The Jewish Cardinal (2013)

Nice effects though.

Fresh and Exciting

Absolutely Brilliant!

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

Cardinal Lustinger's confession of faith is a compelling story. Yet, I do not find Catholics speaking much of him. I suspect there is an important clue in this movie why Jean - Paul gave Lustinger the Red Hat. In their first meeting Jean - Paul told Lustinger "there are alot of perfumed Italian priests who'd like to teach me how to be pope." Jean - Paul also spoke of his childhood Jewish playmate, Jerzey. I suspect Jean - Paul, the master of languages, needed someone nearby with whom he could converse privately in a tongue incomprehensible to snooping ears. In addition to negotiating the departure of the Carmelite nuns from Auschwitz, Cardinal Lustinger must be credited for being the very first in the Christian world to detect the fallacies in a popular movie about the passion.

I just saw this film at a Jewish film festival, and found it very thought-provoking and emotionally disquieting-- which I mean in a GOOD sense. I am neither Catholic nor Jewish, and so when I saw that the French title, "Le Metis de Dieu" points to a more universal phenomenon than the English title "The Jewish Cardinal," my cinephile self had more reason to regret the difficulty of procuring a broader distribution.The psychological, historical, cultural, and philosophical complexities of this make the 90- something minute running time something of a marvel, and indeed leave the viewer wanting more, while already feeling treated to an experience that goes far beyond the genre of "biopic," or "docudrama" would lead one to expect. The eccentric, often petulant man, navigating between the different cultural identities within himself while confronting the real- world challenges that history has set in his path is a full-blooded, multidimensional character and not an object of reverence.Meanwhile, as the camera travels from Orleans to Paris to Rome to Auschwitz and returning again to scenes of childhood and family, we witness a visual feast that surpasses our "made- for-TV" expectations.

This movie carries with it a large amount of animosity between Jews and Catholics, especially in regard to who owned the rights to display Auschwitz as a central part of their history of suffering. But, to me, it expresses a great need to announce to the world the completeness by those Jews who have grown to accept Jesus as their long awaited Messiah. What some have come to call themselves today -- those who are both Christian and Jewish at birth -- is a "completed Jew." There are today many Messianic Christian fellowships, one of which is called Jews for Jesus. Obviously, during the time this film was made, there weren't that many completed Jews making public statements, so that is why it was so newsworthy in the mid 80s. Today, this fact should be old news.

I just came back from seeing this today at the Jewish Film Festival and it was absolutely wonderful, I highly recommend it. A movie that takes on the identity of Judaism and Catholicism, the separation, and hopefully reconciliation of our humanity... when faced with such difficult issues as a convent on Auschwitz, and how one can maintain one's Jewish identity, while believing in a path of Jesus, without renouncing one or the other, though so many from both schools believe you should take a side so to speak. I feel very similar in my life, born a Jew, having had my deepest spiritual experiences in life with God and Jesus, but also of Buddhism... this is how I reconcile the dichotomy... A Jewish Seed, grows in the love of God, the love of Jesus, and the wisdom of Buddhism. This movie was challenging but loving, beautiful, and intelligent. I guess people really did smoke that much in the '80s, eh?