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More Than Television

Posted by Daria Sockey in Reviews on Wednesday, March 17, 2010 6:00 AM

“We don’t have TV in our home,” says the radical Catholic mother.

Before you decide that this is just too (Choose one: weird, intellectual, Amish-wannabe, impossibly high a standard for your family, isolationist, child-abusive), please note the lack of the indefinite article. She didn’t say they had no television set. She probably meant that they didn’t get cable or satellite and only watched the free local channels in the event of a papal conclave.

Chances are, this family has a television set with a large stack of DVDs nearby. I know, because I’m one of those mothers.

On the one hand, I can posture as the counter-cultural, nonconformist mom who would never allow MTV and reality trash to corrupt her children. I spend just as much time as any other parent ordering the kids away from the screen. Granted, it’s all wholesome fare that keeps them from reading, chores, and outdoor play. But still ...

So it’s with great relief that during Lent the set is not turned on unless the video is religious or educational.

At first, the kids try to rationalize all their favorites (“But mom! Hogan’s Heroes teaches us about the Second World War!”). But quickly tiring of my derisive laughter, they get with the program. Suddenly all those untouched history documentaries, nature shows, and above all, religious films become highly fascinating. Since we’ve been doing this for around 20 years, I thought I’d share a few faith-building titles which have withstood the test of many Lenten seasons.

Biblical: there’s nothing like the great Hollywood spectacles from the 1950s. The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur, and Quo Vadis are among the best. For the cartoon age group, The Prince of Egypt has been a favorite. Yes, there are a number of inaccuracies, but that makes for some good teaching moments.

We have several film versions of the life of Jesus. Surprisingly, the one we most enjoy for whole-family viewing is the claymation cartoon The Miracle Maker. Maybe it’s because there’s no actor’s ego getting in the way of this portrayal of Jesus. And maybe because of a certain stealth emphasis on the Eucharist. It goes without saying that The Passion of the Christ is in a class by itself. The adults and teens watch it in several segments during the triduum.

A very different gospel-themed film is St. John in Exile, an amazing one-man show by born-again Christian actor Dean Jones. He portrays the aged apostle, imprisoned on the island of Patmos, sharing his memories of the Savior. Jones has us laughing one moment and brushing away tears the next. No Lent is complete without St.John.

Saints lives come next. Our Oscar would go to The Reluctant Saint, based on the life of St. Joseph of Cupertino, the not-so-bright but oh-so-holy Franciscan who levitated when he prayed. We’ve had the VHS tape for years, but are thrilled with the newly re-mastered DVD. It includes a delightful ending scene which wasn’t included in the earlier version. Besides the wonderful performance of the title role by Maximilian Schell, there are fine performances by two other Catholic actors. Ricardo Montalban plays a prideful friar who is determined to destroy the saint’s reputation. Lea Padovani, plays Joseph’s domineering mother. Any mother who has ever had to coax a shy child or admonish a lazy one will identify with this saint’s mom even while laughing at her.( An interesting bit of trivia: Lea Padovani met Padre Pio in her younger days, and with his encouragement gave up an adulterous affair.)

Best saint’s lives for the little ones are the ever popular CCC videos on Fatima, St. Patrick, and St. Bernadette.

Two other movies that the boys especially watch repeatedly through every Lent are The Scarlet and the Black and The Assisi Underground. Both are true stories dealing with the Church’s efforts to resist the Nazis and save imperiled Jews even while Italy was under occupation. With these two films in the house, the boys didn’t even miss Indiana Jones or Zorro during the forty days of film-fast.

There are plenty of other fine films for Lenten viewing. These are the perennial favorites in the Sockey household. How about yours?

—Senior writer Daria Sockey writes from her home in Pennsylvania.

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