All on Board?
Admittedly, Order of the Phoenix doesn’t waste much time bringing anyone who’s missed the Hogwart’s Express so far up to speed. If you don’t know what’s going on already you might get left behind. Fortunately, director David Yates has restored the cool-headed, even-tempered Dumbledore (supplanted in the previous film by a sputtering fuming caricature that bore little resemblance to earlier versions). Yates’ use of a wonderful array of special effects never overwhelms his characters and he also has a unique ability to convey Rowling’s sense of adolescence with all its awkwardness and beauty.
How was Harry’s first kiss with the girl he’s been pining for? “Wet.” he replies, still dazed and grinning, as he tells his friends about it. Harry’s growing confidence as he becomes teacher to his peers, his struggle between doing things alone versus relying on his friends, and the palpable pain of loss all keep the tale on firm footing.
Order of the Phoenix leads us through a flight of fancy replete with wizards, giants, centaurs and castles but keeps a firm grip on us by connecting it with our own human experience. Why can Harry and his friends have any hope of ultimately defending themselves and their world against the growing evil they will face? Harry closes the film surrounded by his friends with a smile, “Because we have something worth fighting for.”
5. December Boys (PG)
CATHNEWS
US Conference of Catholic Bishops http://www.usccb.org/movies/d/decemberboys.shtml
Moving Australian coming-of-age drama as four boys from a convent orphanage (Daniel Radcliffe, Christian Byers, Lee Cormie and James Fraser) are sent on holiday to board with an elderly couple (Jack Thompson and Kris McQuade) by the seaside, where they learn that the childless couple nearby (Sullivan Stapleton and Victoria Hill) may adopt one of them, leading to rivalry among the friends. Besides sensitive performances and majestic cinematography, director Rod Hardy's adaptation of Michael Noonan's novel has a strong Catholic underpinning, including a bona fide miracle, and a compassionate humanistic viewpoint. An instance of crude language, mild profanity, dim upper female nudity, brief rear nudity, a clothed, non-explicit sexual encounter, and brief underage drinking and smoking. A-III -- adults. (PG-13) 2007
Full Review
"December Boys" (Warner Independent) is an intensely moving coming-of-age drama set in 1960s' Australia as four teenage boys from a convent orphanage -- nicknamed Maps (Daniel Radcliffe), Spark (Christian Byers), Spit (James Fraser) and the youngest boy, Misty (Lee Cormie) -- are sent on holiday.
They will board with an elderly couple, retired naval officer Bandy McAnsh (Jack Thompson) and his wife, Skipper (Kris McQuade) -- who, we eventually learn, is dying of cancer -- by the seaside.
In their exploration of the lush, wonderfully bracing world around them, they come to learn that the childless couple nearby -- a daredevil motorcyclist known as Fearless (Sullivan Stapleton) and his French wife, Teresa (Victoria Hill) -- may adopt one of them.
Misty overhears the wondrous news first, and selfishly tries to keep it from the others, but during confession with Father Scully (Frank Gallacher), he learns that he must be honest, leading to all four boys trying to outdo the others in ingratiating themselves with the young couple. The rivalry tests their deep friendship.
There's also a crotchety fisherman character, Shellback (Ralph Cotterill), who spends his days hoping to catch an enormous, elusive fish named Henry. When the fish is finally felled by one of the boys, the old man's stunned and tragic reaction to the sight of the aquatic Holy Grail he's been seeking all his life sums up the emotional tenor of the film.
Radcliffe successfully steps out of his Harry Potter role to play this sensitive youth who's headed for a major disillusionment, precipitating the events that fuel the film's climax. But all the performances are well-nigh perfect.
Director Rod Hardy's adaptation of Michael Noonan's novel has, as you might imagine, a strong Catholic underpinning. The adult Misty narrates the story, and he explains right at the start how he came to feel that Our Lady chose him for a very special mission. The clerical characters -- the Reverend Mother (Judi Farr) and Father Scully -- are, refreshingly, portrayed positively. There's even a bona fide miracle which we won't spoil.
Other pluses are David Connell's majestic cinematography of the lush South Australian locales, and Carlo Giacco's apt score.
There is some very discreet partial nudity, as when the boys watch a topless Teresa emerge from a swim (heavily in shadow), and later undress and look with wonder at some lingerie advertisements. They also engage in some surreptitious drinking and smoking, both at the convent and while they're on holiday, and there's a plot strand involving Maps' relationship with a local girl, Lucy (Teresa Palmer), who shows him the facts of life (mostly implied not shown, apart from some clothed fumbling). The film doesn't linger on these elements and presents them as a common part of adolescence.
But overall Marc Rosenberg's script presents an uncannily truthful portrayal of adolescence and the exemplary decency of all the characters (even Lucy speaks reverently of those who are called by God). The film is acceptable -- indeed, recommended -- for mature teens, as the story touches on major life passages and offers a highly compassionate worldview. The joyful, but bittersweet, coda is guaranteed to set the tear ducts flowing.
The film contains an instance of crude language, mild profanity, dim upper female nudity, brief rear nudity, a clothed, non-explicit sexual encounter, and brief underage drinking and smoking. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.
The following movies have been evaluated by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishop's Office for Film and Broadcasting according to artistic merit and moral suitability. The reviews include the USCCB rating, the Motion Picture Association of America rating, and a brief synopsis of the movie.
The classifications are as follows:
A-I -- general patronage;
A-II -- adults and adolescents;
A-III -- adults;
A-IV**
L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. L replaces the previous classification, A-IV.
O -- morally offensive.
**Discontinued classification. All archived movies that were originally in the A-IV category are now classified as L.
From: prabhu To: mail@examinerindia.com ; editor@examinerindia.com Sent: Tuesday, June 29, 2004 10:07 PM
Subject: LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Dear Reverend Father,
For favour of publication please.
This refers to two film reviews in THE EXAMINER, 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban' and 'Lord of the Rings', in the June 12, 2004 and February 14, 2004 issues respectively.
Ms. Ronita Torcato has to be commended for her excellent critiques, but I feel obliged to draw her kind attention to certain important aspects of these movies which she may be unaware of.
The setting for Harry Potter is The Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
The books and the movie series has spawned games about levitation, spell cards, green-slime oozing snakes, wizards' hats, magic wands and potions, flying brooms, spell-casting and chanting of incantations. Guide books to Potter include education about reading tea-leaves, astrology, banshees, dark arts, trolls, vampires, werewolves and zombies [the living dead]. Potter, Hermione and the others have become our children's latest role models in reel-to-real re-enactments. The trademark zigzagged lightning-bolt designed into the 'P' of Potter and now inscribed on their foreheads is very much a satanic symbol, as any Christian magazine on occult themes will confirm. This is no 'white magic' even if that were a commendable thing.
The Bible [both Old and New Testaments] condemn magic, divination, witchcraft, sorcery and the like in a number of places. The Catechism of the Catholic Church is also clear on these aspects. I do not quote references for reasons of brevity.
Harry Potter introduces Christians to the powers that Jesus Christ came to defeat. Ms. Torcato admits that the movie is "decidedly not for small children." It is, in fact, not meant for anyone.
Her references to the "moody music", the "dark tenor of the film" and the "dark film" are self-explanatory.
She says that certain aspects from the film are "derived from Christian theology and neuro-linguistic programming", two opposing entities. As a student of theology I cannot find anything in the film that derives from Christianity. What I find is that the two are incompatible.
It is incorrect for her to say that "the film is about good and evil" when it is in fact about evil and evil. Fighting powerful evil with even more powerful evil does not make the first evil good.
For a detailed gruesome satanic ritual read chapter 32 of volume 4 where a wizard raises from the dead the Lord Voldemort who murdered Harry Potter's parents. Ms. Torcato explained the derivatives of some names of Potter characters. But, Draco Malfoy is the "demon of bad faith" and "Azkaban", "Circe", "Hermes", "Slytherin" are not characters of fiction but names of real demons.
In a July 17, 2000 interview with the London Times, Potter inventor Ms. J.K. Rowling said, "These books guide children to an understanding that the weak, idiotic son of god is a hoax who will be humiliated when the rain of fire comes... [when] Satan's faithful servants will laugh and cavort in victory." She was referring here to Jesus Christ.
It may come as a surprise to Christians to learn that Catholic J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings is "equally dark and includes the use of sorcery." [The New Leader Sep.16-30, 2000].
Articles exposing the truth about the Potter phenomenon were carried in other Indian Catholic magazines like Streams of Living Water [Aug-Sep 2002] and Catechetics India [August 2002]. The February 3, 2003 Vatican Document on the 'New Age' also condemns the present surge in popularity of witchcraft , fantasies of adventure using occult mysteries and psychic power [n 2.3.2 and n 3.2], warning that "in New Age there is no distinction between good and evil." [n2.2.2]
michaelprabhu@vsnl.net
MICHAEL PRABHU, 12 DAWN APARTMENTS, 22 LEITH CASTLE SOUTH STREET, CHENNAI 600028
Reminders to The Examiner, the Archdiocesan weekly of Bombay:
From: prabhu To: mail@examinerindia.com ; editor@examinerindia.com
Sent: Saturday, July 10, 2004 11:59 PM Subject: Fw: LETTER TO THE EDITOR
RE-SENDING on JULY 11th
From: prabhu To: mail@examinerindia.com ; editor@examinerindia.com
Sent: Thursday, July 15, 2004 10:40 PM Subject: Fw: LETTER TO THE EDITOR: ON HARRY POTTER
RE-SENDING on JULY 15th
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