Fumbling towards Beatitude

Review by John D. O'Brien S.J. Director: Frank Capra. 130 min., U.S.A, 1946. Starring: James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Thomas Mitchell, Henry Travers Plot The townspeople of Bedford Falls are sending up prayers for George Bailey (Stewart), who is in great distress. Their prayers are heard and the angel Clarence (Travers) is assigned to come down and convince George to not commit suicide. George is a good man, who sacrificed the dreams of his youth to serve the needs of his neighbours. He gave up traveling the world and going to university, and inherited the savings and loan business from his father. Over the years he resisted the proposals of avaricious banker Mr. Potter (Barrymore) to buy out the family business. He married the lovely Mary Hatch (Reed) and had four children with her. When his Uncle Billy (Mitchell) loses $8,000 of their clients’ money, George believes he is facing ruin and that he is worth more dead than alive. Once Clarence sees he is not ...

Review by John D. O'Brien, S.J. Director: Xavier Beauvois, 122 min., France, 2010. Starring: Lambert Wilson, Michael Lonsdale, Olivier Rabourdin Plot Based on the true story of the eight Trappist monks of the Monastery of Notre-Dame de l’Atlas, who in 1996 found themselves caught in the midst of the Algerian Civil War. The monks live a quiet life of work and prayer and friendship with the Muslim villagers of Tibhirine. Threatened by terrorist factions, they are urged to flee the country. This triggers an excruciating discernment: to leave or to stay with the people they have come to know and love. Film History Nominated for many awards, and winning three at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, including the Grand Prize of the Jury. Spiritual Reflection It is rare to see a religious film of such power as Xavier Beauvois’s Of Gods and Men . It is not a film about the monks’ deaths, which were hailed as martyrdoms, but rather about how they lived and why they were willing t...