If you care about spirituality, go see "The Nativity Story." Much of the film is more understated and muted than the typical church Christmas celebration and may challenge some of the holier-than-thou notions we have of some of the Biblical characters. It film also lacks Santa Clause, reindeer and any remnant of snow. But it’s the most accurate cultural telling of the story we’ve had since "A Charlie Brown Christmas," and stays true to the Biblical record for the most part.
I also liked it because it’s a rare, meaningful film that will be highly valuable for families and teens. As Mary is told of her betrothal to Joseph, she is confronted by the fact that she doesn’t have a hand in choosing. "You are to consider him your husband in all ways," her father says, but she must wait on the issue of "that which leads to family." Mary storms off, in a way that seems natural for a teenager but unnatural for the icon we know as Mary, The Mother of Jesus.
She’s not only a frustrated teen but also an anxious one when she miraculously becomes pregnant. "Are you frightened?" asks her cousin Elizabeth. "Yes," she says with candor and clarity. "Elizabeth, why is it me God has asked? I am nothing," Mary says.
Pastors and priests have sermonized and homilied for years, trying to emphasize how embarrassing it must have been for Mary and Joseph when she was found to be pregnant. But I think the visual image of the bashful Mary and the humiliation and disappointment of Joseph will get through even to the current ( and somewhat permissive) American audience.
She gains courage, of course, from both the angel and the promise of a sign from Elizabeth. Her parents are unimpressed. "Elizabeth has a baby," Mary offers, "even in her old age."
"Elizabeth has a husband," replies her dad. Mary's mother says, "They could stone you in the streets."
"Father," Mary says as respectfully as she can, "I have broken now vow … I have told the truth. Whether you believe is your choice, not mine."
Such it is for all of us, regarding the Christ child. And such it is that "The Nativity Story" is a must for all who desire to learn about the role of Christ in their own spiritual journey.
First, there is the news that religious groups are feeling pressure about not pulling their support for "The Nativity Story" based on lead actress Keisha Castle-Hughes being pregnant out of wedlock. Then comes the news that Rick Warren, author of "The Purpose-Driven Life" and pastor of Saddleback Community Church, is receiving complaints from evangelicals for inviting Sen. Barack Obama to speak at his church.
There used to be a time when the spiritual journey and politics weren’t inexorably linked. And there was a time when acting was just acting, and actors had their own personal lives separate from their work.
I miss the clarity.
If a young woman gets the high honor of playing the part of Mary--and if the movie tells the wonderful story of "The Birth"--I don’t see why a church or religious groups should need to boycott the story of Jesus because of activities in the personal life of Castle-Hughes. Christian groups didn’t support the movie or pick the cast, but they sure should be allowed to support the story!
As for Rick Warren’s issue, I think evangelicals and others in the Christian Church should be careful: When they start criticizing the author of the best-selling religious book (aside from the Bible) in all of history for inviting a probable presidential candidate to discuss solutions to AIDS, they run the risk of becoming the very pharisees that missed the story of Jesus the first time around.
"Our goal has been to put people together who normally won't even speak to each other," said Saddleback in a statement, according to the Associated Press. "We do not expect all participants in the summit discussion to agree with all of our evangelical beliefs ... the HIV/AIDS pandemic cannot be fought by evangelicals alone [and] will take the cooperation of all--government, business, NGOs and the church."
I’m going to order tapes of Obama, and I’m going to take my kids to see "The Nativity Story," and hope that doesn’t get me in trouble with my church friends!
"The Nativity Story," director Catherine Hardwicke's film version of the Gospel stories of Jesus' birth, had its world premiere on Sunday at the Vatican. (It opens in the U.S. this week.) Some 7,000 people, including Hardwicke and several high-ranking cardinals, attended the showing--but not Pope Benedict XVI or Keisha Castle-Hughes, the 16-year-old Australian actress who plays Jesus' mother, Mary.
As it turns out, Keisha, like Mary in the Gospels, is pregnant out of wedlock. But unlike Jesus, who was conceived by divine power while Mary remained a virgin, Keisha's unborn baby has an all-too-human father, her 19-year-old boyfriend, Bradley Hull. So the reports started flying that the spectacle of a high-school-age, obviously non-virgin Mary had proved too much for the pope.
The U.K. Guardian reported that a disapproving Benedict had boycotted the Vatican premiere. The Detroit Free Press reported rumors that Keisha had been dropped from the invitation list by offended Vatican officials. There were even suggestions that scandalized Catholics and evangelical Christians planned to stay home from the movie after the news of Keisha's pregnancy broke in October.
At this point, Bill Donohue, the never-word-mincing president of the Catholic League for Religious, jumped into the fray, accusing the media of cooking up the stories that Benedict had refused to see the movie and Keisha had been shunned. "Despite what some think, Christians do not turn their backs on unwed mothers: They provide services for them," an inflamed Donohue wrote in a press release.
Donohue was undoubtedly right about the pope's reasons for his no-show. The Nov. 26 premier of "The Nativity Story" took place less than 48 hours before Benedict's highly publicized trip to Turkey, which was fraught with uncertainty until the last minute because of security concerns. As for whether Keisha Castle-Hughes was dropped from the Vatican's invitation list on account of her pregnancy (or told it would be a good idea not to appear), we'll probably never know what really happened.
The New York Times, however, reported a statement by Keisha's publicist that she was busy working on another movie--and who doesn't trust the New York Times? Furthermore, both the Catholic and the evangelical media remain positive about the movie, as does the secular press. Consider this Nov. 29 headline in Australia's Herald Sun: "Pregnant Actor 'Great Virgin."
Going beyond religion, the radio rabbis use their own unique perspectives to provide an alternative to the medium’s usual banter between the left- and the right-wing population. The rabbis, both seasoned media personalities who have appeared on everything from our own Beliefnet.com to Bridges TV to Frontline and The Today Show, will try and uncover the hidden agendas buried deep on both sides of the right/left divide. Topics are said to span from reinstating the draft, to God on the political ropes, to the shootings over PlayStation 3.
Perhaps one of their future shows will be broadcast from a pub, just so Idol Chatter can use the line: "Two rabbis and a radio walk into a bar…"
posted by Esther Kustanowitz @ 3:30 PM | Permalink |
Former “Seinfeld” actor Michael Richards has barely finished trying to convince the public--as well as the entertainment community--that the racial slurs he uttered at a nightclub do not mean he is racist. But now he is facing new allegetions regarding anti-Semitic remarks he made several months ago.
Richards newly-hired crisis expert, Howard Rubenstein, has admitted that Richards shouted anti-Semitic comments during a performance last April. But he blames Richards' tirade not on his obvious anger management issues, but rather on the fact that he was only "role playing" while on stage.
And while Jewish leaders may not be expressing the same outrage over Richards’ remarks as they did over Mel Gibson’s road rage a few months ago, they are taking Richards to task over something else: Richards claims that he can’t be anti-Semitic because he is Jewish. Jewish organizations have refuted Richards ties to Judaism by pointing out that his family is not Jewish (Richards was actually raised Catholic), and that Richards has not formally converted to the religion.
Rubenstein, however, has continued to defend Richards claim to be a Jew by saying that Richards has had two significant Jewish mentors in his life and agrees with the beliefs and customs of Judaism. Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, responded by saying "You can't feel Jewish. It's not a matter of feeling."
Seems to me like no one--from Jesse Jackson to the Anti-Defamation League--is feeling the love for someone who was once one of the most beloved sitocm stars of the '90s.
It is not cool to dress up as Maria Von Trapp from “The Sound of Music” for your high school halloween costume day, but I didn’t care. Julie Andrews (who played Maria) was, and still is a woman I admired with a voice I still adore. So, though I knew at the time it wasn't cool, I did it anyway. And now I've learned that maybe I was cool, after all.
Entertainment Weekly's new "Inspiration Issue" reveals that Gwen Stefani loved Maria as much as me: "I’m like a Trekkie, but for the 'Sound of Music,'" says Stefani, music superstar, and popular clothing designer. "The first time I ever went on stage, at a high school talent show, the dress I wore was the dress that Maria wears when she sings 'I Have Confidence.' The drop-waisted tweed dress. I had that dress. I made it."
It’s nice to see that the pop music maven and fashion icon isn’t embarrassed about what really inspires her. No gushy Oprah moment here.
EW, apparently hoping to join the marketable and profitable "inspiration" bandwagon, interviewed numerous artists for the feel-good issue, including director Christopher Guest ("For Your Consideration," and actor Heath Ledger ("Brokeback Mountain"). Suprisingly, the directors seem to have been inspired mainly by other directors and films. Catherine Hardwicke director of "The Nativity" and "Thirteen" counts "Harold & Maude" as an influence). Actors are inspired by other actors (Djimon Hounsou by Morgan Freeman), and singers by other singers (Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz cite's Robert Smith of The Cure as his idol).
But, the real delight is in the unexpected inspirations. Will Ferrell ("Stranger Than Fiction," "Talladega Nights") cites fitness guru Jack La Lanne as his "creative role model," saying that La Lanne "was the guy who did one-handed push-ups and dragged tugboats with his bare hands. That guy knew how to live life."
Some of the reader responses at the back of the magazine are also priceless, especially one from "Enrique": "I was inspired by the season 1 finale [of "Lost"] to start meeting people in airport bars," he writes. Eventually those airport bar meetings led Enrique to his fiancee.
While much of the entertainment produced these days could be called less than inspiring, it’s fun to see what molded the artists that we love. The best interview of the issue is horror-meister Stephen King meeting with the creative team behind "Lost": J.J. Abrams, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse. The "Lost" gang was so excited that they brought copies of King’s books for him to sign, all except Abrams who was crestfallen because he forgot. King was also totally psyched to see the trio, since he is such a huge fan of the show.
It’s always nice to see that even media giants are just little kids when they meet their idols.
Every season, The Real World lets us into the lives of seven strangers "picked to live in a house, work together and have their lives taped to find out what happens when people stop being polite and start getting real." But what happens when the people who stop being polite are Christian?
On the season premiere of Real World Denver, we met Stephen, a 22-year-old Protestant and Davis, a 23-year-old Southern Baptist who was also gay. The rapport between the two men was fluid as they discussed faith and finding a church in Denver. But the skies soon darkened over their blossoming friendship when Davis announced he was gay.
Five of the roommates, none of whom had professed to be Christian, welcomed Davis with open arms. But Stephen expressed much disappointment and slight disgust. After a critical discussion with Davis, Stephen said, "I think it is wrong that you are gay." Davis responded, "What if I said, I think it’s wrong that you’re black?" The argument raged on for a few minutes and then was settled with perfunctory apology to keep the house happy.
I was nervous to see how both would act under the circumstances. Stephen’s lack of compassion appalled me. As Christians, we are taught to “Love the sinner and not the sin.” Davis's comment--that he didn’t believe God created the Biblical law that cites homosexuality as a sin--also shocked me.
This episode ignited a tailspin of discussion among my friends. At the end of it all, all I could think was this: "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. (John 8:7)" Stephen can’t judge Davis, because while he isn't homosexual, he may commit other sins. Sin is sin, and Davis’s homosexuality does not trump other sins. But Davis should study the scripture deeply to understand what was God's divine will--this God he presumes to believe in.
Of course this show is edit-heavy, so they would make the conservative Christian out to be a judgmental hypocrite and the homosexual Christian clueless about his alleged eternal damnation. So I'm going to give these two men the benefit of the doubt by watching a whole season, which is usually more time than any of us get to prove our own naysayers wrong.
Twenty-eight years was a long time to wait for a new album from Yusuf Islam. Back in the 1970s, the artist (then known to the world as Cat Stevens) won over audiences with pop hits like "Wild, Wild, World," "Peace Train," and other folk-inspired songs. His recently released album, "An Other Cup," vaguely remembers that music while developing a sweet sound of its own infused with Sufi stylings and spiritual overtones.
It takes some getting used to, this new music of Islam. The infectious, rollicking pop beats have given way to mellow, dreamy rhythms and lazy guitar strumming. The lyrics are easy on the ears as well, with lines like "One day at a time, we can look the future in the eye" (from "One Day at a Time") and "Greenfields and golden sands, that’s all I need; that’s all I want …" (from "Greenfields, Golden Sands").
One song, "The Beloved," invokes the artist's Islamic devotion, as it praises the Prophet Muhammed with lines like: "He was born to be the beloved, a will of the Divine." Even though this is a pop album, it is permeated with Islam’s love for spirituality and his faith. Yet religious love doesn’t overwhelm the album, as Islam allows his old folk roots to shine through on numerous tracks.
Listening to this album with Cat Stevens on the brain would be a mistake. He left that life behind when he converted to Islam. But the musical persona of Cat Stevens can be faintly heard in this album. It’s a decent (though not incredibly awesome) first step after nearly 30 years way from making commercial pop music.
Nine chapters into NBC's new drama "Heroes" and I'm utterly hooked. "Heroes" is reminiscent of X-Men, revolving around individuals all over the world who discover that they have special and occasionally frightening powers.
The last several episodes revolved around a rather cryptic yet humorous command: "Save the Cheerleader, Save the World," a task taken up by several heroes together including Hiro (the utterly adorable boy from Japan who can bend time and space), Peter (who can take on the powers of whatever hero is nearby), and Isaac (who paints the future) . Claire Bennet, the cheerleader in question, holds the power of regeneration, even after death.
In fact, we've seen Claire quite literally "rise from the dead" several times now. Given Claire's particular power, it's rather unclear how anyone might have threatened her life in the first place. But the "Homecoming" episode marked the moment these heroes long feared, with the evil Sylar (who we have yet to meet face to face) setting his sights on killing Claire after the homecoming game.
Though there were certainly efforts all around by the heroes, ultimately Claire did a pretty good job holding her own in the salvation department. So at least for now, they saved the cheerleader. But here's what I want to know next: Will her life perpetually be in danger, or was this a one-time threat? How exactly will Claire save the world? And will "Heroes" follow in Buffy's footsteps, giving audiences a smart, courageous girl "chosen one"--another girl savior? Of all the heroes, is Claire somehow the most important of all?
If you haven't tried "Heroes" yet, you should. The series will surely appeal to X-Men and Buffy fans alike. Even "Gilmore Girls" devotees should tune in since Peter Petrelli is played by none other than Milo Ventimiglia, who played Rory's bad-boy boyfriend Jess for several seasons.
Advertise any film as a mixture of romance, science, and fantasy, and I'll come running, no further questions. And so it was with 'The Fountain,' directed by Darren Aronofsky ('Pi, 'Requiem for a Dream'), starring Rachel Weisz and Hugh Jackman (both favorites of mine). This movie weaves three stories together: One "reality-based," a second that might be labeled (loosely) as historical fiction, and a third that seems something of a "new age fantasy." I saw the film during the very first showing on its opening day, November 22nd.
Though unclear at first, eventually viewers find out that the primary story revolves around the "real life" dimension of a husband (Tommy) and wife (Isabel) who are madly in love, yet face the tragic certainty of the wife's death from brain cancer. Tommy is coincidentally a gifted cancer researcher and is pushing himself to the brink of madness to discover a cure for the tumors riddling Isabel's body--before her time on earth is up. Note the emphasis on "time on earth," which is essential here.
For Isabel, the line between life and death, present and past, reality and fiction, earth and heaven is very thin and certainly traversable if one is willing to believe the journey possible. Much of the movie involves Isabel begging her husband to stop his race for a cure and spend their last remaining but potentially magical days together. Most important of all, she wants him to read her novel, and ultimately write its last chapter after her death.
Isabel's novel, titled 'The Fountain,' is the vehicle that moves the story between Tomas, the Spanish conquistador who quests to find the fountain of youth for his Queen, Tom the astronaut who journeys into space (seemingly via Buddhist meditation) to find a dying star and, presumably, spiritual enlightenment, and her real-life scientist-husband Tommy, who seeks to overcome "the disease of death" through his research.
Each story is about a kind of eternal life, and each centers around the Tree of Life spoken of in Genesis 3:22: "And he said: Behold Adam is become as one of us, knowing good and evil: now therefore lest perhaps he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever." Each character--Tomas, Tom, Tommy, and even Isabel herself, quests toward their own idea of immortality through a different and ultimately spiritual path.
The most beguiling view of all is perhaps that of Isabel, who believes that if a tree is planted over her body in the ground, she will not only become part of this tree but also of all the life the tree will touch--her essence ultimately soaring through the sky with the birds. (But the beautiful-sounding tree growing from the nourishing body is made utterly disturbing when we see a tree literally grow from the body of the conquistador after he drinks the sap from the Tree of Life at the Fountain of Youth.)
Is 'The Fountain' a beautiful story of love and life conquering death? Of a way to find life through death? Or just a terribly weird and hokey new age film that is, at times, unbelievably difficult to follow? I still can't decide.
One thing I know: Unlike most movies of this sort, I won't see it again. Once was enough.
As with every other year, Thanksgiving Day signaled the go ahead for radio stations to begin playing endless Christmas music, and the arrival of midnight sparked shoppers to begin the now-traditional mad-dash of buying for the holidays. But the lead-up to this gift-giving season has been a bit unusual for the widely-known charitable Marine Toys for Tots Foundation, which delivers toys to needy children during the holiday season. The typically benign and beloved organization has been the center of an intense religious controversy over Jesus.
A Bible-quoting, foot-tall Jesus doll, that is.
A Los Angeles-based toy company, one2believe, offered to donate 4,000 of the battery-operated "Messengers of Faith" dolls, which its website assures will offer children "key selections from John, Mark, Psalms, Luke and Exodus … all recorded in an easy-to-memorize format so that parents, pastors and educators alike can use Messengers of Faith to teach children these vital lessons from the Bible in a fun, entertaining way!" (The equivalent Mary, David, Moses, and Esther dolls were not offered as part of the donation--Jesus was the doll of choice for the Toys for Tots drive. But of course you can order them!)
One2believe's mission is explicitly Bible-based, and its website states the following on its homepage: "The spiritual development of our children depends largely on how well they grasp and understand the Bible stories. Just as in the days of the Judges in Israel we believe that teaching Bible stories to a child is the precursor to a relationship with God. In fact, we believe this so strongly that we have gone to great effort and expense to develop a number of resources and tools for parents and Christian educators so they can effectively teach the Bible stories to their children and students."
These resources and tools include the Jesus dolls--toys that the Marines organization initially rejected for Toys for Tots because of their obvious religious associations. This rejection caused big headlines and a widespread backlash against the organization.
The Associated Press reported the initial story, explaining that: "The charity balked because of the dolls' religious nature. Toys are donated to kids based on financial need and 'we don't know anything about their background, their religious affiliations,' said Bill Grein, vice president of Marine Toys for Tots Foundation, in Quantico, Va. As a government entity, Marines 'don't profess one religion over another,' Grein said Tuesday. 'We can't take a chance on sending a talking Jesus doll to a Jewish family or a Muslim family.'"
Yet just days later Toys for Tots reversed the decision, according to The Washington Post in an article, "Reversing Course, Marines to Accept Jesus Doll Gifts." The change in attitude about the dolls seems largely due to family requests to receive the dolls for their children.
The article says that "When the decision to reject the toys got out, the toy company began receiving hundreds of phone calls and e-mails from organizations and people who would like to receive the dolls. 'The phones are ringing off the hook. There is a new e-mail every few seconds. It is unbelievable,' said Michael La Roe, director of business development for the company. 'We had someone write in from Okinawa, Japan. The word is spreading all over the country and, in some cases, all over the world.'"
So the talking Jesus doll saga seems finally resolved, but one thing that remains unclear to Toys for Tots: How to accomodate so many requests, and get enough of these dolls into the hands of families who want them this Christmas.
While Mel Gibson blamed his anti-Semitic rant a few months ago (most would say unsuccessfully) on a drunken lapse of judgment, Michael "Cosmo Kramer" Richards' only excuse for his racial epithets directed toward two African-American men is that he was angry because he was being heckled in the middle of a performance. The entertainment website TMZ acquired footage of Richards spewing various racial epithets during a stand-up comedy routine at The Laugh Factory nightclub last Friday--and by Monday night Richards, with the help of friend Jerry Seinfeld, was on David Letterman apologizing for his behavior and swearing he was not a racist.
So yesterday I was fully prepared for the media backlash to bury Richards in a pile of well-deserved criticism, just like it did to a certain other hate-spewing Hollywood figure recently. But other than the occasional soundbyte in which a moderately famous comedian or some Hollywood pundit mildly criticized Richards for his behavior, the backlash failed to materialize. Barbara Walters did not use the "Hot Topics" portion of "The View" to announce she would no longer watch "Seinfeld" re-runs. Denzel Washington did not make a public statement calling for Richards to have a meeting with the NAACP to begin the healing process. As far as we know, uber-agent Ari Emanuel didn't tell a single one of his clients not to work with Richards in the future. Worst of all, last night Leno only dedicated one joke in his monologue to Richards' fiasco before quickly moving on to other subjects.
All of which has left me feeling more than a little bit baffled. The man was doing stand-up. In a club. Where comediens often are heckled. Stating that hecking is an excuse for racial slurs is, in my opinion, about as strong of an excuse for his behavior as a student saying "a dog ate my homework." Pardon me, Hollywood, but your hypocrisy is showing. While I am well aware that Richards is not as successful as Gibson, and I understand Richards hasn't exactly announced that he will be playing Atticus Finch in an upcoming remake of "To Kill a Mockingbird," I still can't fathom why Hollywood isn't showing more outrage over this hate speech.
Such an underwhelming lack of response by some of the most visible players in Hollywood brings up uncomfortable questions I don’t have the answers to. Questions like: Are some slurs more forgivable than others? Is the level of outrage over such slurs linked somehow to how much future worth their career is to Hollywood? And the biggest question of all in my mind: Would the outrage be greater if more Hollywood players were African-American and had more of a voice??
Kirk Franklin just won the American Music Award in the Contemporary Inspirational category, adding to his crowded shelf of Gospel Music Association Dove Awards and Gospel Grammys. Yay, Kirk! In fact, his fellow nominees in the categories are very deserving in themselves: Casting Crowns and Aly & AJ.
What none of these artists deserve is to be lumped into the same award category. Casting Crowns is middle-of-the road white-boy pop rock, while the exceedingly pure Aly and AJ's cover of "Walking on Sunshine" anchors the soundtrack of Disney's remake of its own "Herbie the Love Bug."
Once upon a time, gospel, Christian rock, and inspirational performers were grouped together because their tiny independent labels were only fit to compete against each other. Not anymore. Kirk's first thank you went out to his label Zomba, a mainstream subsidiary of recording giant BMG. The distribution available to Christian Nashville groups rivals any other artist. Instead of a sampler pack of Christian acts—one from each genre within the Christian universe—the AMAs and everyone else ought to free Kirk and the rest of the Christian crowd to compete in their natural categories.
With every winner from Rascal Flatts to Mary J. Blige fulsomely praising God for their brand new statuettes, future Christian winners in the R&B, country, rock, and rap fields will fit right in.
In the beginning, there was TLC's Shalom in the Home, starring well-known rabbi Shmuley Boteach. Now, prepare for television to bring another rabbi into your home--in this case, Rabbi Irwin Kula, whose new national public television special, "The Hidden Wisdom of Our Yearnings with Irwin Kula," represents an attempt to help people use Jewish wisdom to "cope, find purpose, and discover growth," as a press release claims.
Rabbi Kula is president of CLAL - The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, a leadership training institute, think tank, and resource center, and is a much sought-after speaker and commentator on public culture and religion in the public square. The show is based on Rabbi Kula's new book, "Yearnings: Embracing the Sacred Messiness of Life," and will be available in almost every major city nationwide.
If Rabbi Kula's name sounds familiar, it might be your active "Today" show memory kicking in: He was recently featured in an interview by Matt Lauer about the concept of forgiveness in the wake of October's shootings at an Amish schoolhouse. Unlike Rabbi Boteach, Rabbi Kula does not seem to be courting celebrity endorsement, although his book has received accolades from such leading authors as Harold Kushner, Wayne Dyer, Deepak Chopra, and Mitch Albom, and Rabbi Kula himself was named by both Fast Company magazine and PBS' Religion and Ethics Newsweekly as one of the new leaders shaping the American spiritual landscape.
posted by Esther Kustanowitz @ 12:56 AM | Permalink |
We've always been made to understand that Sacha Baron Cohen, a.k.a. Borat, is a satirist, not a simple comedian. Otherwise, his anti-Semitic jokes and poo-poo gags would be, well, just that. But this week, Cohen found out the cost of making a serious point.
Residents of the Romanian town of Glod, a stand-in for Borat's Khazakstani village, and two American college students have filed lawsuits against Cohen and his production company, aimed at having themselves removed from the film. They say the producers misrepresented the nature of the film and induced them on false pretenses to say and do things they wish they hadn't. (The college students also say the producers made sure they were liquored up for the shoot.) Fox, which distributes the film here, has called the lawsuits "fatuous."
The natural defense of a joker like Cohen is he was only kidding--"Geez, can't they take a joke?" But in a Rolling Stone interview that appeared last week, Cohen presses on with his social-conscience defense. His treatment of Khazakstan, which at one time threatened its own lawsuit, reflects badly not the Central Asian nation, says Borat, but those dim enough to believe any country could be so backward. As for his racist and anti-Semitic American dupes (who apparently are that backward), they deserve what they got. The essence of racism, he says, is apathy. "I think it's an interesting idea that not everyone in Germany had to be a raving anti-Semite," he says to Rolling Stone. "They just had to be apathetic."
But is it apathy that's on view here? What gets Borat's victims in trouble is that they are nice enough to engage with Borat. By the time he gets ugly, they've gone too far with the idiot to put on the brakes without causing more trouble than he's worth. In a recent Slate column, Christopher Hitchens suggests that it's not racism that makes Americans go along with Borat's nonsense, but our tolerance. "It's that attitude of painfully maintained open-mindedness and multiculturalism that is really being unmasked and satirized by our man from the 'stan," writes Hitchens.
Apathy, at any rate, is only half the point. Racism is part of the human condition. We educate our children and ourselves about it precisely because it's alive in us all, ready to chime along with a voice strong enough to make it vibrate. To stoke these human feelings in a couple of drunk frat boys in a trailer isn't much of a feat, or much of a surprise, or much of a satire. The Germans didn't just have to be apathetic, in other words, they needed someone to articulate their racist suspicions. In "Borat," Cohen plays that role. If his unsuspecting victims have a race problem, Borat's it.
Hollywood lost a cinematic legacy yesterday when the director of the such critically acclaimed movies as "M*A*S*H" and "Nashville," Robert Altman, passed away at the age of 81. For decades, Altman set himself apart from other directors by developing a non-linear form of storytelling and by often using long sequences of overlapping dialogue among his characters. It's a style of filmmaking that many younger directors copy today, but back in the 1970s was anything anything but typical.
Though Altman never experienced huge commerical success, and was not even recognized by the film industry with an Oscar until earlier this year, Altman has left behind a body of work that examines the best and worst of all segments of society. And while I never cared for his abrasive political and personal rantings, Altman successfully achieved what all revolutonary artists attempt to do: He shaped our culture and redefined an art form by insightfully questioning the conventions of society ("Gosford Park" ), religion ("A Praire Home Companion"), corporate America ("The Player"), and politics ('The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial") with a point-of-view that was unique, and for better or worse, steadfastly uncompromised in its worldview.
For me, the Altman films that I liked best where the ones that celebrated the creative process. These films--which include "The Company" and "Vincent and Theo"--are not considered his very best, but I think they reveal the true passion he had for beauty of art in it's purest form to communicate truth.
And if you'd like to read what other film critics have to say about Altman's life and work, I encourage you to go here and here.
When facing a movie like "The Ten Commandments: The Musical"--based on a recent stage production and set for DVD release this week--I always approach it from two angles: (1) Is the product a good/entertaining one?; and (2) Is it true to the text?
The first good sign for this production is its enormously talented cast. The amazing Alisan Porter plays Miriam (you can also catch her in the Broadway revival of "A Chorus Line"); Aharon Ipale stars for his second time as the Pharaoh Seti (first time was in"The Mummy"). Michelle Pereira ("Yokebed," Moses' mother, or as I was taught to pronounce it, Yokheved) and Kevin Earley (Ramses) also turn in passionate performances. Some voices are so phenomenal that they can even make cheesy lyrics (Joshua, a slave, rebels with "you can't tie a rock to my soul") forgivable.
I admit, I snickered when I read the words "Val Kilmer IS Moses in 'The Ten Commandments.'" But the truth is that Kilmer wasn't all that bad--perhaps because he's played Moses once before (in 1998, for Dreamworks' "Prince of Egypt").Kilmer does a lot of the "talky singing" that's usually assigned to characters tasked with major plot exposition, wherein each musical phrase is packed with more words than human lung capacity should be able to handle. Thankfully, "Top Gun's" Iceman is not expected to perform complicated musical arrangements and choreography.
But the production suffers because its heart, its Moses, mostly reacts to the musical going on around him. The quality of his voice is certainly not at the same level as the highly trained cast that surrounds him, but it was fine. But is 'fine' enough for a musical? I mean, I have a fine voice, but I'm not auditioning for Broadway shows where the marquee would boast: "'Queen Esther: The Musical' featuring Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, Kelly Clarkson, Josh Groban, and Esther Kustanowitz."
Textual accuracy is more complicated. Bible stories represent the bedrock of contemporary Judeo-Christian faith; and biblical purists will just have to make some spiritual concessions when watching this musical. The dramatized story, both in the DeMille epic and here, tacks on a love triangle (Ramses is to marry a woman who's in love with Moses; she sings about it in "A Love that Never Was.") The brotherhood storyline is also a major hook for promotion: "Two men. Raised as brothers. Divided by history."
But the story has never needed this Hollywood touch, nor does it need a post-Red Sea crossing reconciliation between the brothers, who proclaim their love forever. Pharaoh even proclaims, "Moses, your God is God." (Never happened in the Bible.)
When Moses is banished after slaying the Egyptian taskmaster, the entire cast drifts into a musical number, one at a time, wondering "What about us, what will we be without him?" While, this is a very effective song of loss, it's not terribly biblical. Similarly, I watched the plague sequence three times, and I'm not sure all 10 are included. Some story elements that are not in the straight text in Exodus do exist in biblical legend--for instance, the possibility that Bithia/Batya, the daughter of Pharaoh who draws the infant Moses from the water, exited Egypt with the Hebrew slaves and was present at Mount Sinai to receive the Torah. On the other hand, I doubt any of the Midianites, Moses' in-laws, were Asian or blonde, which may make me a racist, a biblical Purist, or both.
Were Egyptian slaves really dressed so scantily? With wardrobe by BCBG Max Azria, never has slavery looked so abtastic. With all those expo
sed midriffs, it's no wonder that when the Children of Israel engage in nostalgic yearning for the Egypt they'd left behind ("Where is the land of milk and honey?"), their primal moan quickly enables the sheer libido of the people to physically manifest as a golden calf.
There will be those who decide, after hearing a voice of God that sounds not wholly unlike a vocoder-infused staccato rap, to call it a day. But then again, the music successfully highlights how remarkably layered the Exodus story is, both in terms of the human pathos involved and the faith themes. Moses is not just a man threatening the economic system of Egypt by trying to free its slaves, he was raised in the Egyptian palace as the son of Pharaoh's daughter, which ups the stakes. Whether or not the actual story sets up Pharaoh and Moses as literal brothers, the story is still about freedom and about the men who represent Gods.
Plus, Val Kilmer in a tallit (prayer shawl)? To a Jewish girl with "Top Gun" memories, that's totally hot.
posted by Esther Kustanowitz @ 5:13 PM | Permalink |
The first image you see in Stanley Nelson's new documentary "Jonestown: the Life and Death of the Peoples Temple" is a row of smiling young faces--black and white, teens and 20-somethings--taken under a blue and sunny sky. They look as if they could do anything--even carve out a utopia in the jungles of Guyana. Yet within months, they would all be dead, victims of the largest mass suicide/murder in American history.
On Nov. 18, 1978, 913 people, more than 200 of them children, died in Jonestown, Guyana. They had gone there with the Rev. Jim Jones, a charismatic preacher who wanted to establish a self-sufficient, interracial socialist community. Instead, after the shooting deaths of five visitors, including California Congressman Leo Ryan, they either swallowed a cyanide-laced punch or were injected with the poison. The film is Nelson's attempt to trace the Peoples Temple from its roots in Jones's first pulpit in Indiana to its zenith in San Francisco and, ultimately, its horrifying end in the jungles of Central America.
What is really lovely about this film is that it tries to focus not only on the terrible and sad end of the Peoples Temple, but also shows the sense of joy and accomplishment many members felt in the work they were doing--planting crops, building homes, teaching the young, caring for the elderly. Nelson got some great interviews with survivors, eyewitness, ex-members and their families, and their stories lend great depth to the pictures and footage.
But Nelson does not successfully answer the question of why so many people--more than a 1,000--stayed with Jones as he slipped into abuse. The survivors tell of sexual assault and humiliation, public beatings, financial shenanigans and downright lies (footage of Jones supposedly healing a wheelchair bound woman who was actually a church secretary). The viewer cannot help but want to shout "Why the hell did you stay?" at the screen. One survivor explains that by the time the abuse was at its worst, most members felt they were in too deep to leave. They had given up homes and family to join Jones. Others were afraid of a "hit squad" that would target them if they left.
I don't find these answers satisfying. As a reporter, I have written several times about Jonestown and have interviewed several survivors. The one thing I have come away from those interviews with the sense that these people were not weird, stupid or crazy. They are just like everyone else--a fact that, to me, intensifies the horror of what happened to them. Nelson could have spent a few more minutes showing how many people stayed with Jones because they were completely dedicated to the dream of a perfect, integrated world that he promised them--even as his daily actions undermined that dream's very foundation.
So was it suicide or was it murder? Certainly, the children, too young to make a choice between life and death, were murdered. But whether the adults willingly took the poison or did so because they were forced to--by armed guards ringing the pavilion where they died--is still being debated among survivors. The film doesn't try to answer the question, relying on eyewitness accounts that report people swallowing the poison themselves as well as injecting it into the young and the elderly. It's an appropriate choice because no one can claim to know the answer to the question of murder or suicide unless they were there. Seeing this film is as close--thankfully--as any of us will get to being there.
Last season, the VH1 celeb-reality series "Breaking Bonaduce" found ratings success by exploiting former "Partridge Family" star Danny Bonaduce as he spiraled out of control. There was no end to the footage in which Bonaduce was abusing alcohol, steroids, and other substances, all the while emotionally abusing his wife, Gretchen.
Some equally salacious footage started off Season Two, but last night's episode began to ducument Bonaduce's quest for spiritual answers to his problems. The episode followed Bonaduce as he read his Bible daily, met with a pastor over coffee, and went to church with his family.
Teasers for feature Bonaduce episodes give even more hints of Bonaduce finding religion. But all of his newly-acquired goody-two-shoes behavior can only mean one thing for the fate of the series itself: "Breaking Bonaduce" is destined to be canceled.
At least that's what Bonaduce himself has alluded to in a recent interview with Anderson Cooper. In that interview he said that there would absolutely be no Season Three because there is a "life altering change" at the end of Season Two that would make Season Three impossible.
All I can say isthat if Bonaduce does indeed become born again, I really hope he doesn't have Stephen Baldwin's phone humber.
I'm not saying it was our call to boycott O.J. Simpson's gruesome upcoming book and his accompanying Fox interviews that did the trick. (I'm sure you know that O.J. planned to reveal that if he had killed his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, this is how he would have done it.)
But perhaps it was the power of Idol Chatter (and, well, more likely the huge outpouring of outrage and horror from the American television-watching public) that led to the glorious news I heard today: News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch announced that the media company is canceling the television special, "If I Did It," which was set to air during crucial November sweeps.
Hallelujah! For once, the public has spoken, and the entertainment and media industry has listened! After a dozen Fox affiliates announced that they wouldn't be airing the interview, the word came down from the top that the whole creepy project would be canceled. In the words of Murdoch, "I and senior management agree with the American public that this was an ill-considered project."
Ill-considered? I'll say.
He went on to apologize to the families of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman for causing them any pain. An apology doesn't seem enough, but at least we have that.
The kicker to this story is that late on Monday, HarperCollins also decided to cancel publication of the book as well. CNN.com reported that though early sales of the book was strong (it broke the top twenty last week), it had fallen to Number 51 by the time the cancellation was announced. The publishing company also said that though some copies had been shipped to stores, they would be recalled and destroyed.
And that's it. I would say that this was a boycott that did its job. The sooner we forget about this and get on with daily life, the better.
The current James Bond movie is clearly different from most of the other 23 Bond (21 official) movies. The actor is different. The tone is different. The villain(s) is (are) different. There's no "Q," and though "M" is the same actor (Judi Dench), even she has a new edge to her.
That said, it's an important film for true Bond fans because it probably lands closer to the original Bond of the Ian Fleming novels than any of the prior movies, except perhaps for "Dr. No" and "From Russia With Love." I won't give away the details in this blog, but you need to see it. This guy is certainly nothing like Lazenby, Moore, Dalton, and Brosnan--and is probably more like Connery than any of the others, except for the hair. He's young. He's raw. He's human. He confounds those close to him. And he's a hero.
For the spiritually driven Bond fan, I think "Casino Royale" offers a potential bonus impact. This franchise couldn't have endured this long (45 years, going on a third generation of fans and its sixth lead actor) if all of us didn't have some kind of attraction to the idea of a Savior or Hero who transcends the normal bounds of human limitation to achieve the nigh-impossible for the benefit of others and his country. We're coming up on the Christmas season, and many of us will celebrate--or at least tolerate--an Americanized, Christmas-ized version of Jesus and the Christmas story that may or may not be true to The Original. Jesus Christ was not the watered-down, numbed, and muted version of himself that our culture--and even some of our churches--embrace.
Any time we get to re-discover anew the truth of who Jesus was--and is--then it's a good day. I know it wasn't the producers' intent, but if "Casino Royale" rocks some Bond-fans' notions of the true identity and character of this film's Savior, and if that can bleed over into a re-examination of Jesus as He impacts our own faith journey, then this may truly be a meaningful and Merry Christmas, and more than just a Happy Holiday.
Add to Del.icio.us 
Digg This 
Fave on Technorati
Twenty-eight years was a long time to wait for a new album from Yusuf Islam. Back in the 1970s, the artist (then known to the world as Cat Stevens) won over audiences with pop hits like "Wild, Wild, World," "Peace Train," and other folk-inspired songs. His recently released album, 
We've always been made to understand that Sacha Baron Cohen, a.k.a. Borat, is 
Hollywood 
When facing a movie like "
Last season, the VH1 celeb-reality series 
The