their executioners are other prisoners. Nazareth’s executioner only wounds his throat – rendering him dumb—to make the soldiers think his throat is cut, and returns at night to rescue him from among the murdered. Nazareth remains dumb till the climactic moments of his seven-year-long, dangerous quest for his lost family, across the Syrian Desert to Lebanon, Cuba and finally to America. Nazareth hates God and tries to erase the cross-tattoo from his hand and throws stones at heaven. In a hellish camp in the desert, he meets his sister-in-law dying of starvation. She asks him to kill her as an act of mercy. He obliges, but is overcome with deep sorrow and guilt. During a chance meeting, an old fellow villager informs him that the Armenian is at the border town of Ras Al Ain. Fighting the certainty of his family having perished, he continues the search. In one of the refugee homes he sees the photograph of his two daughters who are gone to Lebanon. The orphanage headmistress in Lebanon informs him that they have migrated to Cuba. Nazareth travels to Cuba, and from there to Florida, USA. He narrowly escapes being shot as an intruder, steals a ride on a train and finally arrives in North Dakota, ending his journey on a mixed note of joy and sorrow. Even in his suffering Nazareth shows his essential humanity when he refuses to throw stones at the Ottoman soldiers returning humiliated from the battlefront while others around him do.
Prof Gigy Joseph
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