Through a Catholic Lens

Movie texts are often examined for subtexts and for the way that they dramatize social and psychological issues as well as current movements. Through a Catholic Lens looks at the Catholic subtext through a collection of studies of 19 film directors from around the world whose Catholic backgrounds can be found in their writing and directing.

Movies are often examined for subtext and dramatizations of social and psychological issues as well as current movements. Studies of well-known Catholic directors, such as Alfred Hitchcock and John Ford, have made the search for Catholic themes a reputable field of examination. Through a Catholic Lens continues the search for these themes and examines the Catholic undercurrents by studying nineteen film directors from around the world. Although these directors may or may not be practicing Catholics, their Catholic background can be found in their writing and directing. Each chapter, written by a different contributor, analyzes one film of each director for its Catholic motifs. With the recent increase of cinema studies, this collection will be of interest to students and academics as well as cinema buffs.

Part 1 Introduction
Part 2 Anglo-Celtic Catholicism
Chapter 3 A Song that will not die — the films of Terence Davies
Chapter 4 Two films of Neil Jordan — in an Irish Context
Chapter 5 Revisiting the Devil's playground the films of Fred Schepisi
Part 6 Catholicism, Mainstream American
Chapter 7 Her Household Saints — Nancy Savoca's Saints
Chapter 8 Parables on Screen — John Sayles and Men with Guns
Part 9 Catholicism and the Iberian Peninsula
Chapter 10 The Mother of all Redemptions — Almodovar'sAll About My Mother
Chapter 11 Solidarity, Sharing and Compassion Walter Salles'Central do Brasil
Chapter 12 Observer of Everyday Life — Carlo Carrera andThe Crime of Fr Amaro
Chapter 13 The Son of Man (Facing Southeast) Jesus Christ in Eliseo Subiela's Films
Part 14 Catholicism Beyond Europe: Africa and Asia
Chapter 16 The Legacy of Lino Brocka
Part 17 Catholic, Agnostic, Atheist
Chapter 18 Finding His Place in Society local stories with a universal and spiritual dimension film-making by Gaston Kabore
Chapter 20Jesus of Montreal — The vision of Deny Arcand
Chapter 20 Sacrilege, Satire or Statement of Faith? Ways of reading Luis Bunuel'sViridiana
Chapter 21 The Christian Moral Vision of a Believing Atheist — Krzysztof Kieslowski's decalogue films
Part 21 Catholic-Jewish Relationships
Chapter 22 Memory's Progress - Ambiguity in Louis Malle'sAu Revoir les Enfants
Chapter 23 Roberto Benigni as Director towards an analysis of values
Chapter 24 Land of Promise Reflections on Andrej Wajda's Merchants of Lodz
Part 25 Catholicism Past and Future
Chapter 26 Following his True Passion Mel Gibson andThe Passion of the Christ
Chapter 27 View Askewed inDogma — Kevin Smith — a Funny Guy?