ABC Movie review

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“Have No Fear: The Life of Pope John Paul II” was aired December 1,2005 on ABC-TV. Let’s comment on it.

Did John Paul II actually say “I am only a human being just as Christ was” ?
 
It was hard to overlook the fact that the actor who played Karol Wojtyla/John Paul II as an adult did not look, sound, speak, or have any of the mannerisms of John Paul II. Rather, he reminded me of a Clint Eastwood-Steven Segal hybrid. Does anyone recall Pope John Paul II having a 5 o’clock shadow? An emaciated John XXIII also appeared! Also, I have no idea why a 42 year old played an 18 year-old Wojtyla. Disney posted a $516 million profit last quarter. Couldn’t they have hired a young actor for a few bucks?
 
I liked it but it sent a wrong message to those who dont know what being Catholic is all about.For instance, it showed that he was constantly asking things from Mary. A non-Catholic would say that he was actually asking Mary to do things for him rather than mary asking Jesus. That is one and probably the only thing I didnt like,
 
It was ok, it wasn’t the best, but what can you do in two hours. All it did was make me miss JPII, especially the funeral scenes at the end. The beginning of the movie could have been done much better, but I don’t think that his life is able to be compressed into 2 hours. 😦
 
It’s impossible to tell the story of John Paul in 2 hours.I agree the actor didn’t look young enough when he was young and didn’t look old enough when he was old,they just went from scene to scene,very bland…let’s hope the cbs one is better.
 
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crazyage3:
I liked it but it sent a wrong message to those who dont know what being Catholic is all about.For instance, it showed that he was constantly asking things from Mary. A non-Catholic would say that he was actually asking Mary to do things for him rather than mary asking Jesus. That is one and probably the only thing I didnt like,
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Well, John Paul did have a great and healthy Marian devotion. Devotion to Mary is a good thing; Somethng Catholics should never be embarassed about. I’m glad that this movie presented this.
 
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alekzander:
It’s impossible to tell the story of John Paul in 2 hours.
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2 hours - advertisement time - credits = not much time at all

But what I did see did not cause me any angst so I am happy about that.

I was surprised to see the connection of Pope JPII admission to pride with the death of Bishop Oscar Romero. I felt ever greater sorrow for Bishop Romero’s burden than ever before. God bless him with eternal peace in heaven. :gopray:
There can be nothing more frustrating or burdensome than when even the Pope doesn’t hear your plea for help.
 
I was pleased that ABC presented a fairly authentic story. The MSM is not usualy so kind. I didn’t know that he told Bresnev that he would resign if Soviet tanks crossed the border.
With Romero, did the Pope not have a lot of false information about him?
st julie
 
I taped it, and only got to see the first hour so far. I enjoyed it, but there were two errors I spotted in the first part.

One, there has never been any documentation that Karol W. had a romantic interest in that actress. This has been specifically written about by George Weigel, the Pope’s biographer, many times, including in the book “Witness to Hope”.

Second, I think the “kick in the pants” the Cardinal gave Father Karol when he was made bishop of Krakow, “Don’t be an ostrich with your head in the sand re: the Communists” did not happen either, and was very out of context. Karol had very deep seeded feelings about oppression and the need for all to have human dignity, and from early days he was always participating in a “non-violent revolution” against first the Nazis, then the Communists. This would have been going on for almost 20 years by the time he became Archbishop of Krakow. The movie really didn’t give me that impression, I felt like he was a quiet Polish citizen disturbed by the goings on, not sure how to “fight” (he even said so somewhat when he went to become ordained - “It’s the only way I know how to fight”). He had been fighting for quite a while before that, albeit non-violently.

All in all though entertaining, I am looking forward to seeing the rest.

PS - CBS movie on the Pope is this Sunday (part 1), and December 7 (Part 2)! That is the one with Jon Voigt.
 
I did not see the first hour but the scene of JP ll asking for forgiveness after Bishop Oscar Romero’s death suggested the pope was sorry for correcting the Bishop re: Liberation Theology. I also think crazyage has a point re: their presentation of his devotion to our Blessed Mother. The “intercession” was not made clear and therefore open to the old old “worship Mary” stuff. Actually, it made me think the writers/producers do not get the Mary relationship, esp. of a man of such devotion and trust in her.
 
That entire scene just confused the heck outta me! Can someone explain it?

contemplative said:
2 hours - advertisement time - credits = not much time at all

But what I did see did not cause me any angst so I am happy about that.

I was surprised to see the connection of Pope JPII admission to pride with the death of Bishop Oscar Romero. I felt ever greater sorrow for Bishop Romero’s burden than ever before. God bless him with eternal peace in heaven. :gopray:
There can be nothing more frustrating or burdensome than when even the Pope doesn’t hear your plea for help.
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Honestly, too much idealistic verbosity (Reminded me of “Man of la Mancha”). The Pope whispered for most of the movie :mad:

Also, they should’ve stuck with one subject for more than five minutes.

Two thumbs way down! Let’s see what Jon Voigt has to offer.
 
originally posted by comptemplative
I was surprised to see the connection of Pope JPII admission to pride with the death of Bishop Oscar Romero. I felt ever greater sorrow for Bishop Romero’s burden than ever before. God bless him with eternal peace in heaven. :gopray:
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:amen:
I did not care for the scene with the actress either. Added for what reason?
Also, the “antis” will get milage from the Marion devotion shown, with no explaination and the scene with him shown apologizing for “the sins of the Catholic Church” at the wailing wall in Jerusalem.
Guess I’m too picky. Maybe I’ll like the CBS show more.
 
As others have stated, how can you do justice to JP2’s life in 2 hours? This said, given JP2’s devotion to the Church and Faith, I believe that the producers/writers had a duty to represent the Faith with a little more accuracy. I was particulary bothered by the Liberation Theology scene which made JP2 appear to have made a mistake in denouncing it. Additionally, I thought that the many scenes where JP2 was asking God for forgiveness, outside of the confessional, made it appear that confession directly to GOD, sans priest, is adequate. That being said, I would love to see more about JP2 in the popular media.
 
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Peregrino:
Additionally, I thought that the many scenes where JP2 was asking God for forgiveness, outside of the confessional, made it appear that confession directly to GOD, sans priest, is adequate. QUOTE]

One scene made it look to me as though JPII was asking forgiveness from Mary. I do realize that we ask for forgiveness from others if we have offended them. However, the scene could be taken as though he believed Mary could offer some sort of absolution.
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Apparently Jon Voight was at the screening for Pope Benedict and actually met the Pontiff. Apparently our Holy Father was moved by the CBS movie.
 
They ignored his vast amount of travels and WYD events, his connection with the youth.
 
It’s worth noting that while the makers of the CBS film did submit their script to the Vatican for assistance on accuracy, ABC didn’t so it isn’t surprising there is some iffy theology and events (out of ignorance or otherwise).

From the articles I’ve been reading, the production team for CBS (and it was a coproduction with Polish television and RAI in Italy as well) were trying very hard to get things right. We’ll see.

Here’s an interesting take on the CBS version:

Papal premiere

For the record, George Weigel, in his biography on the Pope stated that JPII never threatened to resign and go to Poland if the Soviets crossed the border; it was not in his character to make those kinds of threats.
 
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