It seems the Vatican doesn't think too highly of the movies that won Oscars. I agree with them. We need films with positive, life-affirming messages.An essay in the official Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano argues that this year's Oscar awards went to films that portray America as a society "without hope."
The signed column by Gaetano Vallini was critical of Oscar-winning films such as No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood. These movies and others nominated for Academy Awards are "sinister, filled with violence, and above all, without hope," the writer said.
Vallini found fault especially with No Country for Old Men, saying that the film by Joel and Ethan Coen-- which garner 4 Oscars including the coveted "Best Picture" award-- was marred by "absurd and mindless acts of violence." While praising the craftsmanship of the Coen brothers, he said that their picture showed a "lack of moral conscience." The message of the movie, he said, seemed to "obliterate the American dream."
Worse, the L'Osservatore Romano critic continued, "this clearly pessimistic view that the United States offers of itself through movies" was confirmed by the Oscar awards, in which the film industry honored the pictures that offered this grim vision.
cross-posted on The World...IMHO
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I have to disagree on this one. "No Country for Old Men" is much like Flannery O'Connor's work, especially "A Good Man is Hard to Find," which is, at its core, a Christian work.
Hope and positive messages are good, but there is also a need to portray our fallen nature.
Interestingly, that is what I was just reading about over at The American Culture.
The money quote:What the Coen brothers' film shows so vividly is that outside of civilzation is chaos, destruction, and horror.
It is civilization, the film makes abundantly clear, that allows human beings to survive with at least a small slice of dignity, peace, and comfort, and with their humanity at least somewhat intact.
This is the exact opposite of Rousseau's claim, and it brilliantly validates the Christian view of humanity.
Christopher,
Could you please explain how O'Conner's "Good Man .." is a Christian work? I had to read that once in a graduate class and found it one of the most pointless literary works I've ever encountered. A stupid old woman gets her whole family killed for no reason--what's the point?
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