A few months ago I heard that because of this other Avatar movie, the movie I heard of was renamed “The Last Airbender“. It premiers next Thursday in the USA and you bet I’m going to try see it while I’m in Boston!

According to Wikipedia, the picture depicts the event narrated in the Gospel of John, chapter 13 verse 21, where Jesus announces that one of the twelve apostles would betray him. I will quote Wikipedia’s entry on the grouping of figures:

The Last Supper specifically portrays the reaction given by each apostle when Jesus said one of them would betray him. All twelve apostles have different reactions to the news, with various degrees of anger and shock. From left to right:

Bartholomew, James, son of Alphaeus and Andrew form a group of three, all are surprised.

Judas Iscariot, Peter and John form another group of three. Judas is wearing green and blue and is in shadow, looking rather withdrawn and taken aback by the sudden revelation of his plan. He is clutching a small bag, perhaps signifying the silver given to him as payment to betray Jesus, or perhaps a reference to his role within the 12 disciples as treasurer. He is the only person to have his elbow on the table. Peter looks angry and is holding a knife pointed away from Christ, perhaps foreshadowing his violent reaction in Gethsemane during Jesus’ arrest. The youngest apostle, John, appears to swoon.

(Jesus)

Apostle Thomas, James the Greater and Philip are the next group of three. Thomas is clearly upset; James the Greater looks stunned, with his arms in the air. Meanwhile, Philip appears to be requesting some explanation.

Matthew, Jude Thaddeus and Simon the Zealot are the final group of three. Both Jude Thaddeus and Matthew are turned toward Simon, perhaps to find out if he has any answer to their initial questions.

I wonder if the people who made the images of the casts of various films / tv series had a similar idea? I know how I have been speculating over the Battlestar Galactica Last Supper picture, together with Jeff and Zina from the Secrets of Battlestar Galactica Podcast.

It reminded me of a painting I had seen in which the Star Wars cast appeared earlier:

Do these pictures add information to the story? Is it a hint to the public to acknowledge that underneath all great stories that have been told in Western Culture lies a lot of Christian themed mythology? I don’t know, but I do know they intrigue me and that’s probably what the creators want. This morning my imagination was sparked again when I saw two LOST Last Supper photos posted on /Film, together with the earlier ones I already saw before. What do you think of them?

With a hat tip to /Film, where you can find the pictures and also the bigger sized versions.

I was so sucked into it that I totally forgot where I was, I felt I was part of the story. The quality of the story telling is that good. The story starts in 1939 wen the Germans occupy Poland, we see how this historical event influenced the then 19 year old Karol. He witnessed all the suffering, horror, and oppression from close by, he saw how people were transported to concentration camps, he even lost some close Jewish friends during the Holocaust. It’s not hard to imagine this must have had a deep impact on the late pope’s personality. And one would hope life would get better after the Germans left in 1944. It didn’t.

After the German oppression, there was the Communist oppression, in which life didn’t get much better. Sure there was no physical oppression, no physical suffering, but people still weren’t free, the secret police was everywhere. Karol also witnessed the harsh reality of living under Communist reign from very close: it was almost impossible to be a seminarian for the Catholic Church during the Nazi occupation, it was totally impossible during the Communist oppression. He managed to be ordained a priest, becoming a bishop, archbishop, cardinal for the Roman Catholic Church under a regime that hates the Church and doesn’t shy away to spy upon it’s clergy. Phones were tapped, Confessionals were bugged to listen if Catholic priests would instigate opposition to the government. They were looking for anything clergy did or said to be able to arrest them. This were the circumstances the late pope lived in from 1939 until 1978, so for almost FORTY years. I think it’s heroic if you see how he has dealt with that.

I knew a lot of historians give credit to John Paul II and not the presidents Reagan and Gorbatsjov for the fall of Communism in the Eastern part of Europe and I always thought that was a bit of an exaggeration. But after seeing this film and checking some facts, getting to know a bit of the personality of the late pope, I can see where they are coming from. It wouldn’t surprise me if he had a hand in it as well, a big one. Pope John Paul II had all reasons in the world to hate everything totalitarian. He looked the Evil Force straight in the eye and refused to give in to fear. If you realise how he cooperated with God to combat the Evil one, only then you realise how great this man has been: he always preached peaceful demonstrations, condemned using any means of violence and never stopped talking about Jesus’ love for mankind. And with that, not with guns and cannons, Communism fell. It’s a lot like the early days of Christianity: Jesus was preaching the Kingdom of God and demanded his disciples to be peaceful and refrained from any means of violence against the Roman oppression. Look at Rome now: it’s called the Eternal City, home of the Holy See, heart of the Church. No wonder that the process for canonisation already started now, that they didn’t wait for the five years. I really believe our late Pope is in heaven praying for us, especially for those who have to endure totalitarian regimes. I totally wouldn’t mind if they would declare him a Saint tomorrow.

Links:

• Amazon.com: Karol: A Man Who Became Pope
• NY Times review
• Wikipedia: John Paul II

So, the film is situated in Germany during World War 2. We see the world from the perspective of an 8 year old with the name Bruno. He lives in Berlin and has a lot of friends over there and he doesn’t really realise there’s a war going on. One day his father, who works in the army gets promoted, which means that the whole family needs to move to the countryside. Nobody really knows what the new job is about, but Bruno hears it’s important for the country. Father had to vow secrecy, even to wife and children.

After moving to a small village, Bruno sees something strange when he’s looking outside his bedroom window: the farmers at the farm behind the house are very oddly dressed: they wear striped pajamas. Naturally he asks his parents about it, which results in his window being barred. He’s also not allowed to play in the back yard and because there are no other kids around, boredom settles in. Naturally, being an eight-year-old, Bruno starts to explore.

Fascinated by the odd backdoor “neigbours”, he tries to find ways to sneak into the back yard. One day he succeeds and explores the countryside behind the house. This way he meets Smael, he is living on the farm and is eight years old. They are seperated from each other by barb wire. He explains he’s Jewish, but he doesn’t really know what’s going on either. He does know that his grandparents had to go to the hospital after arrival and he hasn’t seen them since. Both boys become friends, separated by the barb wire.

It’s one of those stories set during the Holocaust, but this time it’s being told through the eyes of an eight year old child, which makes the impact of the story bigger, some way. It shows how naive most Germans were during that time in history. You see how normal German people got all the clues pointing to something terrible they couldn’t believe was true. After the war, after everything became public, lots of Germans had this enormous sense of guilt. They knew they should have known what’s going on, back in their mind they knew. But that truth was too terrible think about. If I only… you know how it goes.
Even for Germans of my generation this is hard. People of my age feel responsible in some way for what happened, because we are German. My parents don’t remember the war, my father was an infant, my mother was born after the war. I am born in the seventies. But the feeling of guilt remains, throughout my generation. Why? I don’t know. It’s there, in all of us. It’s one of the blackest pages in our history and we are marked by it as a people. Forever, so it feels.

In the former “occupied territories”, like the Netherlands where I live now, people are only starting to put things in their perspective. It’s more nuanced compared to the time when I was little. Back then all Germans were bad Nazis, even if they were born after the War. All Dutch people were either heros because of their claim of being part of the Resistance, or they were helpless victims of those evil Nazis. Being German was being evil. Children in the playground would do the Hitler-greeting to me, making very clear I didn’t belong to them, I was evil, because I was German. From being victimised by the Germans,  they became the Germans’ bullies. I’m so glad life got easier in the last few years. I don’t have to pretend I’m Dutch where I’m not anymore. I can be German openly again without being discriminated against. I think movies like this one help our case tremendously. History is never black and white, but it may take some time to get the proper distance from the topic to be able to recognise that.

Link: Apple QuickTime trailer.

What I particularly liked about the film was the cinematography, the imagery really gives the story a depth only images can give. The characters in the story are developing, making it all very realistic. The story that’s being told feels genuine, honest and shows how brutal life can be, especially in Brazil if you’re poor and a child. It gives a view into Brazilian society, both in the big city (Rio) as at the country side. I read the back of the DVD later and found out that the boy who plays the main character in the story isn’t an actor at all, but a shoe polisher from Rio, who was cast leaving hundreds of professional actors behind. Maybe that’s also part of the reason everything feels so ‘real’. The boy can just be himself for part of the movie, making it authentic.

The film gave me the feeling I was there, like I was really in Brazil. It really breathes Brazilian culture. I have a list of countries I want to visit once in my life, and Brazil is most certainly on it. I can REALLY recommend this film, especially to those who already like ‘indie’ film makers.

Links:

• Central do Brasil op IMDB
• Buy the DVD via Amazon (This link helps SQPN!)