From Across the Pond

Greater Love Hath No Man

Ed Morrisey at Captain's Quarters posts today, reminding us that today is the Feastday of Saint Maximilian Kolbe.

His actions are a reminder that a man always has choices, no matter what the circumstances he finds himself in. There are few other examples that I can think of that better demonstrate the indomitabiity of the human spirit in all of our history, few occasions where the magnificence of the deed is matched by the dreadfulness of the setting. There is something almost operatic to the scene, only it should be remembered that this story is not a tragedy.

For a life was saved.

So much of history, of our lives, depends upon perspective. In the face of the monstrosity of the Holocaust it is all too easy to succumb the despair, to concentrate only on the negative. That is, ultimately, to grant victory of Hitler and those like him. I would rather deny them even that, and instead remember the event of that distant August day as a triumph as great and as important as D-Day. Only it was not territory that was reconquered, no cities were liberated and no battles were fought, unless it was in that most intangible of battlefields, the human mind.

Kill Bill and the Passion of the Christ: A comparison of violence

This weekend I watched for the first time Kill Bill Vol 1 and Vol 2, in the same sitting. I would advise anyone who has not watched them to do the same, as there is a really flow to the story. I had a very good evening (helped I will admit by a nice steak and 2/3 of a lovely bottle of vinum). There are, as was well publicised at the time, very violent films. It will probably be remembered that The Passion of the Christ was released at a similar time, also a very violent film. The Kill Epic, I had the impression, was widely hailed as a great film. The Passion was roundly denounced, in large part because of its violence.

The thing is, superficially at least, the Kill Bill films are really much more violent, in that there is a veritable harvest of chopped limbs and heads, and plenty of fountains of blood. There is a crucial difference. In Kill Bill the violence has a cinematic quality - partly aided by some of what Tarantino does with the camera.

Also the atmopshere in Kill Bill is more fictional. That is not entirely apparent at first blush - it is after all set in the modern day - but right from the start there is a sense of being at a slight tangent to reality. All this combines to soften the violence, allow it to be filed away in the 'unreal' category. I was able to suspend my disbelief to enjoy the story, but there was no question of crossover into the real world.

In contrast The Passion is a far less forgiving film. There is on softening. In addition the fact that I was viewing something that is pretty much history fact (the crucifixtion of Jesus) and a form of execution that definitely was (crucifixion remains one of the nastier things human beings have invented to do to each other).

Also, in Kill Bill the violence is dispersed among many victims. In The Passion it is concentrated on just one actor. It is therefore so much more intense.

For those reasons I think it is actually very difficult to meaningfully compare the violence in the two films: except by showing how different they are. I suppose it is the difference between 'shocking' and 'harrowing' - not that The Passion didn't shock me either. As I said at the start, the Kill Bill films are superficially more violent. The Passion attracted so much ire precisely because, whatever else it may or may not have been, it was not a superficial film.

Thoughts on Benedict XVI

Mark Roberts has an interesting series of posts on Benedict XVI. The first few are from the time of Benedict's election, but he now has a few up regarding the recent World Youth Day in Cologne, with more to come. Part of what makes Mark Roberts' posts interesting is that there are an intelligent and reflective Protestant look at the Pope. He is open about various theological disagreements, honest but never disrespectful. In many respects I would say he is a model of how I think ecumenical discourse should proceed. But enough of that. Go read.