Pope John Paul I and Life for Life (Ignatius Press)

Pope John Paul I: The Smile of God is another papal movie available from Ignatius Press, like Pius XII: Under the Roman Sky and John XXIII: The Pope of Peace. The biggest difference between Pope John Paul I and the other papal movies is that this one is in Italian with English subtitles. Had I read the description a little better, I might have avoided this film, because when I watch a movie I want to watch it, not read along, but I am glad I gave it a shot.

The biopic begins with Cardinal Albino Luciani (future Pope John Paul I) on a pilgrimage in Fatima, Portugal speaking about Our Lady of Fatima. He receives a message that a nun would like to meet with him. That nun is none other than Sister Lucia of Fatima. In their meeting, she keeps referring to him as Holy Father, even through he tries to correct her saying that she is mistaken. She then reveals to him that he will one day be pope. We then are taken on various flashbacks of Albino Luciani's life. We see a near death experience when he was a youth that made him want to become a priest. We see his father's initial refusal of him wanting to be a priest, but relenting when he promised to serve the poor if he became a priest. In the flashback of World War II, we see a juxtaposition of the gruesome reality of it all with Luciani's mercy shown toward a Jewish family hiding from the Nazis. There are also glimpses of his tutelage under the future Pope John XXIII.

Throughout this whole movie, we see Luciani's smile, both in good situations and bad situations. The actor, Neri Marcorè did a wonderful job portraying why this holy man was indeed called "The Smile of God." While, this wasn't a complete movie of Pope John Paul I's life, it was enough to give you a glimpse at the significance of this man and his short papacy. I wasn't an initial fan of the movie being in Italian, but it grew on me. Church just sounds better and prettier in Italian for some reason. This is definitely a movie worth watching if you want to know about this recent, but largely overlooked pope.

Life for Life: Maximilian Kolbe is a recent movie release by Ignatius Press of a movie that was originally released in 1991. The film gets the title from the story of how Maximilian Kolbe took the place of another prisoner in the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1941, and ultimately gave up his own life. If the movie was about this alone it would have been enough for me, as it would show how modern day people can be like Jesus. Instead, the film decided to make that story more of a back-story.

The movie begins showing life and work in a concentration camp. There is little to no dialogue at all, just many people working and the sound of machinery squeaking and honestly making an awful sound. We then see a man, Jan, digging in a pile of dirt that collapses on him. I believe it was intentional, but the way he emerges from the dirt, you'd think he almost died down there. Work has ended for the day, so he uses that moment to escape. Because of his escape, ten people will now die. As stated above, Kolbe is not one of the ones selected to die, but takes the place of one.

Jan's survivor's guilt and guilt that ten men died because of him serves as a big part of the story. I wish that they had started at the beginning of Kolbe's life and walked us through up to his heroic death in Auschwitz. Instead, we got this artistic view of Kolbe instead. Another point that made the movie a bit difficult to watch was that it was in Polish. As I've said before, I'm not a fan of reading while watching a movie, because you can miss a lot and you are left at the mercy of the translator. I did appreciate there being an Ignatius Press study guide included with the DVD. Overall, I'd give this move 4 stars.

These movies were provided to me for free by Aquinas and More Catholic Gifts and Ignatius Press. If you found these reviews helpful, please click here and/or here and hit Yes!

Truth and Life Dramatized Audio Bible: New Testament (Aquinas and More)

When I was discerning becoming Catholic and when I became a neophyte Catholic, I was purchasing Catholic books on Amazon like they were going out of style. Not every book labeled as "Catholic" on Amazon is authentically Catholic, though. During that time I made some great purchases, like The Lamb's Supper and Hail Holy Queen, both by Scott Hahn. Unfortunately, I also made some regrettable purchases like Richard P. McBrien's Catholicism, which is money I would have been better off flushing down the toilet. I wished and longed for a guide on who to buy, what to read, and a store that carries only products that adhere to the Church's teachings. It took me a while, but I finally found one in Aquinas and More. Aquinas and More is one of the few online stores that you can feel safe buying from, because you know exactly what you will get. They also have an excellent program for bloggers, called Tiber River, where they can get a copy of a recent Catholic book (or other product) for review. Today, I will be reviewing the Truth and Life Dramatized Audio Bible: New Testament, which Aquinas and More was gracious enough to send to me.

The Truth and Life Dramatized Audio Bible: New Testament is an 18 disc, 22 hour reading of the New Testament. The version of Bible used is the Revised Standard Version - Catholic Edition (RSV-CE). Unlike traditional audio Bibles that just have one reader, this one has multiple voice actors, as well as music and background noise appropriate to the passage in the Bible. For example, when feeding the 5000 you hear a lot of crowd noise, because well 5000 people would make a lot of noise. Who are the voice actors? There are some major and minor Hollywood actors that you might or might not recognize depending on how much TV or how many movies you see. Sean Astin (Lord of the Rings and Rudy), Kristen Bell (Frozen and Veronica Mars), Malcolm McDowell, Blair Underwood, and Neal McDonough. I admit I got a little distracted from time to time in the Gospel of Matthew, with Sean Astin voicing the part of Matthew the Narrator. He has a great, yet distinct voice, so everytime he talks I had to make a conscious effort to focus on the Gospel and not say, "Hey that's Samwise Gamgee."

Before I discuss the recording, I would like to briefly talk about the packaging. The CDs are packed in three different sleeves, six discs to a sleeve.This isn't the ideal way to keep CDs from getting scratched, but I understand that it is more cost effective. I will give them credit to their package presentation though. Each sleeve unfolds into the shape of a cross, so I have to give them credit for their creativity there.

As for the actual recordings, allow me to present some notes I made while listening. Each chapter is on its own individual track. This is great because it makes for easier navigating. Unfortunately, the book of the Bible and chapter number isn't announced at the beginning of each track. If you are listening through a book straight through, you'll be thankful because that would be distracting. If you are listening to a few a day, then you will be wondering what chapter you are on when you resume your CD on the track it stopped on from the previous day. Some people will find the background music and noise distracting. It didn't bother me, but I can see how it would bother some people, especially because every so often, it did get a little loud/overpowering. The voice actors were also hit or miss. It was great to hear different voices for different people in the Bible, as it helped some passages to really come alive. However, some voices (Neal McDonough as Jesus in particular) really started to get on my nerves after a while. Mr. McDonough spoke like with a bit too much overemphasis and his emotion level or tone just felt off half of the time. It made you wish that instead of getting Hollywood actors that they had just hired experienced audiobook recorders.

Overall, I found the CD set to be quite enjoyable. Was it perfect? No. Could it have been better? Yes, with a few changes in voices and some other tweaks. Would I recommend it? Yes, because there are few Catholic audio Bibles out there, and this one comes with an imprimatur from the Vatican! Will I get the Old Testament one if they ever produce it? Yes. Overall, I gave it 4 out of 5 stars.