Reissue of DVD coincides with Lourdes anniversary
By NADIA MARIA SMITH
CS&T Staff Writer
Ignatius Press has released a remastered, wide-screen version of the classic film “Bernadette” in honor of the 150th anniversary of the Marian apparitions at Lourdes this year.
The film, starring American actress Sydney Penny, and directed by Jean Delannoy, one of France’s foremost filmmakers, was highly acclaimed and recommended by the Vatican for its portrayal of the life of St. Bernadette and the circumstances surrounding the Marian apparition. It is also the official film of the Lourdes Shrine in France, where it is shown daily.
“Jean Delannoy set out to make a film that was historically accurate, with no distortions in the telling,” Penny said. “Obviously the film needed to be dramatic, but the story is moving enough without changing it arbitrarily — as had been done before.”
Although the film was made 21 years ago, Penny, who is a non-Catholic Christian, is thrilled to be promoting its special-edition release, “especially after waiting so long for the film to be introduced in America,” she said. “I hope the word gets out that there’s a film with a beautiful, simple story to tell that is still relevant today, whether one is Catholic or not.”
Bernadette Soubirous was just 14 years old when the Blessed Mother appeared to her in a grotto where pigs took shelter from thunderstorms that sometimes raged throughout the countryside. The Blessed Mother appeared to Bernadette 17 more times, eventually revealing herself as “the Immaculate Conception.”
Four years earlier, the Church had proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, but there was no way that an extremely poor, uneducated, country girl like Bernadette in a little isolated mountain town could have known about the proclamation.
It shocked the local Church authorities who investigated her claims. Bernadette suffered greatly during that time. She was believed to be a liar and threatened with punishment, especially as pilgrims arrived at Lourdes in increasing numbers after rumors of the apparitions began to circulate.
The Church approved the apparitions and Bernadette was canonized in 1933 by Pope Pius XI.
During one of the apparitions, Mary told Bernadette to start digging in the dirt, which she did. A miraculous spring appeared that to this day continues to exhibit healing powers. Millions of pilgrims make their way to Lourdes every year bringing their sick and lame to be bathed in the Lourdes water.
In playing Bernadette, Penny says she was “moved by [the saint’s] honesty and humility. The virtue of humility and the value of honesty are timeless,” she said.
“Bernadette spoke of what she saw simply as a lady in white — and faith is that pure, that simple. We sometimes trip ourselves up with intellectual, metaphysical questions. Sometimes you just have to trust and believe,” she added.
Along with the film “Bernadette,” Ignatius Press is making available “The Passion of Bernadette,” a DVD that follows her young life and death in the convent of the Sisters of Charity in Nevers, France. Delannoy brought Penny back three years later to film there. Today, pilgrims continue to make their way to that little convent to see St. Bernadette, whose incorrupt body lays in-state in a glass coffin.
To order the DVDs visit www.ignatius.com or call 1-800-651-1531.
CS&T staff writer Nadia Maria Smith may be reached at npozo@adphila.org or (215) 965-4614.
Local couple produces videos about Phila. area shrines
By Lou Baldwin
Special to The CS&T
LAFAYETTE HIIL — Five years ago, when Diana von Glahn and her husband, David, were in Europe on their honeymoon, she decided to make it a religious experience, too. Why not visit some of the famous shrines?
“I’m a life-long Catholic and I know that wherever you go you can pop into a church or a shrine,” she said.
Thumbing through the commercial guidebooks, she discovered faith doesn’t get much space. If shrines and churches are mentioned at all it is purely for architectural interest.
What is true for Paris, von Glahn found, is also true for Philadelphia. How many guidebooks mention the National Shrine of the Central Association of the Miraculous Medal in Germantown, or the National Shrine of St. Katharine Drexel in Bensalem, or even the tomb of St .John Neumann in St. Peter’s Church on Girard Avenue in Philadelphia?
Von Glahn, who is a former managing editor of The Catholic Standard & Times and a member of St. Philip Neri Parish in Lafayette Hill, decided that if no one else was providing information about shrines, she would do it herself, but with a twist. She decided she wouldn’t write travel books about shrines. Instead, she and her husband are videotaping short travelogues about them. They formed their own company, “The Faithful Traveler,” bought some good video equipment and set to work.
Their first venture, a 25-minute video, focuses on Germantown’s venerable National Shrine of the Miraculous Medal. It’s far more than a discussion of church architecture.
In the video, the Von Glahns weave in the entire history of the devotion to the Miraculous Medal, starting with the Virgin Mary’s presentation of the design for the medal to St. Catherine Laboure in 1830. St. Catherine at the time was a young novice in the convent of the Sisters of Charity on the Rue de Bac in Paris.
The video follows with the foundation of the Central Association of the Miraculous Medal and the subsequent perpetual novena by Vincentian Father Joseph Skelly, who also built the Germantown shrine. The story continues to the present with the shrine’s current director, Vincentian Father Carl Peter, explaining the significance of the elements of the famous medal.
The von Glahns hope to follow through with a full series of videos centered on noteworthy Catholic shrines and churches, beginning with those in the Philadelphia area. Scheduled for release in November is a video made at the National Shrine of St. Katharine Drexel in Bensalem.
“We want to release it in time for the 150th anniversary celebration of her birth,” von Glahn explained.
The videos are deliberately short, because they are designed to be suitable for television broadcast, according to von Glahn. But the length also makes them perfect for religion classes, religious education classes, prayer groups and even families.
The Faithful Traveler: Philadelphia’s Miraculous Medal Shrine, which retails for $19.95, can be purchased at the Shrine or through Amazon.com.
Lou Baldwin is a member of St. Leo Parish and a freelance writer.
Reviews: DVD, new video releases
By Harry Forbes
Catholic News Service
NEW YORK — The following are capsule reviews of new and recent DVD and video releases from the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. These classifications refer only to the theatrical version of the films and do not take into account DVD releases’ extra content.
“Bee Movie” (2007)
Generally delightful animated feature about a scrappy bee (voice of Jerry Seinfeld) who decides to sue the human race for stealing the honey manufactured by his hard-working bee brethren and brings the case to court, with the help of a sympathetic florist (Renee Zellweger). An often very funny script (by Seinfeld and others), terrific voice work from a cast including John Goodman, Chris Rock, Kathy Bates and many more, and ultimately a valuable ecological lesson, make this film — directed by Simon J. Smith and Steve Hickner — above-average family fare. Mild innuendo. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-I — general patronage. The Motion Picture Association of America rating was PG — parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children. (DreamWorks)
“The Counterfeiters” (“Die Falscher”) (2008)
Absorbing true story about the largest counterfeiting operation in history, as inmates of a German concentration camp are ordered to forge vast amounts of Allied currency to undermine England’s and America’s war effort, but courageously delay the production of American dollars that might have adversely altered World War II’s outcome. Writer-director Stefan Ruzowitzky’s frequent use of the hand-held camera and Marius Ruhland’s score add contemporary touches to a suspenseful tale bolstered by good performances. In German. Subtitles. Some violence including brutal shootings, brief upper-female and rear nudity, further brief shower nudity, brief nongraphic sexual encounters, a crass scene of urination, an irreverent joke, a few expletives and racial epithets. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R — restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian. (Sony Classics)
“Flushed Away” (2006)
Frolicsome computer-animated tale about an urbane pet mouse (voiced by Hugh Jackman) whose cushy lifestyle is turned topsy-turvy when he’s flushed down a toilet and into the bustling underground world of London’s sewer system. There he teams with a spunky rat (Kate Winslet) to foil the doomsday plot of a frog kingpin (Ian McKellen) who wants to exterminate the sewers’ rodent population. The directors combine zippy animation, a simple but smartly entertaining script and top-notch voice talent to delightfully zany effect, while imparting a warm message about the importance of friendship. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-II — adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association of America rating was PG — parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children. (Paramount Home Entertainment)
“Nim’s Island” (2008)
Winning yarn set on a solitary South Pacific island where an 11-year-old girl (Abigail Breslin) e-mails a heroic adventurer for help when her widowed marine biologist father (Gerard Butler) fails to return from a two-day research expedition, not realizing that her hero is actually a highly phobic fiction writer (Jodie Foster in a rare comic turn) living in San Francisco. The directors deftly combine the adventurous, humorous, sentimental and fantastical aspects of Wendy Orr’s novel, and the three stars are engaging, making this recommendable family fare. Mild action violence. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-I — general patronage. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG — parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children. (20th Century Fox Home Entertainment)
Forbes is director of the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. More reviews are available online at www.usccb.org/movies.
To
subscribe now, click here.