By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Ilan Duran Cohen
Starring: Audrey Dana | Aurélien Recoing | Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet | Laurent Lucas | Pascal Greggory
Original language title: Le métis de Dieu
Country: france
Year: 2014
Running time: 96
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2806908/combine
Kyle says: “THE JEWISH CARDINAL disappoints in the way of most fictional accounts of real people and events: The messiness of life must be reduced to the neatness of fiction. This account of the relationship between Jean-Marie Aaron Lustiger, Archbishop of Paris and friend and colleague of Karol Józef Wojtyla, Pope John Paul II, is based upon actual events, although only during the end titles are we clearly informed that ‘this fiction is freely based upon’ those events. Clearly intimate
conversations between the two men about the central event — the handling and eventual dismantling of the Carmelite Nuns’ intrusion of a chapel into Auschwitz as the Communist regime in Poland disintegrates — are speculative. And the running time seems to touch upon major events without the time to spend on details of plot and character. Nonetheless this is a compelling television presentation from France and well worth the hour and a half it requires of viewers.
“The conflict inherent in the title THE JEWISH CARDINAL is clearly articulated early on by Chief Rabbi of France Kaplan, who says to Jean-Marie Lustiger (Laurent Lucas), ‘One is either Jewish or Christian. Not both.’ The Cardinal, who regards himself as both, disagrees, attempting in his life and work to settle conflicts between politics and religion, as he strives to effect changes in a priesthood of France that he strongly feels suffers from mediocre clergy. He is elevated to Archbishop of Paris by Pope John Paul II (Aurélien Recoing), who values his commonsense ecclesiastical thinking and his passionate commitment to change. They come into direct conflict when a group of opportunistic Carmelite Nuns starts a convent on the grounds of Auschwitz, with the collusion of an increasingly moribund Polish Communist Party with no interest whatsoever in the Holocaust. It is a tribute to the details of the story that one wants to know more about actual historical events, which the screenplay characterizes as easier in both conceptualization and resolution than imprecise history undoubtedly was. Nonetheless, most treatments of clashes between such opposing forces offer so little that it seems churlish to demand more. THE JEWISH CARDINAL is highly recommended. 4 cats
“Sunday, September 7, 2014, on Netflix, New York.”
Thom says: “This is one of the best of the Film Movement entries for the year. Originally made for French television the film is so extraordinarily persuasive that if not for its subject matter, I would have rated the film higher. This flick is based on the real Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, son of Jewish/Polish immigrants to France. Early on in his youth he decides to convert to Catholicism and later still to become a Catholic priest while never fully renouncing his Jewish background. Nonetheless, he rises rapidly through the ranks of the Church, due to his intense, rational concerns, his charming personality, & fresh insights, until finally Pope Jean Paul II appoints him as the Archbishop of Paris.
“Seemingly against all odds, they become fast friends, although their temperaments and politics are often directly opposed to each other. As his luster continues to shine his dual identity as a Jewish Catholic divides the upper echelon of the Catholic hierarchy. Things come to a head when Carmelite nuns want to build a sanctuary within Auschwitz (stupid idea #1162) and Jean Paul II takes the side of the clueless nuns. Because of his Jewish background the Pope sends Lustiger to Auschwitz to arbitrate the dispute between the outraged Jewish leaders and the nuns. That Lustiger is able to persuade the Pope to make the right decision seems a most mature type of film-making that we rarely get to see. The Pope played by Recoing is so bizarre and unexpected that he brings a real pizzazz to the proceedings.
“That such a theme would fascinate me is remarkable but when presentation is so intellectual a new theme can gain understanding and verisimilitude. 4.5 cats”