Of Wizardry and Martyrdom
My oldest son, Jamie, is going through a stage right now where he likes to pretend to be a wizard and change his family members into favorite movie characters.
This past weekend, Jamie asked me, "Daddy what's your favorite movie?"
"Well, I have several. One of them is 'A Man for All Seasons'."Jamie - waving his "magic wand" - replied, "Okay, I'll turn you into the man for all seasons."
"Thank you, Jamie. But, you know, in the end the man for all seasons got his head chopped off by the King of England."
"Oh. Well, what's another one of your favorite movies?"
"I like 'Braveheart'.""Okay, I'll change you into Braveheart."
"He got his head chopped off by the King of England, too." (I didn't get into the whole disemboweling thing, for obvious reasons when talking to a 4-and-a-half-year-old.)
"Why did the King of England do that?"
"Well, there have been some good kings and there have been some bad kings. The bad kings chopped those men's heads off because those men were good and did things the bad kings didn't like. But there were also good kings like Arthur in the 'Sword in the Stone'.""Okay. I'll change you into King Arthur and I can be Merlin."
(It works out, you see. That way, he gets to be a wizard.)
But this exchange got me to thinking about my choice of favorite movies. In addition to "A Man for All Seasons" and "Braveheart", among my favorites are "The Passion of the Christ", "Michael Collins" (in spite of that whole dreadfully miscast Julia Roberts thing), and "The Lord of the Rings". 
In each and every one of those movies, martyrdom is a major, if not the main, theme. This was the first time that this fact had occurred to me. I hadn't consciously chosen these movies because of the themes of martyrdom and sacrifice. Heroic virtue, yes; but not necessarily martyrdom. But on some subconscious level, this theme MUST have played at least some role in my choosing these movies as favorites.
I am glad to have had this opportunity to introduce my son to the issue of martyrdom, even if I explained it in rather simplistic terms. 
As Jamie and my other children grow older, I look forward to introducing them to these movies, and having deeper conversations with them - explaining why these movies and the themes of martyrdom and sacrifice that they portray mean so much to me and my faith, and should mean much to them as well.Labels: Culture, Faith and Family, History, Movies, Saints and Martyrs
posted by Pro Ecclesia 12:01 AM
5 comments
5 Comments:
Nice post Jay, I too liked the Micheal Collins film, though I feel they downplayed his Catholicism quite a bit, though probably in an attempt to prevent the film from opening old sectarian wounds in Ireland. Man for All Seasons of course is one of the best, another good film about martrydom which you must see is "The Mission."
I own "The Mission". It's definitely a good one, and one that I'm glad that I own, but it doesn't quite crack my "favorites" list.
But I will definitely be using "The Mission" as a teaching tool for my kids.
I hated the Mission b/c I cannot get over the fact that they abandon their children (the Indians) after the first two are born and THEN the priests defended that practice. That and the scene where the Indians are preparing for battle so they pile all their babies into a pile and presumably leave them.
On the theme of martyrdom we noticed that when we were naming our 8th we had picked martyrs names for everyone- Anastasia, Veronica, Andrew, Nathaniel, Timothy, Stephen and Edmund Campion. We broke pattern and named our 8th Rebekah. She was named after my sister who professed her vows the day after Rebekah was born, leaving behind forever her name- it was Rebecca.
m. alexander, I believe that the Priests in the movie were explaining that such infanticide was a result of the Indians being hunted down by slave traders, the situation that had existed after the the European arrival but before the construction of the mission (and as such the establisment of the Indians in permenant and safe communities with no need to flee.) The Jesuits were trying to say how if the Indians lost the protections of the Mission they would revert back to their old ways, which were how they, as a culture not fully formed in Christianity, dealt with the threat of the "Christian" slave traders.
Don't get me wrong, the movie has some flaws, but I think the end, with the Jeremy Irons character putting all his faith in prayer, and the Eucharist, is amazingly inspirational and a very rare example of respect for Catholics in film.
-FD
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