(From the source website)
about the docuмentary
To begin with, the life of Archbishop Lefebvre paints a fascinating story of a contemporary churchman born to a French Catholic family who abandoned all to become an African missionary. From a simple missionary he was appointed a bishop by Pope Pius XII, named Apostolic Delegate to French speaking Africa, and was elected the Superior General of the Holy Ghost Fathers, at the time the world’s largest missionary congregation. He was also named to the Preparatory Commission for the Second Vatican Council by Pope John XXIII, and played an active role in that same Council, to say nothing of the post-conciliar period. The full story of this man’s life has never before been told through the medium of film.
Because it is scarcely possible to describe the history of the Church in Africa without mentioning him, or to describe accurately the Second Vatican Council and its aftermath without discussing his role, we decided it was time to create a docuмentary that captured the life of this defining churchman.
We are convinced that the objective and timely approach to this subject is one which will interest Catholics across the theological, political, and social spectrums, especially as it includes archival photographs and video footage rarely seen before. On top of this, the creators of the docuмentary traveled the globe to interview many of the bishops, priests, and lay faithful who knew or crossed paths with Archbishop Lefebvre, including interviews with his remaining siblings about his childhood. The story has never before been told in this way, or with this wealth of first-hand information.
.........if only that could be a complete and objective description...........
It may be left up to some of the members here to put the whole thing into
the context of whether the opportunity of this movie was turned into an
opportunity to promote making a 'deal' with modernist Rome. But we'll
have to wait and see the film first. It wouldn't be fair to review it before
we see it. We are not the ADL. And no, I don't mean Activities of Daily
Living or Advanced Distributed Learning. The movie promises to be a
good description of the Archbishop's early life, if perhaps a bit filtered,
but as for the last 5 years of same, you can be quite sure it will be
conspicuously silent on certain key topics. Will it even mention the 88
consecrations? And if it does, will it make them look like merely a
forerunner to the "inevitable recognition and regularization of the future?"
Will the
miracle of the SSPX somehow seem to become morphed into
the ostensible "miracle" of Our Lady in answer to the Rosary Crusade of
+Fellay that gives us the "miracle" of the lifting of the (non-existent)
excoms and the so-called freeing of the Mass (which is not free -- like the
lumber in even the finest of lumber yards)?
Or, which is more likely, will the story end at the end of the protagonist's life, with narry a mention
of anything historically significant in his final 4 years, such as how
providential it was for all the world that he made the fateful decision to
do the Episcopal Consecrations before he had lost the physical and/or
mental stamina to do so?
I defer to the history we have of all of the many movies made about the
life of St. Padre Pio. There is only one movie that does him justice, and it
was a movie that never made it to theater distribution. In fact, I was
privileged to attend the ONLY screening it was allowed to have in the
continental USA, thanks to the tight controls of same by certain
anti-Catholic forces within the movie industry. (To those on the "inside"
that would be simply "The Industry," as if there is no other. Let me put it
this way: for them, TI is NOT Texas Instruments.)
BTW, while it is true that this incomparably great film was made for Italian
TV, and you will get that canard just about everywhere you look to
research it, the fact remains, that the director in person came to Hollywood
that day, and I was there, and he told us (the audience) a story that gives
a bit of a "different" slant to it. He had desired to give it worldwide
distribution as a movie but was blocked in numerous ways beyond his
control by mysterious forces the likes of which plagued the production of
the film and even the very screening that we were witnessing in person.
The projectors in the theater were in good repair, and the technicians were
capable, but the movie simply would not play. And then, without any
explanation, at the last possible moment, beyond which the screening
would have had to have been canceled due to scheduling concerns (there
would already be a nervous crowd that would be forming outside when we
would leave the theater, who was anxious about their own access to the
theater for the next film), suddenly everything was fine, and the movie
played without a hitch. Mr. Carlei assured us that this very same kind of
thing had went on all during his numerous scene filming days in the field,
which had caused him innumerable inconveniences and scheduling
problems, beyond his wildest imagination, something that he not only had
never experienced before in any of his other numerous films, but neither
had any of his peers ever seen anything like it. It was, in a word,
preternatural.The movie was made in Italian, and
I recommend getting the original in
Italian with English subtitles, because the sound effects are much better
and the voices are much more convincing than the voice-over edition. It is
titled "Padre Pio Miracle Man" and it is directed by
Carlo Carlei, a very
accomplished director who fairly endured a kind of conversion himself
by the making of the film. He made a personal appearance at the solitary
screening in Hollywood, CA, in the Millenium Year 12 years ago, an event
that was marred by a postponement by a half hour of the time the doors
opened when the mulling crowd outside was allowed to come in to the
small theater and find a seat. After the crowd was seated for about 15
minutes and there began to be a stir of anticipation and anxiety, Mr. Carlei
himself stood up in the front, having emerged from an undisclosed
entrance, and gave a very compelling 15 minute description in impeccable
English with a charming Italian accent, of the cause of the delay, and its
general relevance in context of the making and distribution of the film
itself. The crowd was quite appreciative. It was nearly a sell-out
audience, mostly consisting of people who were Italian because an Italian
movie organization had advertised the screening in select venues. That is
to say, some of the viewers were not even Catholic, and perhaps some
were not even religiously minded. But nobody could be there and remain
entirely ignorant of how something very inexplicable (by any and all
scientific means) was going on, because
we were experiencing it as we
sat there! I believe that showing changed a few lives that day. It did
mine. I can now say I saw a quasi-miracle of Padre Pio happen. Certainly
it was a very odd phenomenon under the auspices of this very holy man.
I wonder if ABL's movie will change any lives? I hope it does........
One website with some interesting blog posts is
this one, the last post
of which mentions a new iPhone app as follows (time stamped 5 days ago):
Sacred texts: Vatican embraces iTunes prayer book
5 days ago
VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican is endorsing new technology that brings the book of daily prayers used by priests straight onto iPhones.
The Vatican's Pontifical Council for Social Communications is embracing the iBreviary, an iTunes application created by a technologically savvy Italian priest, the Rev. Paolo Padrini, and an Italian Web designer.
The application includes the Breviary prayer book — in Italian, English, Spanish, French and Latin and, in the near future, Portuguese and German. Another section includes the prayers of the daily Mass, and a third contains various other prayers.
After a free trial period in which the iBreviary was downloaded approximately 10,000 times in Italy, an official version was released earlier this month, Padrini said.
The application costs euro0.79 ($1.10), while upgrades will be free. Padrini's proceeds are going to charity.
Topic: Coming to a theater near you (Read 1984 times)