To the Band of Brothers - October 9, 2020

Fr. Willie ‘87
Good morning!
 
I would like to recommend a film I re-watched this past weekend. I remember when it first came out. It was 2010 and released with limited engagement. I love that term, “limited engagement.” Personally, I would love to be able to use it, but I’m afraid people might think I was referring to modern-day relationships and marriages. In the film industry, they use the term when referring to a movie that is going to be shown for a limited time or in a limited number of theaters.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. If a movie has a limited engagement then it must mean one of two things: either it’s terrible or it’s foreign (and for a lot of people, the two things are one in the same). I understand, I’ve been there and have done that. I too would also give two thumbs down if a movie was not made in America with American directors, American themes, and a big fat American budget. Unless, of course, you were driving race cars through the streets of some small Italian village, chasing a beautiful girl through the beaches of Brazil, or hunting dinosaurs on some remote island off the coast of Costa Rica.

Fortunately, I outgrew that mindset. 

Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy good, old fashion entertainment. Remember, my favorite movie has a hero fighting off Nazis to get a powerful religious relic that can burn down whole armies by just pointing it in the direction of the enemy. I am still fascinated by winged superheroes carrying the burden of their broken metropolises on their shoulders and sacrificing their personal lives for the sake of an ungrateful humanity. I am still moved to tears (sobs are more like it) when a group of animated toys has to deal with the loss of their owner because he’s all grown up, going to college, and they have to be boxed up and sent to live with another child.

This movie I’m recommending is not any of those things. So, let me warn you of a few things.

First, the movie is French. Can you imagine that? Not only will you not understand a word they say, you have to strain yourself splitting time between reading the subtitles and watching the action. That being said, there are no race cars driving through the streets of some small Italian village, no chasing of a beautiful girl through the beaches of Brazil, and no hunting of dinosaurs on some remote island off the coast of Costa Rica.

The next warning is, when it came out a few years ago, it was only being shown in the theater on Lincoln Road in Miami Beach. What? Why would anyone go see a movie that is not being played at Sunset Place or Merrick Park? What’s wrong with that movie? Why would they not play it in a theater where you can conveniently go bowling after you watch it or run into half of your friends and relatives as you walk to or from it? Why would they not play the movie at a theater that allows you to lift the armrest so you can snuggle with your significant other while eating Raisinets? I mean, where else do you eat Raisinets if not at the movies?

Warnings aside, the question is, what is the title of this French film that has generated such a longwinded email? The answer, “Of Gods and Men”. It tells the true story of a small group of French Trappist monks who live in a monastery in Tibhirine, Algeria. Most of the population is Muslim, but the monks work and live in peace with the local people where the monastery, over the years, has become the centerpiece of life there. 

In the 1990s, a radical fundamentalist Islamic group began to threaten the lives of the villagers and the monks. The nine Trappist clerics had to discern whether they flee for their lives or remain in solidarity with the people. Opting to stay as shepherds to God’s sheep, they are eventually captured, held for ransom, and seven of the nine men are beheaded.

The title is perfect. It is taken from the Book of Psalms, “I have said, you are gods; and all of you are children of the most High. But you shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes” (82:6-7). The story captures powerfully the individual and communal struggle of these religious men who wonder about their faith and question their courage in the face of such danger and adversity. Eventually, it is the power of their love for God and the people of Tibhirine that gives them the strength to stay faithful and die as martyrs.

Let me tell you, even though there are no car chases, sunny beaches, or dinosaurs, this movie inspires and edifies. It is a breath of fresh air at a time when the media seems to be focused mostly on promulgating the stench of religious scandal and shame. Through a medium that usually is not too favorable to the Church, this film tells the story of the heroic lives of nine Catholic priests who were faithful and good. I assure you, if they put their heads together, French and Italian and Latin American and, yes, even American filmmakers can find ample material for great movies about great Catholics. 

Check out this movie with your parents… and don’t forget the Raisinets.

Auspice Maria
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Belen Jesuit Preparatory School was founded in 1854 in Havana, Cuba by Queen Isabel II of Spain.  The task of educating students was assigned to the priests and brothers of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), whose teaching tradition is synonymous with academic excellence and spiritual discipline.  In 1961, the new political regime of Cuba confiscated the School property and expelled the Jesuit faculty.  The School was re-established in Miami the same year, and over the next decade, continued to grow.  Today, Belen Jesuit sits on a 30-acre site in western Dade County, only minutes away from downtown Miami.