ABC Movie review

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I watched some of the movie before I switched to watch The Apprentice.

The actor didn’t look, behave or sound like the Holy Father. For one thing, JPII had a great sense of humor and smiled a lot. I hardly saw the actor last night smile at all… he was too dramatic.
 
pazdziernik said:
“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” ?
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I really enjoyed the first half of the movie and felt so much love for him. I think they did move way too fast through his life (but how can you in 2 hours?). I think they used a lot of poetic license here and it was really a poorly done movie.

I’m hoping to watch the CBS movie which appears well done from the advertisements from it.

Peace…
 
I thought the movie was simply awful. Apart from trying to cram too much life into too little screen time, these are my observations:
  1. The movie gave a very imprecise portrayal of Marian devotion. Asking Mary for forgiveness seemed really out of whack.
  2. It seemed to suggest that standing up against liberation theology was a mistake.
  3. Unless I missed it, the mention of a “culture of death” appeared to have no connection whatsoever to JPII’s adamant defense of the unborn.
  4. The writing and acting were horrible. The dialogue in the scene where JPII meets his would be assassin sounded like something dashed off without revision to meet a deadline. They didn’t even TRY to make the conclave scene look authentic. One cardinal reading off the ballots like he was taking lunch orders or something. Sheesh.
Ugh. I deleted it from my Tivo as soon as it was over. A big thumbs down.
 
I watched the rest of it - I thought Catholics who are familiar with JP’s life would get a certain level of emotional joy and comfort from watching it. However, due to the quick snippets across so many areas of his life, I can’t see how anyone non-Catholic, watching this to learn, would have learned anything. They probably would say “Seemed like a nice guy. What did he really do?”
 
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TarAshly:
That entire scene just confused the heck outta me! Can someone explain it?
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Bishop Oscar Romero went to Pope JPII for help. Romero’s bishops had turned on him :crying:
He was alone. The people were alone. In 1980 the war claimed the lives of 3,000 per month, with cadavers clogging the streams, and tortured bodies thrown in garbage dumps and the streets of the capitol weekly. With one exception, all the Salvadoran bishops turned their backs on him, going so far as to send a secret document to Rome reporting him, accusing him of being “politicized” and of seeking popularity.
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Pope JPII blamed himself ( his pride ) for the death of Bishop Oscar Romero. After all…Bishop Romero did go to PopeJPII for help…but instead of help he got a scolding…and was told to be obedient. So sad.
 
To tell you the truth, I got kinda bored with it. I didn’t like the opening scenes, especially while he was praying to Mary. It was like the writers had no idea what a prayer of intercession is about.
I wasn’t fond of the actor who protrayed JPII. He was too “German”, too serious. There was no protrayal of JPIIs love of the youth. I wasn’t pleased with the movie. The only scene where I felt any kind of excitement was scene re: Bishop Oscar Romero.
 
Yeah, I posted on the other thread too but the business with praying to Mary was a little off. Why would he ask forgiveness from Mary? That doesn’t make sense. I think as someone else said the writers had the idea of intercessory prayer wrong. It bugged me that a non-Catholic would stop and see him praying to Mary and think the old “oh, those Mary-worshippin’ Catholics again…” instead of seeing an inspiring film about the life of a great man.

John Paul did a lot in his life and there wasn’t anything hugely wrong with the movie but it seemed rushed and didn’t do much justice to our former Holy Father I think. And, the actor when he was playing John Paul at the end of his life didn’t look nearly old enough…couldn’t they have used makeup or something? It just wasn’t very realistic.

That said, I did learn about the Bishop Romero thing. I didn’t realize that had happened between them. And of course I cried at the end with the funeral, I always tear up when I see scenes from that…still miss him very much.

All in all…hopefully CBS will do better.
 
I’m suspicious that the Romero episode is a bad case of dramatic licence. No mention of it in Witness To Hope.
 
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pazdziernik:
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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Yes but it is wrong to put anyone ahead of Jesus. And that is what some people think that we as Catholics do with Mary. This is what the movie showed to me. Devotion to Mary is a wonderful thing but we have to remember she leads us to Jesus and through Him she can do things.
 
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Faustina:
To tell you the truth, I got kinda bored with it. I didn’t like the opening scenes, especially while he was praying to Mary. It was like the writers had no idea what a prayer of intercession is about.
I wasn’t fond of the actor who protrayed JPII. He was too “German”, too serious. There was no protrayal of JPIIs love of the youth. I wasn’t pleased with the movie. The only scene where I felt any kind of excitement was scene re: Bishop Oscar Romero.
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This is what I was trying to say Thanks! The writeers probably didnt have any idea!
 
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Celia:
Yeah, I posted on the other thread too but the business with praying to Mary was a little off. Why would he ask forgiveness from Mary? That doesn’t make sense. I think as someone else said the writers had the idea of intercessory prayer wrong. It bugged me that a non-Catholic would stop and see him praying to Mary and think the old “oh, those Mary-worshippin’ Catholics again…” instead of seeing an inspiring film about the life of a great man.

John Paul did a lot in his life and there wasn’t anything hugely wrong with the movie but it seemed rushed and didn’t do much justice to our former Holy Father I think. And, the actor when he was playing John Paul at the end of his life didn’t look nearly old enough…couldn’t they have used makeup or something? It just wasn’t very realistic.

That said, I did learn about the Bishop Romero thing. I didn’t realize that had happened between them. And of course I cried at the end with the funeral, I always tear up when I see scenes from that…still miss him very much.

All in all…hopefully CBS will do better.
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Once again, I agree! I’m glad a few of you are on the same page as me.
 
They glossed over his past pretty quickly. I lived the Hallmark Channel one better. That said, I loved the parts that took place after he became Pope were pretty good.
 
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pazdziernik:
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?
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I couldn’t help thinking of the princess bride.
 
this will not be remembered as the definitive TV bio of JP2, it plays like a hastily patched together obituary culled from random published sources, which is how it is billed in the opening credits. for all its faults, I hope the impression most people carry away is the repeated emphasis on his attitude toward suffering, his own and that of others, and his trust in the value of redemptive suffering.
 
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