mcnulty Reviews

Beyond the Gates of Splendor (2002)

A powerful documentary telling the story of what happened after the widows of 5 murdered missionaries forgave the S.A. Indians who killed them.

[18 August 2005]

I agree with film lover that this is an amazing film about an amazing group of Christians who really "walk the walk" when it comes to loving and forgiving enemies. The widowed Elizabeth Elliott and her aunt not only forgave the Aucas who killed her husband, but went out and lived among them with the help of some Auca women. And she took her two young children with her! This DVD goes beyond a previous film, "Through Gates of Splendor," to show the children and the grandchildren's experience over many years living with the Aucas. Kathy, a daughter tells how she chose two of her father's killers to participate in her baptism, the ceremony held in the river near the grave of her father and his four colleagues. There's more to this inspiring documentary, ably edited from home movies, newsreels, photographs, and on camera interviews with Aucas and members of the missionary families. And by the way, there is a feature film coming, based on this story. Entitled THE END OF THE SPEAR, it's due out in January 2006. A neat double meaning to the title, the five men losing their lives at the end of a spear, and the coming of the missionaries bringing an end to the era of endless cycles of murder by the spear that threatened the Aucas with extinction.

Woman Thou Art Loosed (2004)

A Protestant DEAD MAN WALKING, but a little more hopeful.

[20 September 2004]

If you loved DEAD MAN WALKING as much as I did, then you'll also appreciate this prison-set film based on a book and a play by AME Bishop Jakes. Like Matthew Poncelet in Sr. Prejean's story, this one features a character who is a composite of several real life abused women whom the good bishop ministered to through the years. Michelle is on death row when Bishop Jakes visits her. At first she almost ignores him as she works on a model house made up of match sticks or small pieces of wood. She had not expected him to come, he being so big time--his face was on the cover of TIME Magazine--but it soon appears that their paths have crossed before and that her mother is one of the clerks who works in his evangelism campaign. Before going any further I should reassure any readers made nervous by the fact that a real-life bishop is a main character, that this is not one of those syrupy Billy Graham films. It is an unabashedly religious, no, a Christian film, but it is gritty in its realistic detailing of drug addiction, child abuse, prostitution and such, well deserving of its R rating. It is a compelling story of a woman's descent into hell and of her slow journey back. The cast is excellent, with Bishop Jakes playing himself--not just in the pulpit, but in some intense scenes in Michelle's prison cell that demand more than pulpit oratory. In another life he could have made it as an actor. The crew members are all Hollywood pros, so the production values are excellent. A neat symbol is the house on which Michelle labors so long over--it is the last thing we see before the fade to black and the credits roll, so it serves as a good symbol (far better than the full scale house in LIFE AS A HOUSE). There are plenty of interesting male, as well as female characters, so you shouldn't look at this as a "woman's film," nor as an African American one. Exploring the terrible damage those close to us can do to one another, and of the almost impossibility of forgiveness, it's a film that I will be thinking about for some time to come.

Final Solution (2001)

A moving story of racial reconciliation during the waning days of apartheid in South Africa.

[8 February 2003]

***SLIGHT SPOILERS*** This film, shot in South Africa, is a powerful true story of how the life of a white Afrikaaner, well on his way to becoming a paramilitary assassin, was turned around by a woman and two books. Gerrit is the grandson of a Boer shot by the British at the beginning of the 20th century for his guerilla warfare against British rule in South Africa. The boy grows up nurtured by tales of his grandfather's martyrdom, the racist teachings of family and church, and his admiration for Hitler's MEIN KAMPF. He shares with a politician and a rogue police officer his own version of the Final Solution that will rid S.A. of all blacks and Jews. Then at college he meets Celeste, who challenges him to read the book her literature class is studying, Alan Paton's CRY THE BELOVED COUNTRY. Gerrit rejects the notion, calling it "Commie rubbish." She gives it to him anyway, and then tricks him into accompanying herself and a friend on a visit to a black church whose pastor is dedicated to racial reconciliation. Gerrit refuses to shake hands with the pastor, but the latter unsettles him--first by refusing to be put off by Gerrit's insulting manner, and then by quoting a line from the Bible, "God has made of one blood all nations." When Gerrit parrots what he's been taught, that the Bible says that blacks have no souls, and thus could not go to heaven, the pastor challenges him to show him the passage. He can't, of course, and this leads the boy to the college library where even with a concordance, he cannot find the passage. This, and many other incidents, is all told in flashbacks by an older Gerrit and his wife. They are at a church meeting when a white terrorist rushes into the church just ahead of a vigilante group of blacks out to kill him. Still with burnt cork on his face, the white is the lone survivor of a band of terrorists who had roared through the black township spraying bullets into the bodies of people standing and sitting outside their shacks. The white extremists had not realized that a group of black guerilla fighters were on hand, the latter grabbing their guns and blasting the car so that only two attackers survived--one whom the mob seized and set afire with a tire pinning down his arms, and the other, who has fled to the church. The pastor refuses to turn over the terrorist, but does agree to allow the angry mob to enter the church, if they will leave their weapons outside. It is then that the pastor asks Gerrit to tell his story so that the mob will see that not all whites are hopelessly evil, but can change. There are surprises ahead in the story, and Gerrit does not get to finish his story, so filled with hostility are his skeptical listeners. I loved the way that the script worked in one of my favorite novels, and how it shows that the Bible can be twisted and also used to get at truth. The characters are not card-board cutouts, but fallible human beings seeking justice and vengeance--and eventually, reconciliation. The film is being shown on various PBS station during February, and then possibly will be released to theaters. It's not to be missed. I often include in my VISUAL PARABLES magazine a film discussion guide, so I can hardly wait for this one to be released on video.

To End All Wars (2001)

The powerful, true story of what REALLY happened on the River Kwai during WW2.

[24 April 2002]

THROUGH THE VALLEY OF THE KWAI, the story of British POW's forced to build the Japanese jungle railroad, was my favorite book when it came out in 1962. Thus I was a bit apprehensive at what filmmakers would do to it when I heard about TO END ALL WARS, the title itself being changed. The film is different in many ways from the book, but is so powerful that the addition (apparently for dramatic excitement) of fictional characters bent on staging an escape can be forgiven. Agnostic Ernest Gordon's story of his being nursed back from the brink of death by Christian friends, thereby starting him on the road to faith--and incredibly, understanding and then forgiveness of the harsh brutality of his Japanese captors--raises this film far above any other WW2 films that I have seen (except perhaps the under-rated THE THIN RED LINE, like TO END...also filled with philosophical questions and ruminations). Although the brutality of the Japanese bushito system is shown in all its horrific brutality, some of the Japanese, especially the young man who serves as interpreter, are depicted as having touch of humanity. The film's central thesis seems to depict the affects of clinging to anger and vengeance versus seeking to be able to forgive and reconcile. The latter is shown at the end of the film when, similar to the scene in SCHINDLER'S LIST, the real Capt. Ernest Gordon and Japanese interpreter Nagase, now old men, meet and shake hands in Thailand at a memorial to those who died building the railroad. The creativity of the men, forming a Jungle University where Plato and Shakespeare are taught, is celebrated, calling to mind the inspiring film of women POW's, PARADISE ROAD.

When this thought-inspiring film finally is released to theaters or video, don't miss it. It can serve as an antidote to the dozens of mindless, vengeance-based flicks cluttering up the screens of our cinemaplexes.

Lakeboat (2000)

A fine adaptation of an early David met play, driven by character, rather than plot

[4 January 2002]

LAKEBOAT for some will move as slowly as one of those ore-carrying vessels you see on the horizon from the shores of the Great Lakes. But for those wanting a relief from the frenzy of the many mindless action movies clogging our cineplexes, this Joe Montegna-directed adaptation 0of a 30-year old David Mamet play offers plenty of rewards. Rather than a coming of age film, as I've seen it described, it's really a tale in which a young grad student named Dale (played by David Mamet's brother), working on an ore boat for the summer, serves as a witness to a number of middle-aged and older crew members intent on educating their young companion. Much of their advice about handling women and sex is pretty awful, but amusing in the cocksure way in which it is dispensed to Dale--and to their good intentions in "helping" the naive boy. Most poignant of the crew is the book-reading Joe, who reveals to Dale a fact about his early life that he's told no one else--that as a boy he had dreamt of being a ballet dancer. Thinking about the direction which he chose for his own life, he tells Dale not only that he has his whole life ahead of him, but, a wonderful comment coming from a rough-hewn crew member, that he is a good man and a hard worker. Charles Durning and George Wendt are delightful as the ponderous First Mate (Captain) and second in command, as is Peter Falk as a pier worker.It seems such a crime that this film came to the Cincinnati area for just a week with no fanfare and left as quietly as it came. It desrves to find an audience, so I hope it soon will be released as an affordable video.